How the Russians converted to Islam
According to Arabic sources, it is known that in the X century, some of the Russians converted to Islam. The then ruler of the Rus had the name or title Buladmir, consonant with the name of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. At the same time, Prince Vladimir is called the kagan, as rulers of the Turks.
According to the church version, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (Prince of Novgorod from 970, Prince of Kiev in 978 — 1015) adopted the Orthodox faith in Christianity in 988, which is why he is considered the Holy Prince. True, with a closer look, it is obvious that there was little holiness in him. Vladimir became famous as a very lively person who had a harem of hundreds of concubines, the pogrom of Polotsk, where he slaughtered the princely family of Rogvolodovich, one of the instigators of the civil war and fratricide - on his orders they killed the great prince Yaropolk.
The main sources of how Prince Vladimir was baptized and baptized Kiev are the Greek "Comprehensive narrative of how the people of the Roses were baptized" and the Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years." A “Comprehensive Narrative” reports that the prince of the Roses sat in his city and thought that his people adhere to the four religions and cannot unite around one correct one. Some worshiped the Jewish faith (Judaism) as the greatest and most ancient; the second - the Persian faith was respected (pagan fire-worshipers, however, it could be pagan Rus, in their faith fire was also of great importance); the third - "honored the Syrian faith" (apparently, Nestorianism, one of the directions of Christianity); the fourth - held the "faith of the Hagarians." Hagar is the concubine of Abraham and the mother of Ishmael, who became the progenitor of the Arab tribes. That is, the Hagarites are Muslims. So, we see that before the official baptism of Rus, the Rus-Kievites were Judaists (obviously, the Khazar community, very influential in Kiev), Christians, Muslims and pagans. That is, Muslims were present in Kiev even before the official baptism of Russia.
Vladimir sent ambassadors to Rome, and they really liked the Catholic service, he already wanted to accept this faith, but he was also advised to check the Greek faith. Again he sent ambassadors, already to Constantinople. Rich gifts were presented to the Russian ambassadors, and they liked the Greek rites even more than the Roman ones. Upon returning, the ambassadors began to praise the Greek faith. In the end, Vladimir decided to accept the Greek faith. Interestingly, the ambassadors were not interested in the content of religion, but only in form - rituals.
What do Russian annals say? Vladimir sat in Kiev and made sacrifices to pagan gods. Ambassadors from different nations came to him with a proposal to accept the true faith. Muslims came from the Volga Bulgaria. They praise their faith: to pray to one god, "to perform circumcision, not to eat pork, not to drink wine," but you can have several wives. Vladimir liked his wives, but he was not comfortable: circumcision, abstinence from pork meat. And about wine he said: "Russia is a joy to drink: we cannot be without it." Catholics from Rome praised their religion: “... your faith is not like our faith, because our faith is light; we bow to God, who made heaven and earth, stars and a month, and all that breathes, and your gods are just a tree. ” Vladimir said to the Germans: “Go where you came from, for our fathers did not accept this.”
Khazar Jews came and praise their faith: “Christians believe in the one we crucified, and we believe in one God ...” Vladimir asked: “What kind of law do you have?” The Jews answered: “Circumcision, there is no pork and hare, keep the Sabbath. ” The prince asks them: “Where is your land?” It turned out that God turned his back on the Jews and deprived them of their homeland. Naturally, such a belief is not worth accepting.
Then the Greeks sent a philosopher to Prince Vladimir, who said: “We heard that the Bulgarians came and taught you to accept your faith; their faith defiles heaven and earth, and they are cursed beyond all people, likened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, on whom the Lord let out a burning stone and flooded them ... ”So the Greek philosopher scolded all the laws and praised his own. Vladimir became interested, and on the advice of the boyars and elders, he ordered ambassadors to be sent to various countries to learn more about faiths. Further, everything is repeated, as in the Greek source. The ambassadors did not like the Bulgars and Germans, but they were delighted with the beautiful reception, rites and generous gifts of the Greeks. As a result, Vladimir accepted the faith of the Greeks.
It is interesting that Christian tombstones appear in Russia only at the end of the 15th century. Prior to this, the graves of Christians and pagans are difficult to distinguish, they were no different. This in general is not surprising, in the countryside (where the overwhelming majority of the people lived) paganism continued for several centuries after official baptism.
Eastern sources report that a significant part of the Rus (Russians) converted to Islam. True, with their differences, they did not know the rites, ate pork, etc.
