1

Russia's Encounter with Islam

(622±1480)

Russia before Rus

By the time Islam emerged in Arabia as a new powerful religion in

the seventh century AD, the ancestors of modern Russians, or
proto-Russians, were still pagans who venerated natural forces.
Their pagan pantheon included Perun, the god of thunder and
lightning; Svaroga, the god of the sky; Stribog, the god of the
wind, and the god of the sun known under the names of Dajbog,
Khors and Veles. The pagan customs which were centred on a
sacrifice ritual, or a treba, constituted an integral part of their
existence. Proto-Russians belonged to the eastern Slavic tribes of
Poliane, Severiane, Viatichi, Radimichi, Dragovichi, Il'men and
Krivichi. They populated the river banks of the Dniepr, Pripyat',
Bug and Volkhov of presentday western Russia and Ukraine. They
were largely sedentary people and made their living by gathering,
fishing, hunting, trade and agriculture based on the slash-and-
burn technique. The prominent Russian historian V. Kluchevskii,
among others, believed that the formation of Russian ethnicity
and later of the Russian nation occurred under the influence of
four major natural factors ± les (the forest), step' (the steppe),
reka (the river) and zima (the winter). Kluchevskii also argued that
the enormity and boundlessness of the habitat and the short
agricultural cycle due to the long and severe winter enhanced
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 2

such Russian national characteristics as an expansive attitude to

environment and short bursts of productivity, followed by longer
periods of apathy and idleness.1

The flat landscape, lacking major water and mountain barriers,

facilitated a spontaneous and gradual expansion of proto-Russians
eastwards and southwards. By the eighth century AD they had
settled in the river basins of the Oka, Volga (Idil') and Kama
(Chulman). In the next century they occupied most of the eastern
European plains and became one of the

1
largest ethnic groups in Eurasia. Their immediate neighbours were
various nomadic and sedentary peoples of Turkic, Altaic, Finno-
Ugric, Mongol, Iranian and Caucasian origins.2 The relations
between protoRussians and their neighbours presented a
combination of conflict and co-operation. Conflicts arose because
of the claims over fertile agricultural lands and pastures, natural
resources, and lucrative transcontinental trade routes. The major
regional opponents of the proto-Russians were the Turkic
nomads. Their raids on the Russian settlements and merchant
missions seriously hindered the economic advance and political
consolidation of the early Russians. On the other hand, the
common natural conditions and external threats facilitated close
interaction between proto-Russians, Turks and various other
Eurasian peoples, which accounted for the development of similar
survival and production skills, customary norms and beliefs and
essential elements of social organiza-

tion.3
The economy and polity of the proto-Russians developed under
the impact of their more culturally and economically advanced
neighbours, represented by the Turkic Khaganat, Biarmia and the
Khazar Khaganat and to a lesser extent Khwarasm, Soghdiana,
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 3

Sassanid Iran, Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate. The major

agents of the external formative influence were proto-Russian
merchants who participated in the lucrative trans-Eurasian
north±south trade, known as `the Greek route' which connected
Eastern Europe and Scandinavia with Constantinople and the
Middle East by the Black and Mediterranean seas. According to
Arab and Persian chronicles, the proto-Russians, who were called
the Kuiabah, Arthaniyah, or Sakaliba , conducted regular trade
trips to Baghdad and Constantinople, as well as to Derbend and
Semender on the Caspian sea. They were selling slaves, wheat,
honey, wax, furs, timber, lead, arrows, swords, armour, black sable
and beaver-skins. Alongside `the Greek route', proto-Russians
were also involved in the trade by the terrestrial `salt route' that
was parallel to `the Greek route' and `the Zalozhnii route' which
linked Eurasia to the Caucasus and the Middle East. The
participation in the trans-Eurasian trade triggered urban
development among proto-Russians who built their first towns
along the trade routes. Among them were Kiev, Chernigov,
Pereslavl', Polotsk, Rostov, Liubech,

Novgorod and Izborsk.4

The archeological and historical sources indicate that the initial
political and social organization of proto-Russians was particularly
influenced by the Khazars and the Biars (Bulgars). In the mid-
seventh century AD the Khazars broke away from the Turkic
Khaganat (552±745) and formed their own state in the steppes
between the rivers Volga and Don and the Azov sea. Its capital
was the town of Itil' in the Lower Volga. By the mideighth century
it had turned into a powerful military empire which occupied
most of Eurasia and challenged the Byzantine and Arab Caliphate
for regional supremacy. The Khazar ruling military class consisted
of Turkic nomads who imposed their suzerainty and tribute on
numerous sedentary peoples who were engaged in what was for
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 4

the time advanced agriculture and trade. The sources reveal that
the Khazars had a sophisticated fiscal and tax system. Although
the Khazar rulers were largely pagan they allowed Christianity and
Islam within the borders of the Khaganat. Islam arrived in the
Khazar Khaganat during the Arab±Khazar wars of

708±37. By the end of the eighth century the Khazar capital, Itil',
and other Khazar towns had mosques.Various medieval
travelogues pointed out their religious tolerance which presented
a sharp contrast to the amosphere of religious intolerance in
contemporary Christian Western Europe. In many Khazar towns
mosques were situated in close proximity to Christian churches
and pagan shrines. The military guard of the Khagan were
predominantly Muslims.5

From the seventh century, the Khazars sought domination over

various proto-Russian tribes. Arab sources inform us that some
protoRussian tribes, known as Kasogi, allied with the Khazars
against the Arab advance in the Caucasus. Following defeat by the
Arabs in 737 AD, the Khazar rulers forced some Kasogi to move to
the North Caucasus in order to strengthen the Khazar defence
there. In 740 AD the Khazar Khagan introduced Judaism as the
official religion of the empire. This decision in favour of Judaism
was to a large extent determined by the contemporary geopolitics
since it provided the Khagan with the ideological counterweight in
his relations with Christian Byzantium and the Islamic Arab
Caliphate. There is no evidence that the confessional pluralism of
the Khazar empire was seriously affected as a result of the official
Judaization of the elite. The devastating defeats of the Arabs at
Talas in 751 AD and Poitiers in 753 AD facilitated the Khazar
expansion to the west. By the mid-eighth century, the Khazars
established their rule over the southern part of the North
Caucasus. However, their further expansion westwards was
stopped by the Biars who controlled the Eurasian part of `the
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 5

Greek trade route'. As a result, many proto-Russian tribes were

drawn into a century-long conflict between the Khazar Khaganat
and

Biarmia.6
It is likely that Biarmia was named after its main ethnic group ±
the
Biars (a Turkic nomadic people) who inhabited the valley of the
rivers

