As General Igelstrom and the military intelligence officer Huseinov created a muftiate in Ufa
Quiet street of Trunilovskaya Sloboda, an old linden alley, a path paved with curly stone. The buildings around are old, historical - the governor's house, the female diocesan school, the provincial district court, the house of the writer Sergei Aksakov ... Half of the block before the hills to the Belaya River is occupied by a garden with lawns and apple trees, above which the yellow crescent of the First Cathedral Mosque rises. In her fence are the graves of Russian muftis. A white-stone house with a high carved door looks at Voskresenskaya Street - the old residence of the Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly, now the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia. In the essay "Crescent, tamga and cross" We have already discussed the reasons for the creation of a muftiat in Ufa. Today, the talk is about how the provincial institution extended its influence to almost the whole country.
Up to the end of the XVIII century there were no muftis in Russia. The famous journey of Empress Catherine II along the Volga with a visit to Kazan and the ancient Bulgar (see "Catherine, you were wrong ...") had the consequence of issuing decrees that radically changed the life arrangement of Russian Muslims. The decree of the Empress 1773 of the Year “On the Tolerance of All Religions ...” proclaimed the principle of religious tolerance throughout Russia, and the Decree of the 1783 of the year “On allowing the Mohammedan law to elect the Akhuns themselves ...” ceased the practice of inviting mullahs from Central Asian states, which not only weakened the influence of the Muslims there on their Russian co-religionists, but also allowed to put people loyal to the government to spiritual positions.
But declaring religious freedom, the Empress let the bridle go. The process began to develop spontaneously. Crowds of wandering dervishes appeared in the Ural-Itil region. Mullahs from Khiva and Bukhara go to the villages, preach what they want. They move from place to place, when they want to - they cross the border, they want to - they come back. The number of Akhuns and mullahs in the region is also unlimited. They live on the money of co-religionists, and their knowledge has not been tested by anyone and the mood is unknown.
This disgrace should stop. The draft, developed by Governor-General Osip Igelstrom, was to form a “Muslim commission” from reputable Muslims in Ufa to take examinations for applicants for religious positions and to test the knowledge of existing mullahs in Ufa governorship and the Orenburg region. It was conceived to include in the commission two auns and two mullahs, the provincial prosecutor and members of the “top punishment” should be present at the meetings, and the deputy governor will become the head of office.
The highest decrees on the establishment in Ufa of the Muslim Spiritual Assembly and the appointment of Mufti Mukhamedzhan Huseynov were announced 22 and 23 September 1788.
But after that there was a long pause. First, it was unclear exactly what the Spiritual Assembly should do and to whom to obey. Secondly, no one knew who exactly the mufti was - everyone heard the word, but did not know what it meant.
In the Peter's "Table of Ranks" nothing like there. Indefinitely about the position of the mufti said in the decree of Empress Catherine: "In the Spiritual Assembly, preside over the first Akhun Muhamet Jan Huseynov, of which We all-graciously favor the Mufti with the production of his salary." Everything. Nothing about rights and responsibilities. It does not say which areas are subject to the jurisdiction of the mufti. The limits of power are unclear. Service rank not defined ...
The word stuck out like a peg, to which is attached a single phrase - “the Muhammaddan bishop”. Formulated by Dmitry Borisovich Mertvago, an adviser to the Ufa governor, this definition spread throughout the local offices and finally reached St. Petersburg.
Until the decree of Empress Catherine, the title of mufti among the officials of the clergy is not found in any of the documents. Nobody heard that muftis existed elsewhere in Russia, with the exception of the newly annexed Crimea. Probably Petersburg was introduced to the concepts of mufti and muftiat precisely after the annexation of Tavri. But borrowing did not go far. Crimean Muslim clergy castebra - obtaining a religious title is associated with belonging to the ecclesiastical estate. None of this was intended in the Ufa muftiat. As is customary in the Ural-Volga region, anyone elected by the Muslim community to a spiritual position could be approved in it, regardless of class.
In general, the exact meaning of the word "mufti" was still to be established. The incompleteness of the decree on the appointment of the mufti gave place to assumptions and conjectures. Moreover, the functions of the mufti were understood differently by the governor, the empress, and the mufti himself.
How exactly?
