Vol 17, No 3 (2018): HISTORY OF TURKISH-MUSLIM PEOPLES OF RUSSIA

The article is focused on the theological debates on the issues of ‘aqidah between Shihabetdin Marjani and his opponents. The debate is viewed as a mechanism for the search and approval of truth. Being one of the possible answers of the Tatar Muslims to the imperial challenge, the religious debate is analyzed in the light of the changed political, economic and social conditions of the new era, when through theological discussions about the kalam and divine attributes, there were outlined new boundaries of the religious tradition. Within the framework of this problem the following issues are discussed: 1) the polemical genre in the Islamic world; Majlis as a forum for discussions and debates of Muslims in solving topical issues of the intellectual, religious and social character; the types of disputes are jadal and munazara ; 2) the reformation of Islam in the late 19th century among Muslims of the Russian Empire; 3) the discussion of the image of the “true” creed (‘aqidah) through dogmatic discussions about the kalam , mutakallims , the doctrine of the divine attributes and the connection of the attributes with Allah; 4) the sources of the creed (‘ aqidah ), the boundaries of the sources authority; forbidden innovations ( bidaat ); 5) the accusation of unbelief ( takfir ) and the boundaries of unbelief ( kufr ); 6) the return to the “uprightness” through a renewal (tajdid), which supposed, on the one hand, the introduction into the tradition of “necessary” and “true” conceptions, and on the other hand, the rejection of “irrelevant”, that is, allegedly, “untrue” views; 7) the criticism of Marjani as a legitimate participant in the dispute, the innovator of Islam ( mujaddid ) and a theologian and jurist capable of ijtihad ( mujtahid ). The study of the polemic as a reaction of Muslims to the imperial challenge in the new era conditions made it possible to trace the way Muslim scholars outlined the new boundaries of the religious doctrine and thanks to this adapted the religious tradition to the social realities of the Russian Empire in the last third of the 19th century, and simultaneously they reviewed the environment in the light of the sources.

The socio-economic changes in the territory of the former USSR, the processes of ethno-religious revival revealed the relevance of the traditional heritage, which in the process of historical heritage has allowed developing tolerant and good-neighbourly relations in the Russian Federation. In this regard, the second half of the 18th century - the first quarter of the 20th century is a special period for the social thought of the Tatars, as after three hundred years of stagnation it is reviving. But the study of the history of the revival of the Tatars’ social and theological thought and in particular the problems of Islamic law of this period involves primarily the identification of the main cultural, social and political factors that influenced its formation and development. The most important of these factors for the Tatars was Islam. The Islamic religious tradition was firmly established and maintained, despite the socio-political events that took place in the region. The Mongol invasion, the collapse of the Golden Horde, the conquest of the Kazan khanate did not change the religious situation in the region. After the capture of Kazan up to the end of the 18th century there was stagnation in the social life and social thought of the Tatars. Despite this, after the issuance of the decree on religious tolerance by Catherine II, there began a rapid process of the revival of the Tatars’ social thought. As the Tatars received religious education in the world’s famous religious centres, the ideas of theologians of the Islamic world had a significant impact on the formation of their views. The second most important factor that influenced the formation of the ideas of the Tatar thinkers was the ideas of European and Russian reformers. The Tatar thinkers got acquainted with them as a result of communication with the Russian intelligentsia, thanks to the development of the education system, as well as from the works of thinkers. Thus, the mentioned factors influenced the formation of the reform ideas in the Tatar theological thought, which contributed to the socio-economic development of the Tatar society.