Volga and Kama. Since the sixth century they had abandoned a
nomadic way of life in favour of settlement. Like the Khazars, the
Biars were originally under the political control of the Turkic
Khaganat. At the end of the seventh century they broke away
from it and established their own state. The economic and
political strength of Biarmia was largely dependent on their
control over the north±south trade. The Turkic elite was pagan,
although the population of Biarmia was multi-ethnic and poly-
confessional. Alongside the Biars it included other Turkic peoples,
such as the Bulgars, the Essengels, the Suvars, the Bersuls, the
Burtas and the Barandzhers, as well as Finno-Ugric peoples,
represented by the Maris, the Mordvas, the Udmurts and the
Komis. Biarmia had a relatively developed urban culture. In its
towns there were designated districts for foreign traders. For
example, the chronicles referred to the proto-Russian trade
settlements in the towns of Bulgar and Oshel on the Volga; the
towns of Suvar on the river Utka and Kashen on the Kama. In the
ninth century the south-western province of Biarmia, known as
Volga Bulgaria, evolved into a separate state. From the twelfth
century Biarmia was not mentioned any more in the chronicles.7

In the early ninth century, the Khazars overpowered the Biars

and forced them into submission. The Biars lost to the Khazars
their control over a substantial part of the north±south trade and
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 6

began to pay tribute to the Khagan. Having subjugated Biarmia

the Khazars advanced further into the Eastern European plains,
largely inhabited by proto-Russian tribes. In 859, they took Kiev,
one of the largest trade centres, which was traditionally
dominated by the Eastern Slavic tribe of Poliane. Afterwards, the
Khazars imposed their domination over Severiane, Radimichi and
Viatichi. The chieftains of these tribes agreed to pay regular
tribute of ermine, swords and sable skins to the Khagan and to
send members of their families as hostages to the Khagan court.
The merchants from these tribes were subjected to a tax of one-
tenth of the value of the goods in favour of the Khagan. In return
the Khazars guaranteed them military protection against plunder
by nomads. As a result of the Khazar subjugation of most of the
proto-Russian tribes, the borders of the Khazar Khaganat
stretched from Kiev in the west to Khwarasm in the east and from
Biarmia in the north to the Bosphorus in the south.8

Kievan Rus

The imposition of Khazar tutelage enhanced ethnic conciousness

among proto-Russians who began to seek political consolidation
against external domination.9At the end of the ninth century, this
process acquired a new momentum as a resultof the Varangian
(Viking) invasion from the north.

The advance of theVarangians from Scandinavia into the Eurasian

plains was driven by the ambitions of their chieftains (kniazes) to
gain control over the lucrative north±south trade. The realization
of this plan clashed, however, with the interests of the Khazars
and their vassals ± the protoRussians and the Biars. In 882 the
Varangians under the command of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 7

Kniaz Oleg defeated the Poliane and took Kiev which they turned
into the Varangian political centre and their major trade
emporium in Eurasia.

After this Varangian and foreign chronicles referred to Kiev as the

capital of the new political formation ± Kievan Rus.10 It is believed
that the founding fathers of Rus were the chieftains Sineus,
Trevor, Askold and Rurik. The latter became the founder of the
first political dynasty in Rus ± the Ruriks (859±1598). By the end
of the ninth century, the Varangians had imposed their control on
the Drevliane, Severiane, Radimichi and some other eastern Slavic
tribes. Thus, the borders of Kievan Rus stretched from

Lake Ladoga in the north to the Dniepr in the south, and from the
Upper Western Bug in the west to the river Kliazma in the east.

The Varangian invasion remains a problematic issue in Russian

history. Many Western and some Russian historians regard it as
the real beginning of Russian history while others tend to view it
as an important but not a pivotal event. They base their argument
on the comparative analysis of the pre-Varangian and post-
Varangian periods in Russian history, on the one hand, and the
comparison of post-Varangian (Norman) development in Russia
and in Northern Europe, on the other. This analysis reveals the
continuity, although with significant modifications, of the basic
socio-economic, political and cultural patterns in Russian historical
evolution before and after the Varangians. It also shows more
commonalities between Kievan Rus and the Khazar Khaganat,
Biarmia, Volga Bulgaria, or even the Arab Caliphate, than between
Kievan Rus and post-Varangian (Norman) Western Europe. Thus,
the Norman invasion of England at approximately the same
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 8

period caused the fusion of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon

economic and political systems which resulted in centralized
English feudalism.11 In the case of Russia, however, the Varangian
invasion did not bring such structural changes and was
suppressed by the existing social, economic and ethno-cultural
system, although it created the nucleus of the elite represented
by the Rurik kniazes, the court (kniazhie liudi), the guards
(druzhina) and the trade nobility (boiare).12

The Varangian advance into the Eastern European plains, which

were part of the Khazar domain, precipitated a number of wars
between the Kievans and the Khazars. Relatively soon the Khazars
managed to reverse the situation and to restore their supremacy
over Kiev and most of Eurasia. The Kievan Kniaz and other Rurik
kniazes were brought into submission to the Khagan and were
forced to pay him tribute. The Ruriks were formally incorporated
within the Khazar imperial hierarchy and were given the titles of
Smaller Khagans compared to the Greater Khazar Khagan, based
in Itil'. The establishment of the Khazar tutelage over the

Varangians furthered their `Khazarization' and `nativization'. They

were involved in an intensive ethno-cultural amalgamation with
the local dignitaries. As before the Varangian invasion, the
political power in Kievan Rus was rather a function of commercial
and military success, than of land-ownership, as was the case in
contemporary Western Europe. The Kievan ruling class, although
of Varangian ethnic origins, absorbed the basic indigenous
economic, socio-cultural and political traditions and behavioural
norms, as well as rituals and court etiquette.

The social hierarchy of the Kievans was vertical and

characterized by rigidity. At its top was a supreme ruler, the
Kievan kniaz, who had absolute sacral and secular authority. Local
kniazes and other dignitaries were subordinated directly to him.
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 9

They, in turn, had unlimited authority over the peasants,

craftsmen and merchants who lived within their domain. Kniazes
put a great value on ceremony and symbolism to underline their
positions. The Kievans preserved, albeit with some modifications,
the centralized tributary system which was at the core of the
economic system of the Khazar empire. The local eastern Slavs
paid tribute in the form of furs and money, mainly in silver
dirhams which was the currency of the Arab Caliphate. The
tribute was either to be brought to Kiev, or to be collected by the
posadniks, the kniaz's personal representatives in particular
regions. After the tribute was paid, the Kievans, like the Khazars,
did not interfere in the internal life of local communities. At the
centre of the ownership relations of Kievan Rus remained slaves
(kholops, naimits) who cultivated the land. The development of
towns continued to be determined by the north±south trade.
Compared to contemporary towns in Western Europe the early
towns of Kievan Rus lacked the high urban culture and traditions
of urban autonomy. This, as well as the tributary-redistributary
system blocked the development of economic and political
autonomy in the regions of Kievan Rus. Furthermore, the
prevalence of politics over economics and the submergence of
the state by the autocratic ruler jeopardized the subsequent
parcellization of the sovereignty and constrained the emergence
of unconditional private property, as in Western Europe.13
The preservation of Khazar tutelage facilitated the ethnic and
cultural pluralism of early Kievan Rus. Eastern Slavs and other
peoples of Kievan Rus maintained their primary engagement with
their eastern neighbours, many of whom were Muslims. Among
them were the Volga Bulgars, Bukharians and other Central Asians
who acquainted protoRussians and other eastern Slavs with Islam.
Islam gained a foothold in Bukhara, Khwarasm and Samarkand as
a result of the Arab conquest in the mid-seventh century. Most
Central Asians belonged to the Hanafi madhhab (a juridical school
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 10