Mufti Mukhamedzhan Huseynov relied on personal experience. In his youth, he was sent by the Collegium of Foreign Affairs with secret assignments to Bukhara and Kabul, where, posing as a shakird student who had come to receive spiritual knowledge, he collected information about the number of troops, their movement, the characters of commanders and the mood in the troops. After returning from Kabul, he served as an officer in Orenburg, then became a mullah and rose to the level of the akhun during the Orenburg border expedition.
Huseynov believed that he was appointed to head the intelligence and diplomatic institution and saw his task in getting information from the Steppe Territory and bringing the Kazakhs to obedience, as well as preventing the influence on the steppe inhabitants of Khiva, Bukhara and the Ottoman sultan. At that time, the anti-Russian runaway Kazan mullahs preached with might and main in the frontier Maly Zhuz. Some enjoyed influence on the Kazakh nobility and incited the Kazakhs to violate the oaths of loyalty to the empress. The duty of his and subordinate mullahs Huseynov saw in stopping hostile agitation. In the Little Horde, the mufti believed, it was necessary to establish itself initially, and then take over the leadership of both the mullahs, and foremen, and sultans.
Under his command, the mufti had already assembled a group of trusted mullahs who were supposed to act in secret. Some of them constantly lived in Central Asian cities under the guise of clergymen who increase their religious knowledge at famous madrasas. Others, under the guise of traffickers, regularly went there with letters and questionnaires from Huseynov and brought back the answers they needed. These services were paid from the treasury with valuable gifts and the right to duty-free trade. Transportation costs must be reimbursed by the muftiat in Ufa. The Muftiyat, according to Huseynov, should become the center of secret diplomacy and gathering information about the eastern neighbors.
Approximately so Huseynov understood his tasks. He did not even think about a Russian religious figure. In a letter of thanks to the Empress, Mukhamedzhan Husseinov calls himself "the Kirghiz-Kaisak mufti." Only.
General Igelstrom looked at the muftiate established at his suggestion differently. He believed that the institution invented by him should, first of all, deal with the mountains of complaints from the Muslim population and establish at least some clerical work. The fact is that the subordinate instances and the courts for decades have been flooded with reports of crimes and misdemeanors of the Muslims, to understand which was not possible.
Complaints and petitions went to the offices, which the mullahs could not or did not want to consider themselves. Complaints of the mullahs came to the governorship. It was not clear how to tackle these issues - who should deal with matters of omission of prayers, adultery, drinking alcohol and other Sharia law? The unfamiliar life, the rules - everything is unfamiliar. The interpreters interpreters in the Ufa and Orenburg offices regularly translated the papers, but there are none among the experts of the Shari'ah. Nobody takes decisions on Muslim affairs. At the time of the establishment of the muftiat, complaints, because of their number, were no longer accepted ... These questions, thought Ighelstrom, the mufti should deal with immediately. It is necessary to clear up the mountains of papers and draw up instructions for Muslims, based on Russian laws.
In order for the mechanism to work, the Governor-General drafted the “Draft Provision on the Spiritual Mohammedan Act of Assembly”. It argued that the muftiyat is under the office of the Ufa governor. The draft clearly outlines the procedure for admission to spiritual positions azancheya, mullah and akhun.
For example, the mullah first elects a rural society, about which the district police officer reports to the deputy governor, which checks whether the elections were correct. The next stage is the exam in the muftiate. The one who answered successfully receives the document of the local government - decree. Did not pass the exam - from the gate turn.
Next - a subtle question of the relationship of family and marriage. And here at Ighelstrom their views. Considering that in this area Muslims especially often violate the law, the governor-general carefully describes all aspects of life. He sees the end to the abuses of marriages, divorces and the division of inheritance in the early adaptation of Muslim traditions to European ones. This is reflected in his romanticism and innocence - he believes that life and attitude can be changed by an authoritative decree ...
Ighelstrom describes in detail the order of construction of mosques and worship. As in the laws on Orthodox churches, Muslims are allowed to have one mosque for a hundred courtyards. The number of clergy at the mosque is not specified. Finally, Ygelstrom examines punishment for crimes against the faith - the omission of prayer, adultery and drunkenness. Sharia provides for corporal punishment for this, but Igelstrom warns of the illegality of such actions: “so that no spiritual, not the Spiritual Assembly itself, would dare to impose on anyone, and less so to commit corporal punishment.” Instead, the guilty is invited to publicly advise or oblige to additionally attend the mosque, and in the case of particularly audacious acts to keep in the mosque under arrest.
