Bismillah Rahman Rahim, Moslem nobility in the Russian Empire ( A Historical Perspective).
The steady territorial expansion of the Russian Empire, which at the time extended to the regions of Siberia, Crimea, the Caucasus and Turkestan, as well as a number of Polish territories along the Volga and the Urals, in effect meant that many historically Islamic nationalities came under Russia's rule. According to the first national Census of 1897, approximately 14 million people out of the Nations 130 million were Moslems. The vast majority of those were the Shiites, while in the regions of the Caucasus and Pamir (now Tajikistan) a smaller section of Moslems were the Sunnites. One of the most important goals of the Imperial authorities was to establish solid relations with the Moslem nobility, which, alongside with the clergy and the merchants, was the leading group of the Moslem community in Russia. The hereditary nobility, the descendants of Ghengisids, as well as other noble families constituted a considerable portion of the Moslem social elite. The relationship between the Russian authorities and the Moslem minorities has seen the periods of tension and strain. Although the word of Islam and Moslem institutions were never officially outlawed in Muskovy, the conversion into Orthodox Christianity was generally quite welcomed. Several hundred names of the Turkic origin are listed in the Russian gentry statutes. The Usupovs, the Tenishevs, the Urusovs and many others were the key figures of the political, military and cultural history of Russia. In 1598 ?1605 Boris Godunov, a descendant of one such family, became a ruling Czar of Russia. A number of noble Tatar- Bashkir families offered their service to the Russian Czar, while keeping their Moslem faith. Such families were granted permission to keep their land estates, and even received new lands. Their service was paid from the Czar?s treasury, but nonetheless they did not have rights to own Christian serfs. The 16th and 17th centuries saw the establishment of the so-called Kasimov fiefdom, -a Moslem khanate, located to the south of Moscow and vassal to Russia. The governor of the Kasimov khanate had to be a Moslem descendant of the Ghengisids; the lands were mainly inhabited by the Tatars, who were bound by obligation to serve to the Russian State. In the numerous wars waged by the Muscovite State against its adversaries, detachments of Moslem Tatars fought side by side with the Russians. The Moslem soldiers helped Muscovy to achieve a decisive victory over the militia of the city of Novgorod at the river Shelon. In 1552 the Moslem troops of Kasimov Tatars ?the loyal vassals of Moscow- joined the Orthodox Russian soldiers in their offensive against the Tatar kingdom of Kazan. It should be noted that the intrinsic conflicts that followed the annexation of the regions along the Volga, were not, by and large, based on the Russians vs. non-Russians principle- the position of both parties was rarely determined by the issues of national or religious identity. The conflicts of this troublesome period were rooted in the confrontation between the advocates of the idea of the multinational state and the opponents of the single Moscow-controlled State. To illustrate the point, one could turn to the events of the year 1612, when the combined Kazan force, comprised of the Russians and the Tatars, arrived in the city of Yaroslavl to serve in militia. After the split-up that followed, a portion of Orthodox Christians and Moslems stayed to serve the Motherland and free Russia from the alien yoke. Others made a choice of going on with their rebellion, and according to the chronicle,great trouble and many calamities had they brought to the land. In 1613, when the Zemskii Sobor elected Michael Romanov as the new Czar, the deed was signed by a large group of individuals, with perhaps 700 members. Among those were the seven Tatar noblemen, who spoke for the revival of the single Russian State on behalf of the Moslems of Russia. The reign of Catherine the Great brought about a major change in the state religious policy and the attitude towards Islam in particular. On June 17, 1773 the Empress signed a landmark decree on religious toleration in Russia. By the terms of the Kucuc Kaynarca peace treaty, the Russian government was obliged to ensure the inviolability of all religious freedoms for Moslems. Since then and up to the early 20th century Russia recognized the Ottomans? right for caliphate, or the supreme spiritual power over Sunnite Moslems, even those under Russian authority. In the meantime the Russian government began pursuing the policy of incorporating the Empires Islamic gentry into the Russian noble class. As a result of this policy, by the end of the 19th century there were approximately seventy thousand of Moslem hereditary and service noblemen, which amounted to up to five percent of the total number of gentry. The Moslem nobility found the state military and civil service by far the most