within Sunni Islam) of Sunni Islam. From the end of the eighth
century the political and social evolution of the proto-Russians
was particularly influenced by the Volga Bulgars (protoBulgars),
who split from Biarmia and formed a separate state ± Volga
Bulgaria in Lower and Middle Volga, which still remained
politically dependent on the Khazar Khaganat. Volga Bulgars were
Turkic people ethnically and culturally close to the Khazars. Like its
predecessor Khazaria, Volga Bulgaria presented a multi-ethnic and
poly-confessional state formation. The largest ethnic groups were
of Turkic and FinnoUgric origins. Relations between Kievan Rus
and Volga Bulgaria were shaped by their common opposition to
Khazar supremacy, on the one hand, and their increasing
competition for economic and political domination in western
Eurasia, especially the north±south trade, on the other.
Henceforce, the Bulgar and, subsequently, Tatar factors were
central to the development of proto-Russia.

In 922 AD, the Bulgar ruler Almas Shilki proclaimed Sunni Islam of
the
Hanafi madhhab as the official religion of Volga Bulgaria. The
formal conversion to Islam occurred during the legendary visit of
Ibn Fadlan, the ambassador of the Abbasid Caliph Muqtadir
(908±32) to Volga Bulgaria. It sought to cement the alliance
between the Volga Bulgars and the Abbasids which substantially
strengthened the positions of the Bulgars against the Judaistic
Khazars and pagan Kievans. On the other hand, the choice in
favour of the Hanafi madhhab was made under the strong
influence of existing commercial and diplomatic links between the
Volga Bulgars and predominantly Hanafi Muslim Central Asia. It is
significant that the Bulgar elite refused to follow the Abbasid
version of Islamic public rites and insisted on sticking to more
familiar Islamic practices which resembled those in Central Asia.
Some researchers interpret this fact as a sign of political wisdom
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 11

and substantial ideological independence of the rulers of Volga

Bulgaria. The official Islamicization of Volga Bulgaria occurred
against the background of the earlier spontaneous proliferation of
Islam in the region. By the end of the tenth century, Volga Bulgaria
and its capital Biliar, in particular, had become one of the
renowned centres of Islamic learning and scholarship. It had a
wide Islamic educational network represented by mektebs and
medresses (the Islamic primary and secondary schools). Its ulema
(Islamic scholars) were in the vanguard of Islamic creative
thinking, promoting a tajdid (renovation of the Islamic creed) and
ijtihad (critical theological judgement).14
The Islamicization of Volga Bulgaria had important political and
cultural implications for Kievan Rus, and subsequently for Russia.
The rivalry between the originally pagan Kievan rulers and their
Islamicized Bulgar and Judaist Khazar conterparts influenced
Kiev's decision in favour of official conversion to Greek Orthodoxy.
According to chronicles, the Kievan elite had a lengthy period of
hesitation over the choice of future religion for their subjects.
They invited to Kiev Orthodox, Islamic and Judaist clerics who
explained the basics of their religions. Interestingly, in 986 Volga
Bulgar delegates to Kiev merely succeeded in turning Kievan Kniaz
Vladimir towards Islam. The distinguished Russian scholar V.
Bartol'd argued that Kievan Rus very nearly became an Islamic
country and avoided it only by pure accident.15 In 988 Kievan
Kniaz Vladimir proclaimed Orthodox Christianity as the state
religion of Kievan Rus. Nevertheless, right up to the present day
Russian historians and philosophers have questioned the
correctness of the Christian Orthodox option for Russia and have
expounded on the allegedly lost benefits had Russia been
Islamicized.16 It is worth noting that other peoples of Eurasia
showed similar hesitation between Orthodox Christianity and
Islam. For example, the Pechenegs and Karluks chose Islam, while
Alans and Polovtsy (Kipchaks) preferred Orthodoxy.
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 12

Kniaz Vladimir believed that the introduction of Orthodox

Christianity would secure Byzantine support for Kievan Rus against
its powerful regional rivals ± the Islamicized Volga Bulgaria and
Judaistic Khazar Khaganat. In 907 Kiev and Constantinople signed
a treaty on mutual military assistance in the case of their
involvement in a war with a third party. The treaty strengthened
the regional status of Kievan Rus. In 965 the Kievans, who were
supported by Byzantium, defeated the Khazars

and destroyed their capital, Itil'. Kiev's victory triggered the

disintegration and eventual collapse of the Khazar Empire. Some
members of the Khazar elite pledged their allegiance to the
Kievan Kniaz and were accepted into the Kievan court. Special
Khazar military units were formed within the Kievan troops,
lasting until the twelfth century. Those Khazar dignitaries and
military who refused to submit to Kievan rule fled either to
present-day Hungary, or to the Caucasus and Crimea, where they
were subjected to assimilation and Islamicization. The largest
Khazar enclave remained in the city of Derbend in the North
Caucasus. For two centuries after the Kievan victory, Khazar
quarters continued to exist in Kiev and some other towns of
Kievan Rus.17

The demise of the Khazar Khaganat marked the beginning of

the independent political existence of Kievan Rus. Nevertheless, in
the following two centuries, its development was largely
determined by the Khazar legacy. Thus, the Rus kniazes continued
to hold parallel titles of khagans, or white khagans. Their military
organization followed the Khazar patterns and the tributary
system remained the economic basis of Kievan Rus. In spite of
official Christianization the Rus kniazes for quite a long period
afterwards continued to appeal simultaneously to Jesus Christ and
to Perun and other pagan gods in their political and social
practices. At the same time the institutionalization of Orthodox
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 13

Christianity introduced a new Byzantine dimension into the

development of Rus and strengthened its distinctiveness from the
Khazar and Bulgar patterns, on the one hand, and from Western
Europe, on the other. Orthodox Christianity enabled the Rus
kniazes to present themselves as perpetuators of the Byzantine
imperial and spiritual traditions which sacralized the secular
authority and sanctioned its supremacy over the law. This
resulted in the merger between the Christian Orthodox Church
and secular authority whereas in Western Europe the Church
competed with it.18 Subsequently, the religious and cultural
difference between Russia and Western Europe, which since the
eleventh century developed predominantly within the Catholic
context, was codified through the adoption of different alphabets
(Cyrillic and Latin respectively), written languages and literary
norms. Significantly, this divergence of political patterns and high
cultures of Rus and Western Europe occurred against the
background of the continuity of the grassroots eastern social and
cultural traditions of Rus.