12th-century Arab traveler Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Garnati al-Andalusi traveled more, visited Derbent, Lower and Middle Volga. In 1150, from Bulgaria he went to Russia, driving along the "Slavic River" (Don). Visited Kiev. And here is what he tells about the people of Kiev: “And I arrived in the city of the Slavs, which is called“ Hor [od] Kuyav ”(Kiev). And there are thousands of “Maghribins” in it, by the appearance of the Türks, speaking the Turkic language and arrows arrows, like the Türks. And they are known in this country under the name of badge [ak]. And I met a man from Baghdad, whose name is Karim ibn Fayruz al-Jawhari, he was married to [the daughter] of one of these Muslims. "I gave these Muslims Friday prayers and taught them hutbah, and they did not know Friday prayers." That is, they live in Kiev, but they cannot read the Friday prayer correctly. It turns out that at that time in Kiev there was a large Muslim community, but poorly knew ritualism.
In eastern sources there is a message that Kiy (the founder of Kiev) was a native of Khorezm - his real name is Kuyya. Part of the Khorezm Muslims was resettled in Khazaria, where they were resettled along the borders of the Khaganate. Kuyya became the Wazir of Khazaria, his position was inherited by his son Ahmad bin Kuyya. The Arab historian, geographer and traveler of the XNUMXth century Al-Masoudi, who united previously fragmented historical and geographical observations into a large-scale work of an encyclopedic nature, and nicknamed the "Arab Herodotus", reports that the leading military force in Khazaria are Muslims - Arsies (jars), aliens from Khorezm. Army residents have Muslim judges. Arsania is one of the “Slavic” countries in the eastern sources, along with Slavia and Kuyavia. In addition, it is known that a significant part of the population of the Khazar Khaganate was Slavs. Obviously, many of them could be Christians and Muslims.
And what do eastern sources say about Vladimir? The Persian author and historian Muhammad Aoufi (late XII - first half of the XIII century) reports that the Rus earn their livelihood only with a sword. If any of them dies, then they give all their property to their daughters, and they don’t give their son anything but a sword, telling him: “Your father obtained his property with his sword.” That was until the Rus became Christians. Having adopted Christianity, they sheathed the sword. But because of this, their affairs fell into decay. Then the Rus decided to accept Islam in order to be able to wage a war for faith. The Russian ambassadors arrived to the Khorezm Shah, relatives of their king, who wore the title “Buladmir”, as the Turks carry the title of Khakan. Khorezm Shah was very happy about this, granted ambassadors with gifts and sent one of the imams to teach them the rules of Islam. After that, the Russians became Muslims.
Russ make trips to remote countries, constantly wandering around the sea on ships. Who do Russians usually fight with? With Christian countries - Byzantium, Poland, Bulgaria, they attack Christian cities in Crimea. It is interesting that in the treasures on the territory of Russia there are mainly eastern dirhams, which indicates developed trade with the East. Byzantine coins in the treasures are few. Also in Kiev, during excavations, objects with the inscription Arabica were found. Arabic inscriptions make up the usual affiliation of wealthy Russian helmets (including the helmet of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky). Old Russian coins up to Ivan the Terrible have either only Arabic inscriptions, or Russian and Arabic together.
Thus, the official picture of Russian history, adopted by the Romanovs, has many flaws. So, in the “classical” history, which is very convenient for Western Europe and the German-Romanesque historical school (which has become “classical” in Russia), and the official church, the history of the Russians was circumcised almost before baptism. They also preferred to “forget” that the vast majority of the Russians remained pagans for several centuries after the adoption of Christianity. There was also a very powerful community of Muslim Slavs.
Most of all paganism lasted in the Russian North, in the Novgorod land. Only in the city Christianity prevailed, in the villages faith was pagan. A similar situation was in Kiev, in the southwestern Russian lands. In Kiev, the princes, nobles, focusing on Rome or the Second Rome (Constantinople), adopted Christianity. There was a powerful Jewish and Muslim community (obviously, the legacy of Khazaria). But the ancient faith prevailed among the people. Christianity was alien to the people. In the south-west of Russia, Christianity began to penetrate into the people only under the influence of Poland, around the 14th century.
In Vladimir-Suzdal, paganism prevailed. Those who retained faith in the old gods were called "filthy" ("pagans"). It took many centuries, until about the time of Sergius of Radonezh, Christianity and paganism merged into one, in fiery Orthodoxy. The neighbor was the Muslim Volga Bulgaria-Bulgaria, where the Volgar-Bulgars lived, a mixed Slavic-Turkic population. Connections were active: wars, raids, trade, the relocation of prisoners, cultural relationships. Therefore, there were many Muslim Slavs who later converted to Christianity or joined the Tatar ethnic group.