reliable way of securing a place among the Russian gentry class. Thus, in 1814 the gentry assembly at the city of Ufa conferred the status of gentry to sixty-four Moslem officers who took part in the offensive against NapoleonĀ“s France. By early 20th century a number of Moslem noble families from European Russia: the Usupovs, the Akchurins, the Gireys, the Yenikeyevs and the Tevkelevs to name a few, - played the leading role in the political life of the country. Many of them had received higher education in the military and social fields, occupied top political posts and acquired the spirit of European cosmopolitanism. The westernmost group of Moslem aristocracy, the Tatars residing in the territories of the former Poland and Lithuania, found themselves in a peculiar situation. The Tatar gentry in Poland was deprived of some privileges that were only available to the Christian Polish szlachta, but nonetheless enjoyed the right to own land allotments and serfs, whether Christians or Moslems. Consequently, Russian annexation of the territories of former Poland and Lithuania in the 18th and early 19th centuries made room for a peculiar case of conflicting legislation, as the Russian laws forbade Moslems to have Christians as serfs or servants. Finally, the Russian authorities refrained from altering the established traditions of the western Moslem aristocracy (which amounted to perhaps 200 families.) Satisfied with the loyalty of the western Moslem nobility, the Imperial authorities legitimized their exceptional status with a number of decrees and ad hoc edicts of 1840. The Moslem nobility's position in the southern regions of the Empire was clearly different from that in the European parts of Russia. The society in Turkestan and the Caucasus was heavily dependent on the norms of common law. The network of social institutions for the Moslem aristocracy was never established, and the legislative basis for the nobility's corporate rights was not yet founded as of 1917. For the most part, the landowning and nomadic aristocrats? proprietary rights for the land and cattle remained in force. The southern Moslem nobility was entitled to both civil and military service and was rewarded with honors, decorations and rapid promotions, thereby acquiring the service gentry status. Virtually all the mid- and low-rank governmental positions in the administrative units of the Caucasus, Turkestan and the Steppe district (currently Central Asia) were occupied by the representatives of the Islamic social elite. Those who were awarded with a decoration or rank that would automatically confer the right for the hereditary nobility, could take part in the activities of the elective gentry organizations outside their territories upon the respective permission. The military service was an integral part of life for the Moslem nobility. Dozens of Moslem officers and generals were honored for their service in the numerous conflicts Russia had to go through. Thirty-three Bashkir and Tatar cavalry regiments and the Moslems from all over Russia displayed their courage during the offensive against Napoleonic France in 1813-1814. In the middle of the 19th century a detachment of noble Moslem officers was registered among the elite escort regiment of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia. A number of documented decrees and instructions display the government?s willingness to provide the Moslem troops of the Caucasus and Crimean Life-Guards squadron with the necessary conditions for the religious rituals. Such renowned Moslem generals as Alikhanov-Avarskii, Yenikeyev, Tevkelev, Khalilov, Khan-Nakhichevanskii, and many others, will go down to history as the true heroes of Russia. The Moslem officers Samadbek Mekhmandarov and Ali Aga Shikhlinskii, the heroic defenders of Port Arthur in the course of the Japanese war of 1904-1905, later became generals of the Russian army. The distinguished entrepreneur, Gadzhi Zeinal Ab-Din Tagiyev, also from Azerbaijan, started his career as a poor apprentice. Then he gradually worked his way up to become a prominent oil tycoon, philanthropist and arts patron. He was conferred a title of general and decorated with the Empire?s most prestigious awards. In his decree of 1910 Nicholas II granted him with the privilege of hereditary nobility. These events clearly show that the Moslem nobility was generally favorably treated by the Russian powers that be. The Islamic aristocracy played a special role in the governmental system of Russia, and actively participated in the historic political and military events. This page of the Russian history was turned in 1917, when the Moslem nobility, as well as the Russian aristocracy in general, faced the challenges of the new epoch. By D. Arapov, PhD (Extracts from Muslim Nobilty) A Historical perspective 14.06.2001 ___________________________________________________________ All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. 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