It could be argued therefore that the Varangian invasion, in

spite of its undoubted significance, did not interfere with the
existing Eurasian dimension of the political and cultural evolution
of proto-Russians who together with other sedentary and
nomadic peoples of Eurasia constituted an integral part of its
ecological and social system. Within this system Rus's contacts
with its Eurasian neighbours, many of whom were Islamicized,
and Byzantium had priority over its relations with Western
Europe. The Western direction of the Rus was mainly confined to
their involvement in the north±south trade and the sporadic
political contacts of the kniazes of Novgorod and Pskov with their
Scandinavian and Western European counterparts.19 Since initially
Christianization in
14 Russia and Islam

Kievan Rus was predominantly an elitist phenomenon, it coexisted

with the continuing paganism, or the religious syncretism of
ordinary people. The ordinary Rus therefore did not share the
Crusade mentality against Muslims, which was characteristic of
the contemporary Western European public. Also, compared to
Byzantium the Christian Orthodox religiosity among ordinary Rus
did not acquire a dogmatic form and absorbed various pre-
Christian beliefs. As a result, there emerged a popular Orthodox
Christianity which had some common features with popular
beliefs of other peoples of Eurasia, including Muslims.

On the whole, the adoption of Orthodox Christianity symbolized

the divergence of political traditions of Rus and its Islamic
neighbours, Volga Bulgaria, in particular, while it did not
significantly change the existing patterns of relations between
ordinary peoples. The main reason for this was the considerable
autonomy of the local societies from their respective states
embodied in their autocratic rulers, the persistence of common
pagan and customary practices and the flexibility and tolerance of
the Hanafi madhhab of the Volga Bulgars. On a popular level Rus
and Volga Bulgars shared similar beliefs in the woodgoblin
(shurale / leshii), the house-spirit (bichura / domovoi) and the
spirit of a dead relative which, allegedly, returned on a particular
day after the death.20 The Rus and Bulgar folk festivals also had a
lot in common because they originated from common pagan
practices based on the agricultural cycle. Among such similar
festivals was, for example, a celebration of the arrival of spring
which was known as the maslenitsa among the Rus, and sabantuy
among the Bulgars (later Tatars). The other Rus popular festival,
the igrishe, was very similar to the Bulgar festival, the djien. Both
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 15

were accompanied by an international trade fair (a yarmarka),

games and various other entertainments which were part of
ancient traditions of annual trade and cultural gatherings of
various peoples of Eurasia and the Islamic East. Among them
were people of Slavic, Turkic and Finno-Ugric origins who
professed paganism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and other
religious beliefs. The impact of these traditional gatherings can
still be traced in some similarities of dress design, cuisine, games
and entertainment of different peoples of Eur-

asia.21
On the official level, Kievan Rus's liberation from the Khazar
suzerainty and its Christianization introduced significant changes
into the policies and attitudes of Rus rulers towards Volga Bulgaria
and various Turkic nomadic peoples, primarily the Pechenegs and
Polovtsy. The liquidation of the common Khazar threat
strengthened the rivalry between Kievans and Volga Bulgars over
economic and political domination in western Eurasia and over
the lucrative north±south trade, in particular. Like Kievan Rus,
Volga Bulgaria broke away from Khazar dependency in 969. In the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Volga Bulgars had
considerable economic and cultural superiority over the Kievans.
Their economy was based on transcontinental trade, agriculture,
cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and various crafts. In the tenth
century, that is, much earlier than the Rus, the Bulgars acquired
their own metal currency ± silver dirhams which were modelled
on Arab dirhams. The dirhams were used parallel with squirrel,
marten and fox fur which were the main money equivalent
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 16

among the Rus. Bulgar potters, blacksmiths, coppersmiths,

carpenters, stonemasons, jewellers and builders were highly
valued in Kievan Rus, the Caucasus and Central Asia. A distinctive
Bulgar technology of fur and leather processing, known as bulgari,
was recognized internationally. In the period between the tenth
and thirteenth centuries the activity of Bulgar merchants
transcended Eurasia: they supplied Western Europe with silver,
cast-iron, various metals and mammoth bone.22

The economic development of the Rus was less impressive. Its

ruling class was dominated by military chieftains who regarded a
military campaign against the neighbouring states as a major
source of enrichment and were less keen on various forms of
productive economic activity. The Rus trade nobility (boiare) were
inert and idle. The slaves remained at the centre of economic
relations in Kievan Rus while the bulk of ordinary Rus were
involved in hunting, fishing, gathering and primitive agriculture.
From the end of the tenth century, Rus and Volga Bulgaria were
engaged in a sequence of wars which were often initiated by the
more militarily accomplished Rus rulers. This sequence was briefly
interrupted in 984 when Kievan and Bulgar rulers signed a peace
treaty, which did not in fact last very long. Yet another attempt to
establish peaceful relations between the two states was made in
1006. Then both sides agreed to refrain from aggression against
each other and to develop trade relations on the basis of mutual
trade privileges. That treaty ensured relative peace between Rus
and Volga Bulgaria during the eleventh century. This lengthy
peaceful period enhanced the political and economic
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 17

development of both states. However, in the twelfth century,

warfare resumed. The Rus troops raided the territory of Volga
Bulgaria in 1120, 1160, 1164, 1172, 1183, 1186 and 1220 while
the

Bulgars attacked the Rus in 1209 and 1219.23

According to various historical sources, the wars between Volga

Bulgaria and Rus did not take the form of religious or ethnic
conflicts but were defined by purely economic and political goals.
Moreover, the armies on both sides often included the
representatives of opposing adverse ethnic or religious groups.
Thus, there were cases when the Rus allied with some of the
Turkic nomads, such as the Kipchaks (Polovtsy) against the Turks
of Volga Bulgaria. It is also significant that the endless wars and
different official religions did not prevent frequent intermarriage
between representatives of the Rus and Bulgar elites. For
example, the second wife of Kniaz Andrei Bogolubskii (d. 1174)
came from Volga Bulgaria. Various Rus dignitaries from the cities
of Vladimir and Suzdal regularly invited Bulgar stonemasons and
carpenters to build public and private buildings there. Buildings
constructed in the Bulgar white stone, with Bulgar arabesques
and embossed pictures, were particularly valued by the Rus
nobility. At the grassroots level, relations between the Rus and
Bulgars were free of enmity or religious hatred and were shaped
by common natural problems. There were numerous cases of
Rus±Bulgar mutual assistance. For example, the chronicles refer
to Bulgar assistance to the Rus during the severe famine of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 18