Ighelstrom in his project tried to proceed not only from the interests of the state, but also from the needs of the Muslim population. And although this project has never been approved by the government, for lack of other laws relating to the muftiat, it was he who was executed for many decades!
The opinion of the enlightened empress about the mufti and the muftiat was radically different from the opinions of Mukhamedzhan Khuseynov and the governor-general Osip Ighelstrom. Looking at the distant province from the royal throne, the Empress Catherine believed that the expansion of state borders should be supported by instruments of politics, diplomacy and legislation.
She clearly understood that the Muslims of the annexed Kazakh steppes see the Ottoman sultan as their ruler, both secular and religious. In addition, smaller figures also claimed of themselves, claiming to dominate Russian Muslim subjects. Among them stood out especially bilious messages Bukhara, Kokand and Khiva muftis. Moreover, the empress was informed that distant Kyrgyz-Kaisak clans are considered their rightful master of the Chinese emperor!
The Empress saw the immediate goal of the Muslim suburbs, including the Kazakh nomads, recognizing and submitting to the secular power of the Russian emperors, and recognizing spiritual authority over themselves for the mufti Huseynov. So, in the end, everything came together: the need for the mullahs to test for knowledge of Shari'a, the need to clear mountains of complaints and set up legal proceedings, mufti talks over tea drinking in the yurts of the Kazakh elders and great state plans to stop the bloodshed and revolts that shook the steppe spaces since the fall of the Golden Horde.
Russia, having conquered the former territories of the Juchi ulus, was striving for inner peace. Required attention agriculture, manufactories, mining plants and salt pans. The Empress saw the path to the common good in the guarantees of toleration and the observance of the laws of the Russian Empire throughout its space.
Although the tasks and the subordination of the muftiat were not yet defined, immediately after the appointment, the mufti began to struggle to spread his influence in the Steppe Territory. At first I sent letters with teachings to the Little Horde. It was signed by their “spiritual mentor of the Kirghiz-Kaysak people”. He stresses: without him, the mufti, the will of the mullah and the steppe people regarding Alcoran, they themselves have no right to make any explanations. Warns: the mullahs, prompting Russian Muslims to take the side of the Ottoman Ports, and behave, and the steppe nomads to inevitable death. He points out: keep everyone calm and submit to the Russian scepter, for only a strong Russia is capable of ensuring a calm life and the well-being of its subjects.
“Although we are under the same building of orthodoxy,” writes Mufti Huseinov, “there is a great difference between Muslims under the possession of the Turkish Sultan and our entire monarchy, in truth every monarch controls his own preaching to fit one and not to another happen. "
These instructions of the mufti were immediately sent from the Kazakh steppe to Bukhara and Khiva for examination. From there they respond with angry remarks, in which the admonitions of Mukhamedzhan Huseynov are called criminal, and the mufti himself is an impostor. Of particular irritation is the fact that Huseynov recognizes the war that Russia is waging against the Turkish Sultan, the head of all Eastern Muslims, as just.
The mufti, despite the opinion of Bukhara and Khiva, continues to send letters to the Little Horde. In the winter he travels to Uralsk, for several months he meets with Kazakh elders and imams. In early spring, as soon as the snow melted, Mufti Husseinov with a motorcade went to the Steppe Territory, circling the wandering after the wandering, convincing and promoting.
Returning from the steppe winged, Mufti Huseinov often in the capital. He was granted an audience with Empress Catherine, who assured him of his favor, and, returning to Ufa, spoke to his ambition. He stated that henceforth he was equal to the first-class rank, at least to the lieutenant-general (at that time the title of the governor of Osip Ighelstrom), and, therefore, it should be called "superior and His Eminence."
Let me remind you that the right to respectful treatment in the Russian Empire was given by rank. The people of 1 and 2 classes were addressed to “Your Excellency,” 3 and 4, simply “Excellencies”, 5, “Your Highness”, 6 and 7, “Your Excellency” etc. The spiritual sphere was regulated in the same way. “Your Eminence” addressed the Metropolitan and the Archbishop, “Your Eminence” to the bishop, “Your High Reverend”, the Abbot, “Your reverend” to the priest ...