“Grand Duke Vladimir Chooses Faith,” 1822. I.E. Eggink
What faith did St. Vladimir accept?
According to the church version, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (Prince of Novgorod from 970, Prince of Kiev in 978 — 1015) adopted the Orthodox faith in Christianity in 988, which is why he is considered the Holy Prince. True, with a closer look, it is obvious that there was little holiness in him. Vladimir became famous as a very lively person who had a harem of hundreds of concubines, the pogrom of Polotsk, where he slaughtered the princely family of Rogvolodovich, one of the instigators of the civil war and fratricide - on his orders they killed the great prince Yaropolk.
The main sources of how Prince Vladimir was baptized and baptized Kiev are the Greek "Comprehensive narrative of how the people of the Roses were baptized" and the Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years." A “Comprehensive Narrative” reports that the prince of the Roses sat in his city and thought that his people adhere to the four religions and cannot unite around one correct one. Some worshiped the Jewish faith (Judaism) as the greatest and most ancient; the second - the Persian faith was respected (pagan fire-worshipers, however, it could be pagan Rus, in their faith fire was also of great importance); the third - "honored the Syrian faith" (apparently, Nestorianism, one of the directions of Christianity); the fourth - held the "faith of the Hagarians." Hagar is the concubine of Abraham and the mother of Ishmael, who became the progenitor of the Arab tribes. That is, the Hagarites are Muslims. So, we see that before the official baptism of Rus, the Rus-Kievites were Judaists (obviously, the Khazar community, very influential in Kiev), Christians, Muslims and pagans. That is, Muslims were present in Kiev even before the official baptism of Russia.
Vladimir sent ambassadors to Rome, and they really liked the Catholic service, he already wanted to accept this faith, but he was also advised to check the Greek faith. Again he sent ambassadors, already to Constantinople. Rich gifts were presented to the Russian ambassadors, and they liked the Greek rites even more than the Roman ones. Upon returning, the ambassadors began to praise the Greek faith. In the end, Vladimir decided to accept the Greek faith. Interestingly, the ambassadors were not interested in the content of religion, but only in form - rituals.
What do Russian annals say? Vladimir sat in Kiev and made sacrifices to pagan gods. Ambassadors from different nations came to him with a proposal to accept the true faith. Muslims came from the Volga Bulgaria. They praise their faith: to pray to one god, "to perform circumcision, not to eat pork, not to drink wine," but you can have several wives. Vladimir liked his wives, but he was not comfortable: circumcision, abstinence from pork meat. And about wine he said: "Russia is a joy to drink: we cannot be without it." Catholics from Rome praised their religion: “... your faith is not like our faith, because our faith is light; we bow to God, who made heaven and earth, stars and a month, and all that breathes, and your gods are just a tree. ” Vladimir said to the Germans: “Go where you came from, for our fathers did not accept this.”
Khazar Jews came and praise their faith: “Christians believe in the one we crucified, and we believe in one God ...” Vladimir asked: “What kind of law do you have?” The Jews answered: “Circumcision, there is no pork and hare, keep the Sabbath. ” The prince asks them: “Where is your land?” It turned out that God turned his back on the Jews and deprived them of their homeland. Naturally, such a belief is not worth accepting.
Then the Greeks sent a philosopher to Prince Vladimir, who said: “We heard that the Bulgarians came and taught you to accept your faith; their faith defiles heaven and earth, and they are cursed beyond all people, likened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, on whom the Lord let out a burning stone and flooded them ... ”So the Greek philosopher scolded all the laws and praised his own. Vladimir became interested, and on the advice of the boyars and elders, he ordered ambassadors to be sent to various countries to learn more about faiths. Further, everything is repeated, as in the Greek source. The ambassadors did not like the Bulgars and Germans, but they were delighted with the beautiful reception, rites and generous gifts of the Greeks. As a result, Vladimir accepted the faith of the Greeks.
It is interesting that Christian tombstones appear in Russia only at the end of the 15th century. Prior to this, the graves of Christians and pagans are difficult to distinguish, they were no different. This in general is not surprising, in the countryside (where the overwhelming majority of the people lived) paganism continued for several centuries after official baptism.
What east sources say
Eastern sources report that a significant part of the Rus (Russians) converted to Islam. True, with their differences, they did not know the rites, ate pork, etc.