1228±29, when the Volga Bulgars shipped large quatities of

cereals to the starving Rus of Novgorod and Belozersk.24
Another important factor of early Rus was its interaction with
various Turkic nomadic peoples who after the demise of the
Khazar Khaganat intensified their raids into western Eurasia. At
that time, peoples perceived plundering raids against their
neigbours as the main source of their existence. The nomads
were not unified and often changed their alliances against, or in
favour of, Rus. There were periods when some of them supported
Kievan and other Rus kniazes against their Turkic adversaries.
From the tenth century various Rus principalities suffered
particularly badly from the raids of Pechenegs who seized the
southern provinces of the Khazar Khaganat. The Kievans and the
Pechenegs disputed control over the steppes south of the
present-day Ukrainian city of Khar'kov and the middle and lower
reaches of the commercial artery of the Dniepr. The devastating
nomadic raids hindered the economic advance of Rus and
aggravated its stagnation. On the other hand, relations between
individual Rus principalities and particular Turkic nomads were
ambivalent and subject to the power balance in the region. Thus,
in 915 a large group of Pechenegs made peace with the Rus and
were granted permission to serve in the Rus guard and to settle
within the domain of Kniaz Galitskii. A century later, a few more
Pecheneg tribes appealed for Rus suzerainty. The kniazes of Kiev,
Chernigov and Riazan agreed to create cultural-territorial
autonomies for Pechenegs within their domain. Some other
nomads abandoned their raiding practices because of the switch
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 19

from nomadism to a settled way of life; some of them accepted

the tutelage of various Rus kniazes.25

In 1036, the Kievankniaz inflicted a devastatingdefeaton the

Pechenegs from which they never recovered. Those who survived
fled to Byzantium and what is now known as Moldova, their
present-day descendants there being known as the Gagauz.
Having crushed the Pechenegs, the Rus were faced with a new
threat from some other Turkic nomads ± the Polovtsy. Most of the
eleventh century was dominated by wars between the Rus and
the Polovtsy. However, like the Pechenegs, the Polovtsy lacked
political unity and were prepared to change their alliances in
pursuit of material and political gain. Thus, at the beginning of the
twelfth century some Polovtsy tribes accepted Rus tutelage and
allied with Rus kniazes against their own kin. They made up the
core of the nomadic confederation of Black Klobuk which aligned
itself with Rus. The Rus chronicles referred to them as Berendeis.
In spite of conflict, the Rus and various nomadic Turks treated
each other as members of the same geographical and cultural
entity. They shared similar customs, ethics, behavioural norms
and attitudes. Intermarriage was relatively common among both
the elites and ordinary people. Significantly, different religious
persuasions did not seem to be an obstacle to their relations.
Quite a few Polovtsian dignitaries, who were Muslim, married
into the Rus Orthodox elite. For example, Kniaz Mstislav Udaloi of
Galitsia was married to the daughter of the Polovtsian khan
Kotian.26
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 20

By the mid-eleventh century, the Rus rulers gained the upper

hand in their confrontation with the nomads. They asserted their
domination over most Pechenegs, Polovtsy and other nomadic
peoples of western Eurasia. As a result, the borders of Kievan Rus
shifted significantly eastwards and southwards. The territorial
expansion of Rus had several major implications. It strengthened
the Eurasian dimension of the Rus polity and society. An integral
part of this process was further `nativization' of the Rus elite. The
Kniaz's court and druzhina, which originally consisted largely of
Varangians, also included Slavs, as well as Khazars, Polovtsy, Jews
and other indigenous peoples. In dynastic terms Kievan Kniaz
Yaroslav (1019±54) was the last pure Varangian.27 After him,
Kievan and other Rus kniazes represented wealthy local merchant
families. The cultural assimilation of the Varangians by the
indigenous Slav, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples could be traced,
for example, in the weaker linguistic impact of the Varangians on
the Russian language compared to the influence of various Turkic
and Finno-Ugric peoples. The eastward shift of the Rus' borders
also weakened the central role of Kiev, which was located on the
western frontiers of Rus, in favour of the more eastern Rus
principalities. Kiev's authority became increasingly challenged by
the cities ofVladimir,

Suzdal', and later Rostov, Murom, Riazan' and Moscow.28

The eastern expansion of the Rus principalities allowed the Rus

to remain economically and politically engaged with the North
Caucasus and other former provinces of the Khazar Khaganat.
Historically, due to their geopolitical position between Asia and
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 21

Europe, the North Caucasus experienced political and cultural

influences from foreign powers. Its territory was contested by the
Iranians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Goths, the Arabs, the
Mongols, the Jews and the Ottomans. In the sixth century AD the
western part of the region was under Byzantine rule; between the
seventh and tenth centuries the North Caucasus was incorporated
into the Khazar Khaganat. The region was also subjected to
intensive trade colonization by Venice and Genoa which founded
there the trading colonies of Matrega, Kopa, Mapa and Anapa. In
the later period, it was invaded by the Mongols and incorporated
within the Golden Horde. At the end of the fourteenth century,
the North Caucasus was conquered by Timur (Tamerlane,
1370±1405), who included it within his vast Central Asian
empire.29

The mountainous landscape of the region determined the

lifestyle, economic activity and beliefs of the local population. The
scarcity of arable land accounted for its extreme value and for
numerous conflicts and disputes between various tribes and clans
for control over it. Various landless mountain peoples regularly
raided the more prosperous lowlanders, although mutual raids
between the highlanders were also quite common. The raiders
plundered their neighbours and took hostages whom they
subsequently returned for ransom. The Caucasians were natural
warriors and horsemen and spent a substantial part of their time
in fighting. Their life was regulated by the institution of vendetta,
the code of Caucasian honour and the adat (customary norms). In
ethnic terms, the North Caucasians belonged to Iranian,
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 22

Caucasian and Turkic ethno-linguistic groups. The most numerous

peoples of Iranian origin were the Ossetians, or the Alans, who
had the most ancient statehood tradition and claimed their direct
descent from the great Scythian and Sarmatian Hordes. Among
other indigenous peoples of Iranian origin were the Tats, the
Talishes and the Kurds. The peoples of Caucasian ethnic origin
belonged to two distinct groups: the western Caucasians, or
Abkhaz-Adyghs, and the eastern Caucasians, or Nakh-Dagestanis.
The first group comprised various Abkhaz and Adygh peoples,
including the Adyghs, or the Circassians, the Kabardins, the
Cherkess, the Abazins, the Abadzekhs, the Ubukhs, the Bzhadugs,
the Nabukhays and the Shapsugs. The second group was
represented by the Chechens, the Ingushes, the Avars, the Andis,
the Tsez, the Lezgins, the Dargins and the Batsbiis. The Turkic
peoples of the region were the Karachays, the Balkars, the Nogays
and the Kumyks. Despite their extraordinary ethnic diversity all
Caucasians belonged to a distinct Caucasian culture which was a
synthesis of indigenous and external cultural influences.30

The peoples of the region were characterized by different levels

of political development. Some of them, like the Ossetians, the
Kabardins, the Avars, the Lezgins, the Laks, the Tabasarans and
the Nogays had an ancient statehood tradition and formed
various principalities under feudal rulers ± khans, beks, and so on
± while the Chechens, the Ingushes, the Balkars, the Karachays
and the Kumyks did not have such traditions. In religious terms
the region was also extremely diverse. Christianity reached the
pagan North Caucasus in the fourth century AD, followed by
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 23

Judaism and Islam. Islam began to spread in southern Dagestan

among the Lezgins in the late seventh century AD. By the mid-
eighth century the bulk of Laks were converted to Islam by the
Arab invaders. By the fifteenth±sixteenth centuries most
Dagestanis professed Shafii madhhab of Sunni Islam. The
proliferation of Islam in Dagestan was accompanied by its merger
with pre-Islamic pagan traditions and adat norms.