The desire of the mufti to be called "superior and reverent," irritated the local authorities. But, on the other hand, the meaning he had just acquired in Petersburg is unclear. It was required to clarify. The relevant request Ufa governorship sent to the Senate. Not satisfied with this, Governor-General Igelstrom went to St. Petersburg, where he discussed matters with the secretary of the Empress, Prince A. Bezborodko.
In St. Petersburg amazed! It turned out that Hussein takes too high and too fast. They decided: the mufti is just starting to work, there is much to be done, the mufti’s too high status can undermine the management of the region. It was considered correct that Mufti Huseinov was under the authority of the governor and was called “high-grade”. Igelstrom must indicate to Husseinov that the duty of the mufti is to manage affairs only according to religious dignity, and he should not be concerned with secular affairs!
After the establishment of the muftiat, the main thing changes - the order of appointment of the Muslim clergy. In most of Russia, it now takes place on the basis of secular legislation, which takes into account the principles of Sharia, as well as local customs.
This order was not established immediately. Even at the end of the 19th century, not only in remote areas, but also in the cities, there were “faultless” mullahs. Nevertheless, the order of approval for the position of the mullah by the muftiat and the provincial authorities gave impetus to the “said mullah” to become a title and a profession.
Official servants of the mosque had few rights and privileges. The only privilege enshrined in the law was exemption from corporal punishment. In addition, rural societies exempted imams from monetary and natural taxes and duties (it was impossible to see the mullah, who, like his fellow villagers, was involved in repairing the road, bridge, or in shipping). Representatives of the lower Muslim clergy government periodically awarded medals.No cash payments were made to the mullahs by the government, although this issue was not once discussed. Therefore, when they write about government mullahs of the times of the Russian Empire as government officials, they make a gross mistake - the lack of state salaries and election made them much more dependent on the parishioners than on local authorities. That is why many rural decree mullahs opposed government regulations that infringed upon the rights of the Mahalah communities that elected them.
In 1790-1792, Alexander Peutling, who was the "governor of the Ufa governorship and the Ufa province, became governor", was appointed to the post of Simbirsk and Ufa governor-general O.A. Igelstrom, who had gone to war with Sweden. He was familiar with the situation in the province, but he had his own opinion about the management methods.
The successor of Igelstrom believed that the order and obedience of the steppe dwellers can be brought only by strict coercion. Mufti Huseynov, according to Peutling, shows excessive softness to the tribes and clans who entered Russian citizenship, but did not stop raids and pillage. Peutling is also irritated by the constant appeals of the mufti to the provincial administration with the request to release the Kazakhs arrested for the looting contained in the border fortresses. They are also disturbed by the sums that the mufti demands from the treasury for gifts to the Kazakh foremen. Considering Mukhamedzhan Khuseynov to be an unnecessary and harmful man, Peutling removed him from participation in diplomatic missions.
Thus, the period of the burepod-like activity of Mufti Huseynov was replaced first by a lull, and then by complete calm. However, by that time, the religious authority of the mufti among the Kazakh elite was great, and his removal from business first caused bewilderment, and then open discontent of the sultans. In the summer of 1790, the leaders of the steppe inhabitants Kara-Kabek biy and Shubar biy appealed to the government asking "that in the future the baron Ighelstrom and mufti Mukhamedzhan should rule the steppe people together and that people, of course, Peutling - S.S.) , were removed from us away. " Apparently, the idea of the release of the Governor-General Peutling was suggested to the Kazakh sultans by Mufti Mukhamedzhan Khuseynov himself.
Be that as it may, and in November 1794, the vice-governor of the Ufa governorship, State Councilor-General Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Barataev told the military office that the Ufa governor Putling was dismissed by the Highest order, and the prince of the governorship and the governor was charged to him by the governor.
It was another victory for Mufti Huseynov.
And now about the lesions. Women come into someone else's life and redraw it as they do with their dresses. Again, in the fate of Mufti Huseynov there was a seducer. Her name was Aisha. Turk, widow of the commandant of the fortress Izmail, who died during the storming of its Russian troops. By the will of fate, she ended up in Russia, in Kazan - here she married a famous merchant of the second guild, S. Apanaev. Soon he died, leaving a widow of two children and a huge inheritance. For three years, grooms from officials and merchants were sent to Aishe, but she rejected all.
