Russian Hajj: Empire And The Pilgrimage To Mecca
by Eileen Kane /
2015 / English / PDF
25.6 MB Download
In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial
conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of
the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The first book
in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule,
In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial
conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of
the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The first book
in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule,Russian Hajj
Russian Hajj tells the story of how tsarist officials
struggled to control and co-opt Russia's mass hajj traffic,
seeing it not only as a liability, but also an opportunity. To
support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control
was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox
Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to
Russia's policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border,
migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials' fears of
infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but
Kane innovatively argues that it also generated new thinking
within the government about the utility of the empire's Muslims
and their global networks.
tells the story of how tsarist officials
struggled to control and co-opt Russia's mass hajj traffic,
seeing it not only as a liability, but also an opportunity. To
support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control
was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox
Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to
Russia's policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border,
migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials' fears of
infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but
Kane innovatively argues that it also generated new thinking
within the government about the utility of the empire's Muslims
and their global networks.Russian Hajj
Russian Hajj reveals for the first time Russia's
sprawling international hajj infrastructure, complete with
lodging houses, consulates, "Hejaz steamships," and direct rail
service. In a story meticulously reconstructed from scattered
fragments, ranging from archival documents and hajj memoirs to
Turkic-language newspapers, Kane argues that Russia built its
hajj infrastructure not simply to control and limit the
pilgrimage, as previous scholars have argued, but to channel it
to benefit the state and empire. Russian patronage of the hajj
was also about capitalizing on human mobility to capture new
revenues for the state and its transport companies and laying
claim to Islamic networks to justify Russian expansion.
reveals for the first time Russia's
sprawling international hajj infrastructure, complete with
lodging houses, consulates, "Hejaz steamships," and direct rail
service. In a story meticulously reconstructed from scattered
fragments, ranging from archival documents and hajj memoirs to
Turkic-language newspapers, Kane argues that Russia built its
hajj infrastructure not simply to control and limit the
pilgrimage, as previous scholars have argued, but to channel it
to benefit the state and empire. Russian patronage of the hajj
was also about capitalizing on human mobility to capture new
revenues for the state and its transport companies and laying
claim to Islamic networks to justify Russian expansion.