The commercial and political links between various Rus and

Caucasian principalities, were enhanced by the existence of Rus
trade settlements in the Caucasus. The Rus elite hoped to use
these settlements as a springboard for further Rus expansion in
the region. In the tenth and eleventh centuries Rus kniazes made
several attempts to create their strongholds in the eastern
Caucasus by supporting one or other of the conflicting sides in
local feuds. They were especially interested in the establishment
of Rus control over Derbend, Shirvan and Ardabil which were the
major regional political and Islamic centres. In 987 the Rus
responded to the call from emir Maimun of Derbend for
assistance against his local rivals (the raises) and dispatched 18
ships to the Caspian sea which assisted the emir's storming of
Derbend from the sea. On several other occasions, Rus rulers
supported the Muslims of southern Dagestan, the Alans and
Lezgins, in particular, against the Deylemite expansion in the
southern Caspian.31

In general, the policy of the Rus kniazes in the Caucasus lacked

consistency and was strongly dependent on the position of
Byzantium, which until 1453 remained the spiritual patron of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 24

Kievan Rus. Its influence accounted, for example, for the Kievans'
alliance with the Christian Armenians who were allies of
Byzantium against the Muslim Azeris.32

Alongside the Caucasus, the Rus maintained their trade

connections with Central Asia, and in particular with Khwarasm,
which had established commercial links with Volga Bulgaria.
Khwarasm was a powerful citystate, which had existed since the
seventh century BC in the Lower Amu Darya. It was a centre of
sophisticated irrigated agriculture, trade and handicrafts. In 712 AD
Khwarasm was conquered by the Arabs and Islamicized.
Khwarasmian merchants brought to the Rus principalities silk,
pearls, gold, silver, pepper, musk, glass, china and jewellery. In the
opposite direction went flax, honey, fish, leather, wood and
swords.33

The Mongol period

In the 1230s, the independent development of Rus which had

lasted for two centuries was again interrupted as a result of the
Mongol invasion from the east. By that time, the Mongol troops
under the command of Genghiz-khan (1206±27) had already
conquered Korea, China, Central

Asia, Iran, the western Caspian, eastern Caucasus and southern

Volga. In

1223, the Volga Bulgars repulsed Mongol aggression and

maintained their independence until 1237 when they were finally
defeated by the Mongol Khan Batu (1236±55), the grandson of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 25

Genghiz-khan. Following this defeat, Volga Bulgaria disintegrated

into a number of quasi-state formations such as Bulgar, Zhukotin,
Shongut and Narovchatsk which were headed by various
members of the former ruling dynasty. Many members of the
Bulgar ruling class joined the Genghizid court which already
included Khwarasmian, Iranian, Uyghur and Chinese dignitaries.
However, another faction of the Bulgar elite migrated to the area
between the rivers Volga and Viatka where they formed a new
state formation which became the nucleus of the future Kazan
Khanate.34

In 1237±38, the troops of the Mongol Khan Batu invaded

Riazan', Vladimir, Suzdal' and Moscow. In 1240, the Genghizids
took Kiev and came to the borders of modern Poland, the Czech
Republic, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria. Only Novgorod, Pskov and
the adjacent territories of northern Eurasia escaped the Mongol
conquest. By the mid-thirteenth century the Genghizid empire
embraced almost all Eurasia and turned into one of the largest
state formations of the Middle Ages. Its political centre was in
Karakoram. Rus, Volga Bulgaria and some other state formations
of western Eurasia were included in the Juchi province (the Ulus
Juchi) of the empire. It consisted of three main regions: the Kok
Urda (the Blue Horde) consisted of the territories of present-day
Kazakhstan and southern Siberia, the Nogay Horde comprised the
North Caucasus and the White, or the Altyn Urda (the Golden
Horde) which included various Rus principalities, Volga Bulgaria
and some other western provinces. Interestingly, the Genghizids
themselves applied to the Rus the term Tatar which seems to be a
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 26

generic Mongol name for various western Eurasian peoples. Like

the rest of the Genghizid empire, the Golden Horde was a
nomadic state formationwhichwas held together by the Mongol
military hierarchy headed by the Khan, surrounded by the Mongol
oglans (the free warriors). The Khan was supreme owner of the
land and the commanderin-chief. The middle level of the imperial
hierarchy was made up of culturally more sophisticated
indigenous elites represented by sultans, emirs, beks, murzas and
yuvaris (members of the military aristocracy). The majority of
them were local Islamic dignitaries who were incorporated within
the Genghizid ruling class. Of particular influence were the
Bulgars, Khwarasmians, Iranians and other Islamicized peoples of
Turkic and Iranian origins. As a result of the extensive territorial
expansion and the massive co-option of the local elites into the
ruling class, the Mongol nomads soon turned into a privileged
minority.35

The Genghizids introduced different forms of administration in

various parts of their vast Eurasian empire. Some were subjected
to direct Genghizid rule which implied the stationing of Genghizid
garrisons there. As for the Rus, they were ruled indirectly, on the
basis of the annual yasak (tribute). The tribute relations between
the Mongol Khan and a particular Rus kniaz were confirmed by
the yarlyk (the Khan's permission). The yarlyk enabled a kniaz to
rule in his traditional domain on behalf of the Khan in exchange
for the fixed yasak. The first Rus kniaz who in 1243 received the
Mongol yarlyk and undertook to pay yasak to the Khan was the
Kniaz of Yaroslavl'. Originally the yasak comprised one-tenth of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 27

the crops; the duties for the use of the public meadows, main
roads, river-crossings; the trade taxes; subsistence for the yasak
collectors and the dispatch of recruits for the Genghizid army in
case of war. Yasak was collected by special officials ± yasakchis,
baskaks, or besser- mens who were accompanied by the military ±
desiatniks (commanders of ten men), sotniks (commanders of a
hundred), tysiachniks (commanders of a thousand) and temniks
(commanders of ten thousand). If a kniaz disobeyed, or was not
accurate with yasak payments, he was subject to punishment and
his domain was raided by the Genghizids. Then the cities and
towns were destroyed, and hundreds of peoples were taken
prisoner and turned into slaves.36