12th-century Arab traveler Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Garnati al-Andalusi traveled more, visited Derbent, Lower and Middle Volga. In 1150, from Bulgaria he went to Russia, driving along the "Slavic River" (Don). Visited Kiev. And here is what he tells about the people of Kiev: “And I arrived in the city of the Slavs, which is called“ Hor [od] Kuyav ”(Kiev). And there are thousands of “Maghribins” in it, by the appearance of the Türks, speaking the Turkic language and arrows arrows, like the Türks. And they are known in this country under the name of badge [ak]. And I met a man from Baghdad, whose name is Karim ibn Fayruz al-Jawhari, he was married to [the daughter] of one of these Muslims. "I gave these Muslims Friday prayers and taught them hutbah, and they did not know Friday prayers." That is, they live in Kiev, but they cannot read the Friday prayer correctly. It turns out that at that time in Kiev there was a large Muslim community, but poorly knew ritualism.
In eastern sources there is a message that Kiy (the founder of Kiev) was a native of Khorezm - his real name is Kuyya. Part of the Khorezm Muslims was resettled in Khazaria, where they were resettled along the borders of the Khaganate. Kuyya became the Wazir of Khazaria, his position was inherited by his son Ahmad bin Kuyya. The Arab historian, geographer and traveler of the XNUMXth century Al-Masoudi, who united previously fragmented historical and geographical observations into a large-scale work of an encyclopedic nature, and nicknamed the "Arab Herodotus", reports that the leading military force in Khazaria are Muslims - Arsies (jars), aliens from Khorezm. Army residents have Muslim judges. Arsania is one of the “Slavic” countries in the eastern sources, along with Slavia and Kuyavia. In addition, it is known that a significant part of the population of the Khazar Khaganate was Slavs. Obviously, many of them could be Christians and Muslims.
And what do eastern sources say about Vladimir? The Persian author and historian Muhammad Aoufi (late XII - first half of the XIII century) reports that the Rus earn their livelihood only with a sword. If any of them dies, then they give all their property to their daughters, and they don’t give their son anything but a sword, telling him: “Your father obtained his property with his sword.” That was until the Rus became Christians. Having adopted Christianity, they sheathed the sword. But because of this, their affairs fell into decay. Then the Rus decided to accept Islam in order to be able to wage a war for faith. The Russian ambassadors arrived to the Khorezm Shah, relatives of their king, who wore the title “Buladmir”, as the Turks carry the title of Khakan. Khorezm Shah was very happy about this, granted ambassadors with gifts and sent one of the imams to teach them the rules of Islam. After that, the Russians became Muslims.
Russ make trips to remote countries, constantly wandering around the sea on ships. Who do Russians usually fight with? With Christian countries - Byzantium, Poland, Bulgaria, they attack Christian cities in Crimea. It is interesting that in the treasures on the territory of Russia there are mainly eastern dirhams, which indicates developed trade with the East. Byzantine coins in the treasures are few. Also in Kiev, during excavations, objects with the inscription Arabica were found. Arabic inscriptions make up the usual affiliation of wealthy Russian helmets (including the helmet of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky). Old Russian coins up to Ivan the Terrible have either only Arabic inscriptions, or Russian and Arabic together.
Thus, the official picture of Russian history, adopted by the Romanovs, has many flaws. So, in the “classical” history, which is very convenient for Western Europe and the German-Romanesque historical school (which has become “classical” in Russia), and the official church, the history of the Russians was circumcised almost before baptism. They also preferred to “forget” that the vast majority of the Russians remained pagans for several centuries after the adoption of Christianity. There was also a very powerful community of Muslim Slavs.
Most of all paganism lasted in the Russian North, in the Novgorod land. Only in the city Christianity prevailed, in the villages faith was pagan. A similar situation was in Kiev, in the southwestern Russian lands. In Kiev, the princes, nobles, focusing on Rome or the Second Rome (Constantinople), adopted Christianity. There was a powerful Jewish and Muslim community (obviously, the legacy of Khazaria). But the ancient faith prevailed among the people. Christianity was alien to the people. In the south-west of Russia, Christianity began to penetrate into the people only under the influence of Poland, around the 14th century.
In Vladimir-Suzdal, paganism prevailed. Those who retained faith in the old gods were called "filthy" ("pagans"). It took many centuries, until about the time of Sergius of Radonezh, Christianity and paganism merged into one, in fiery Orthodoxy. The neighbor was the Muslim Volga Bulgaria-Bulgaria, where the Volgar-Bulgars lived, a mixed Slavic-Turkic population. Connections were active: wars, raids, trade, the relocation of prisoners, cultural relationships. Therefore, there were many Muslim Slavs who later converted to Christianity or joined the Tatar ethnic group.
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