Arriving in Kazan to meet with Emperor Pavel I, the mufti, on the advice of the senior akhun Kazan, Khozheshev, stayed at Aisha’s house. The hostess was fascinated by the nobility of Huseynov. Mufti Aisha struck with femininity and beauty. The bed is the closest space to space. The liveliest of pleasures ended with a shudder that was almost painful, in appearance - the death one, and when he came to life, he found Aisha sleeping next to her, curled up. Pillows, crumpled sheets kept traces of heat. The dress hung on a chair in soft outlines of comfort and powerlessness. He then could not have imagined that Aisha would demand the position of a lioness for himself, because only that he was lying next to a lion.
Their life together did not last long. Mufti Huseynov, having heard that Aisha and am with the judicial chief amuse themselves in parallel, left Kazan immediately. Aisha, rejected and angry, began sending petitions to government and judicial instances. In them, she claimed that Husseinov entered into a marriage union with her and spent her property, which Aisha demanded to return.
In 1801, the mufti, returning from Moscow, where he was present at the coronation of Emperor Alexander I, was detained in Kazan for refusing to appear in court. The city judge ruled that Khuseynov was found guilty of deceiving the merchant and ordered to recover from him about three and a half thousand rubles.
For some time the mufti refused to repair the damage, but the Ufa authorities began to insist on doing so. Husseinov offered to compensate for a part of his lands in the Ufa district, and then diamond earrings of his deceased wife. The provincial government refused to compensate in this form and the Ufa town governor, together with the private bailiff, describing the property of the mufti, took most of the things.
The story is extremely shameful ... Mufti decided to get married as soon as possible. At first, he intended to marry the daughter of Khan Nurali, who was in the Ufa exile. It is not clear what prevented the wedding, possibly the subsequent death of Khan Nurali, but the marriage did not take place.
The next was an attempt by the mufti to marry the daughter of the late Kirghiz-Kaysak Khan Ishim. Previously Huseynov obtained the consent of the sultans, then they sent a petition to Emperor Paul I. Permission was obtained, but while there was a correspondence, the daughter of Khan Ishim jumped out to marry the son of Sultan Zanibek. Mufti sent a letter to Paul I with a request to return the betrothed. however, the emperor advised in such a matter as marriage, to rely not on the emperor, but solely on himself!
Then the mufti began to look for a more reliable bride. She became a relative of Khan Aichuvak, daughter of the former Khiva khan Karai-Sultan. The marriage took place on 1 August 1800, in Orenburg. The entire elite of Kazakh society was present, as well as the Petersburg officials who conducted the revision of the gubernia in St. Petersburg — Senators M. G. Spiridonov and N. V. Lopukhin. Mufti's wife's name was Karakuz, but Mukhamedzhan Khuseinov called her in a Russian manner Lizaveta. Female love without reciprocity. Masculine ostentatious indifference. Bitter saliva stands by the name of wormwood ...
After the examination of clergymen and the issuance of certificates was organized in the muftiate, a problem arose - some influential people from among the abyz and mullahs refused to pass the examinations. The authority of the mufti did not recognize. The fact is that the very principle of appointment to the post, which was introduced by the muftiat, contradicted the tradition of electing the mullahs of the Muslim community of Mahalis in the Ural-Volga region.
In the past, the community was chosen by people whom it knew well and respected. The chosen mullah became a teacher, a judge, a doctor, an adviser, to whom they addressed on any matter. Muftiyat, establishing control over freely chosen mullahs, broke the established order.
The main opponents of the muftiat were identified. They became abyzy. Who are they? At the head of each rural community was a group of old aksakals who had significant life experience and enjoyed influence on the population, which made decisions of the oldest council obligatory for all members of the community. In addition to the council of elders and the general meeting, at the head of each village was also abyz, literally from the Arabic hafiz - knowing the Quran by heart. In fact, the knowledge of the abyz were different, in some villages even an illiterate person was called abyz, who knew several prayers and ayahs from the Koran, but distinguished by morality or special merit.
In all disputable cases that arose in the village, it was decided to turn to abyz. Abyz in rural communities isolated from the world became guardians of traditions and defenders of the rights of waving. Regardless of the knowledge and conformity to the title, they became conductors of a very peculiar "folk Islam" with its cult of saints-Awlis, with worship of holy sources, graves and mausoleums, with the idea of the city of Bulgar as a shrine of the Ural-Volga region, even meaning that surpasses Mecca !