The Mongols did not occupy the Rus land and did not interfere
in local administrative, economic and religious practices. They
recognized the exclusive rights of the Varangian dynasty of Rurik
to govern Rus. The north±south trade, which was crucial to the
economy of various Rus principalities, persisted under the Mongol
rule. Furthermore, the incorporation of almost all Eurasia within
the Genghizid empire and the consequent relative political
stability within its borders, as well as the greater security on the
roads, stimulated commercial activity all over the continent. As a
result, the east±west trade along the traditional Great Silk Road
received a new impetus. The Genghizids entrusted control over
the borders of the subjugated Rus principalities to the Cossacks,
who presented a distictinctive ethno-cultural group of
professional warriors.37 Since the eleventh century the Cossacks
had inhabited the Great Steppe and the border areas of Rus. They
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 28

lived in rural militarized communities ± the stanitsas ± headed by

chieftains ± the atamans ± (literally, fathers of thousands), who
were elected by the Assembly. Life in the stanitsas was regulated
by the norms of military democracy and customary law. The
Genghizids exempted the Cossacks from the yasak in recognition
of their service as border guards of the empire. Moreover, the
Cossacks were entitled to a fixed share of the yasak paid by Rus
kniazes to the Khan.38

The Golden Horde, like its predecessor the Khazar Khaganat,

was a poly-ethnic and multicultural empire with a single codex of
laws (yasa) for every resident and a sophisticated administrative,
fiscal and mail system. Although Genghiz-khan and his immediate
successor were pagan, the yasa of Genghiz-khan guaranteed
equal status to all religions and beliefs and exempted all clergy
from taxation. The successive Genghizid khans differed in their
religious preferences. Some of them favoured Islam, while others
preferred various forms of Eastern Christianity. For example,
during the rule of Khan Guyuk (1246±49) the majority of the
Genghizid administration were Christian Orthodox and Nestorian
believers. The fourth khan of the Golden Horde, Khan Berke
(1257±66) converted to Islam and recognized the spiritual
supremacy of the Baghdad Caliph. An important role in Khan
Berke's conversion belonged to the Sufi shaykh Sayf ad-Din
Bakharzi from the tariqa (Sufi order) of Kubrawiyya in Bukhara.
However, the successors of Berke-khan returned to paganism.
Only under the rule of the powerful Khan Uzbek (1312±42) did
the Sunni Islam of Hanafi madhhab become the official religion of
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 29

the empire. Official Islamicization of the Golden Horde enhanced

the formation of an Islamic stratum represented by seyids,
shaykhs, imams, mullahs, hafizes, hajjis and dervishes. It was
accompanied by differential treatment between Muslims and
non-Muslims of the empire. As a result, the Muslims of the Volga-
Urals, Caucasus and Central Asia acquired advantageous positions
in the political and administrative spheres.39

The reign of Uzbek-khan was the heyday of the Golden Horde.

Uzbekkhan strengthened central power and standardized the
administrative and economic structures within the empire. He
created an effective central apparatus which consisted of a
chancellor (vezir) and four emirs representing the major Mongol
tribes ± Qiyat, Manghyt, Sicivut and
 Russia's Encounter with Islam 30

Qongrat. A vezir had the power to resolve issues without

consulting the emirs and he often managed the state in the
absence of the Khan, who spent most of his time roaming the
steppes of the north Caucasus and between the Caspian and Azov
seas. Uzbek-khan unified the monetary and weight systems and
withdrew the right of some of his vassals to mint their distinctive
coins. He introduced a single currency called pools, the minting of
which occurred in Bolgar, Mukha and some other cities of the
Golden Horde. These reforms boosted the trade activity all over
the empire, especially in its Muslim provinces, and facilitated the
development of the urban culture there. Uzbek-khan was also
concerned with developing contacts with the outside world. He
sent diplomatic missions to many neighbouring countries and
promoted dynastic intermarriage. It is significant that the Islamic
religion of the Genghizids was not regarded as an obstacle to their
marriages with the Christian Orthodox. Thus, one of Uzbek-khan's
sons was married to a daughter of the Byzantine Emperor
Andronik Paleologus, whereas his sister became a wife of the
great kniaz of Moscow.40
The institutionalization of Islam as the state religion of the Golden
Horde completed the cultural and spiritual yielding of the Mongol
elite to their Islamicized sedentary Turkic subjects, primarily the
Volga Bulgars. From the mid-fourteenth century until the demise
of the

Golden Horde in 1437 the Volga Bulgar elite dominated the

cultural and Islamic discourse of the empire. Its cultural centre
shifted from the Middle to the Lower Volga. There the city of

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 31

Bolgar emerged as the new centre of the Bulgar principality and

of Islamic learning and scholarship. The prosperity of Bolgar was
facilitated by its advantageous location near the influx of the
Kama into the Volga where a big trade fair, the Aga-Bazaar, took
place. Bolgar Muslim scholars (ulema) were influenced by the
ideas of such great medieval Islamic thinkers as al-Ghazzali
(eleventh century), al-Maarri (eleventh century), Omar an-Nasafi

(twelfth century), Ibn Taimiia (fourteenth century) and Saad ad-

Din atTahtazani (fourteenth century) and were noted for their
creative and critical thinking. Adherence to the tajdid (renovation)
tradition enabled the Kazan ulema to play down dogmatic
differences and to emphasize the moral and social values of
religion. It is indicative that the official canonization of the rulings
of the main schools of Islamic law (Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and
Hanbali), which by the eleventh century was accomplished in the
rest of the Islamic world, did not take place in the Golden Horde.
There the major political and religious task was not so much to
affirm the true faith, but to achieve the peace, order and
economic prosperity the empire.41

One of the most important consequences of the tajdid approach

and the politicization of Islam in the Golden Horde was the
Genghizid state policy of religious tolerance, which contrasted
with prevailing policies in contemporary Western Europe. In the
Golden Horde different viewpoints were allowed provided that
they were not imposed upon people and that any conflicts over
them did not lead to social disintegration. This was manifested in