The article deals with the resettlement policy of the Russian Empire in the Turkestan region in the context of acculturation. It is noted that the resettlement of Russian peasants in Turkestan was regulated by the generally accepted Russian legislation, but it had its own local features. The peculiarity of the Russian colonization consisted in the following: firstly, in the region there lived foreign-speaking population with a different mentality and a different religion; secondly, in the most areas Turkestan was conquered by force of arms, and this fact did not add local population’s confidence in the Russian authorities. Nevertheless, according to the author, the grounds for acculturation were at the beginning of the resettlement process, when there began to establish economic relations between Russian settlers and local residents. The analysis of the further resettlement policy of the Russian Empire leads to the conclusion that both objective and subjective reasons were the obstacle to further acculturation. The latter ones consisted in the incorrect decision of the Russian authorities on the isolation of the Russian-speaking population from the indigenous population, the withdrawal of “surplus” land from the local population, the excesses in the work of the Resettlement Department, whose members often abused their power. The negative role was also played by the commitment to the Russian authority, the Turkestan administration, and even Russian settlers’ adherence to the “civilizing mission of Russia”, explaining the necessity of introducing “wild” peoples to the European civilization, which served as an argument for justifying the need to bear the “good” to “unenlightened peoples”. The author makes the conclusion about the imperfection of the resettlement policy of the Russian administration, which consisted in the absence of the legal framework and clear plan of resettlement.

The article deals with the problems of the Siberian Bukharans’ community in the first decade after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Bukharans played an important role in the history of Western Siberia for several centuries. But the significance of the Bukhara community in the economic life of Siberia decreased steadily; there took place rapprochement in the form of assimilation with Siberian Tatars. In the early twentieth century, the reforms, revolutionary changes and war became an ordeal for Siberian Bukharans. As a result of the state policy, both imperial and Soviet, the most important factor in preserving the Bukhara identity - the Bukhara volost - was destroyed. After the end of the civil war in Siberia, the Bukharans in the bulk were in opposition to the Soviet power. In many areas of Siberia in the early twentieth century there was a drop in the population of Bukharans. The largest and most organized community of the Siberian Bukharans in Soviet Russia was preserved in the Tarsky district of the Siberian territory - more than 11 thousand people. In the focus of the research there are problems of the economic, political and cultural development of the Bukharans in the Tarsky district in the mid-1920s. The documents found by the author indicate the degradation of the Siberian Bukharans’ economy. It was caused by the fact that after the victory of the Soviet government, a significant part of them did not connect their future with Siberia anymore, the Bukharans expected permission to leave the USSR, mainly to Turkey. The article introduces new scientific archival documents which reflect the policy of the state in connection with the desire of the Bukharans to leave the USSR. The central Soviet government did not allow this, but ordered to improve the work with this group of the population. Despite the fact that the Soviet leaders in Siberia tried to improve the economic and cultural situation of the Bukharans, they failed to completely eliminate the “resettlement sentiments”. From 1927, the Soviet government ceased to recognize the Bukharans as a separate ethno-social group, including them in the number of Siberian Tatars or for some time using the name “Tatar-Bukharans”.

In the pre-revolutionary period, the care of disabled and other suffering people who did not have the necessary material support was carried out in the Russian Empire with the support of the imperial family and public participation. The guardianship of Empress Maria Alexandrovna of the blind was the only organization supporting blind people. Established in 1886, the Ufa department of guardianship charged itself with the care, education and employment of the poor with eyesight diseases in the province. To accomplish this task, there was opened an asylum for sight-disabled people, where the training of adult blind was conducted, which was later reorganized into the Ufa specialized school for blind children. From 1901, this institution became the basis for the first free eye clinic in Ufa. The significance of this project is that the clinic took up the issue of treating the provincial population that had suffered from eye diseases and had had no access to health care in the field of ophthalmology before. Despite the limited support of the provincial and town authorities, for 25 years of its existence the Ufa eye clinic broadened the scope of its activities, providing adequate medical care. As a result, it became the basis for creating the specialized research institute which continues to provide ophthalmological care to the population till the present day. The Department also headed the ophthalmological care service in the Ufa province, opening the first Ufa free eye clinic. To date, there has been no holistic study on the development of the ophthalmological care service in Ufa province. The basis of the work is archival documents from the Russian State Historical Archives, the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the State Archives of the Republic of Crimea, the Moscow Central State Archives, the State Archives of the Tomsk oblast, the State Archives of the Saratov oblast, and the State Archives of the canton of Bern (Switzerland): statistical materials, legislative acts, documents of management and record keeping, etc. of the period under review, thanks to which it was possible to restore the chronology of the work of the Ufa Eye Clinic, the biography of the directors of the clinic, whose fates were closely linked with the history of the country.