Muslim Nobilty in Russia 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 to 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 Napoleon´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 14.06.20014