Not recognizing the spiritual authority of the mufti and the Spiritual Assembly, bybyz, after the commencement of issuance of decrees to the post of clergy by the Ufa muftiat, were in conflict with those mullahs and criticized the innovations. They were not satisfied with the new stringent requirements for religious education and knowledge of the Shari'ah, borrowed from Bukhara. They did not accept the examination procedure itself, where an adult and respected person could be trapped. It didn’t like that the mullah, in addition to the elections in the community, should be approved by the provincial authorities. Therefore, at first, when the muftiyat was just beginning to work, some of the appointed mullahs were driven out of the mosques by abyz. So, for example, happened in the famous mosque at the Makaryevsky fair and in several other places. The movement of abyz shook the Muslim society, it included some reputable Sufi sheikhs, or as they were called in the Ural-Volga region, the Ishans.
The litigation, the courts in which the mufti was involved, are detrimental to his reputation. If the stories of women are harmless to one degree or another, the accusations of the Muslim clergy were experienced hard.
In 1803, the mufti was accused of violating Sharia norms. In the petition addressed to the Minister of the Interior V.P. Kochubey, a certain Abdullah Hisametdinov listed the misconduct of the mufti: wearing silk clothes, using gold dishes, and failing to pray five times. The letter cited facts of arbitrariness, including the illegal removal from office of those who are mufti disagreeable, as well as patronage of county Akhuns taking bribes. Finally, the heaviest accusation is receiving gifts during a detour of the communities, as well as taking bribes when taking exams.
Abdullah Hisametdinov wrote that during the testing of the imams, the mufti “takes with the mullahs money for 20, 30 and 50 rubles, and sometimes more. If someone happens to them who does not give him money, then during the test he asks such questions, which, perhaps, are not at all available. So he refutes the knowledge of the subject and it is no longer possible to become an imam who did not give a bribe. ”
A year later, the akhun of the village of Lagirevo, 8 of the Bashkir canton Yanybai Ishmuhametov, made a list of akhuns and mullahs who are forced to pay the muftis of money due to threats of deprivation of their position. Ishmukhametov testified in the Orenburg Chamber of Criminal and Civil Court. But the hopes of the akhun on the trial of the case were not justified by the court order - the mullahs were called into the provincial government for questioning, in which Mukhamedzhan Khuseynov himself was present, who by his very appearance led the complainants to submission, and completely destroyed them with additional questions.
By the personal order of Governor Volkonsky, an additional thorough investigation was carried out. Judge officials interviewed the mullahs and the Muslim population of several counties of the Orenburg and Kazan provinces. Most clerics bribery mufti denied. At the same time, several mullahs of the Kazan and Orenburg provinces showed that Mukhamedzhan Khuseynov was taking offerings. In Kazan province vague rumors about the mufti’s bribery went among the population, but they were not supported by the facts.
What is Mukhamedzhan Huseynov? He was really angry and demanded to consider all the charges against him in the Governing Senate. The final permission to institute a criminal case against him, the mufti believed, can only be given by the emperor. The perseverance of the mufti bore fruit. A. N. Golitsyn, in a letter to Governor G. S. Volkonsky in October 1811, wrote that “the Sovereign ordered the trial of the mufti in the Criminal Chamber to cease and henceforth muftis, if they were in the actions of the court subject, to judge in the Governing Senate from the report to His Majesty through the head of the department of spiritual affairs of foreign confessions. "
Thus, as a result of lengthy litigation, the head of the Spiritual Assembly actually achieved the inviolability of his person, thereby greatly raising the status of the mufti.
At the beginning of the XIX century, Mufti Husseinov remains the key figure in the Muslim world of Russia. His activity as a diplomat and a confederate has expanded considerably. The mufti goes to the Caucasus, where he takes Russian prisoners from Kabardinians, organizes tribal courts for the highlanders under Sharia law, introduces a procedure for taking the oath of allegiance to the Russian crown on the Koran. In 1805, he participates in a secret commission on Turkmen affairs on the east coast of the Caspian Sea.
The mufti was accepted into the honorary members of the Council of Kazan University and the St. Petersburg Free Economic Society. In general, contemporaries evaluate the first Russian mufti as a statesman and a man of the empire. Time is passing, and the muftiate is becoming increasingly strengthened in the entire Ural-Volga region and the western part of Siberia. Gradually, appointments to spiritual positions became his unconditional prerogative.
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