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 32

Islam's attitude both to other religions and to differences within

Islam. The Genghizids did not regard those differences as a real
threat to their hegemony or to social order. In the capital of the
Golden Horde there were ulema and followers of the Shafii and
Maliki madhhabs and various Sufi communities. Turkic cultural
influence and the adoption of Islam did not threaten the nomadic
lifestyle which formed the basis of the Golden Horde's military
capability. As a result, religion did not become a dividing factor in
the Genghizid empire, which as a consequence was practically
spared religious wars. 42
The official status of the Islamic religion in the Golden Horde did
not undermine the positions of other religions and beliefs ±
Christian Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Shamanism, Tengrianism and
paganism. Regardless of their personal likes and dislikes, the
Khans of the Golden Horde kept the representatives of various
religions and beliefs at an equal distance from themselves. There
were no official restrictions on proselytizing non-Islamic religions,
although this did not prevent occasional conflicts between
representatives of different religious creeds. The Genghizids did
not penalize those dignitaries who refused to convert to Islam and
preferred to move to the courts of its non-Muslim vassals. From
the second half of the fourteenth century a considerable number
of the Mongol nobles converted to Christian Orthodoxy and
joined the Rus elite. In 1267 Khan Mengu-Timur exempted priests,
monks and laymen associated with the Church from taxation and
military conscription. The Russian Orthodox Church was given a
preferential legal status. In 1313 Khan Uzbek issued the yarlyk

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 33

which prohibited any anti-Orthodox propaganda and activities and

envisaged capital punishment for anyone, Muslim and pagan
alike, insulting the Orthodox Church and its affairs. This allowed
the Church to strengthen its economic and political positions in
Rus. Under Genghizid rule the Orthodox monasteries turned into
Rus's biggest landowners. The most powerful among them was
Troitskii monastery, which was founded in 1339 in Radonezh, not
far from Moscow. State protection enhanced the promotion of
the Christian Orthodox religion and culture, represented by
ancient icons, books, manuscripts and precious church utensils.43
Relations between the Mongol khans and the Rus kniazes were
ambivalent and featured wars, conflicts, distrust and betrayal, as
well as partnership, mutual assistance and intermarriage. The
Genghizid and Rus elites borrowed from each other's economic,
administrative and military practices, as well as from court
etiquette, dress and cuisine. During the period between 1228 and
1462 the Rus were involved in more than ninety internecine
conflicts as well as over one hundred and sixty conflicts with the
Genghizids.44 The Genghizids' punitive raids devastated many Rus
towns and cities and hindered the development of handicraft
production. Many Rus craftsmen and artisans were either killed or
deported to the Genghizid capital Saray-Batu, and later to Saray-
Berke. On the other hand, the rivalry and enmity between various
Rus kniazes often outweighed their common opposition to
Mongol rule.

In the early Genghizid period some Rus kniazes regularly sought

the Khan's assistance against their Rus opponents, or sided with

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 34

one Genghizid faction against another during Genghizid fratricidal

conflicts. In 1299 Kniaz Andrei, the son of the renowned Rus Kniaz
Alexander

Nevskii, allied with Khan Toktamysh against Khan Nogay. In 1382

the Kniaz of Tver', who had had a lengthy feud with the Kniaz of
Moscow, backed Khan Toktamysh's attack on Moscow.
Furthermore, there were cases when some Rus kniazes who
escaped Mongol tutelage sought rapprochement with the
Genghizids against Western European invaders into Rus lands.
Thus, Kniaz Alexander Nevskii of Novgorod (1220±63) forged an
alliance with the Genghizids against the Swedish and German
invaders from the west. Subsequently, he was canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church. Similarly, in 1274 the Kniaz of Smolensk
appealed to the Khan for assistance against the Lithuanians.45

The Genghizids, in accordance with their divide and rule

approach, exploited the rivalries between regional Rus rulers.
They divided the Rus lands into four large principalities ±
kniazhestvos ± with their centres in Moscow, Nizhnii Novgorod,
Tver and Riazan'. The kniazes of these four principalities were
recognized as great (velikii) kniazes compared to the rest, who
had inferior status and were regarded as provincial (udel'nii)
kniazes. Great kniazes were entrusted with the collection of yasak
on behalf of the khan. Genghizid administrative policies promoted
some Rus regional rulers and curtailed the power of others. Thus,
Uzbek-khan favoured Kniaz Ivan Kalita of Moscow (d. 1340) over
the rest of the Rus kniazes and contributed to his fast elevation

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 35

and eventual victory over his powerful rival ± the Kniaz of Suzdal'.
In 1328 the Genghizids made Ivan Kalita the Great Kniaz of the
whole of Rus and put him in charge of the collection yasak from
all Rus principalities. From that time, chronicles referred to
Moscow as the capital of Rus. In 1326, in order to strengthen the
ideological power of Moscow, Ivan Kalita transferred the
residence of the Metropolitan of Rus from the city of Vladimir to
Moscow.46

After the rule of Uzbek-khan and his two successors, Dzanu-bek

and
Berdi-bek, the Golden Horde entered a period of gradual decline
which occurred as a result both of the bubonic plague which
swept across the region in waves from 1346 until 1396, and the
power struggle within the ruling elite. The Black Death caused
large-scale depopulation, massive migrations, cultural and
technological regression and political instability. The decline of
the Golden Horde made it more vulnerable to external threats
and enhanced ethno-regional separatism within the empire. In
1354, the Ottoman Turks established their control over the
Dardanelles and severed the links between the Golden Horde and
the Islamic mainland. However, the Genghizid dignitaries
remained aloof from these regional changes and were more
concerned with internal jockeying for the Khan's position.
Between 1360 and 1380 the Golden Horde was ruled by 14
successive khans. The eastern Genghizids began to challenge the
supremacy of the khans of the Golden Horde over Rus, Volga
Bulgaria and other provinces of western Eurasia. In the 1390s

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 Russia's Encounter with Islam 36

Khan Timur (Tamerlane) of Samarkand in Central Asia conducted a

number of devastating raids in the lands of the Golden Horde. By
the 1370s almost all the western part of the Genghizid empire
was engaged in mutual warfare.The inability of the Mongol khans
to safeguard their Slavic and Turkic vassals from external invasions
encouraged the proindependence drive of the latter. By the 1420s
the Golden Horde had split into the Great Horde, situated upon
the ruins of Saray, the eastern part, comprising the Nogay Horde
and Siberian khanate, and the western part consisting of the
Astrakhan, Crimean and Kazan khanates and various Rus
principalities.47
The Kazan princedom emerged in 1402 as a result of the mass
migration of Volga Bulgars to the north beyond the Kama and
Viatka rivers and towards the lower reaches of the rivers Sviaga,
Miesha and Kazanka. Its first ruler was Alibek, the son of the last
Volga Bulgar Khan. Nominally, he recognized the supremacy of the
Golden Horde and was obliged to pay a yasak. However, in reality,
the Kazan princedom enjoyed considerable independence from
Saray. By the 1430s the Kazan khanate had turned into a powerful
state comprising half the territory of former Bulgaria. Its khans
stopped paying a yasak and introduced their own money. In 1445
Saray attempted to return Kazan province to its control. It
succeeded in placing the representative of the Genghizid dynasty
on the Kazan throne and declared the Kazan Khanate (1445±1552)
the successor to the Golden Horde. The political and economic
organization of the Khanate of Kazan was modelled on that of the

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Golden Horde while in cultural and ethnic terms the Khanate of

Kazan strongly resembled Volga Bulgaria.48

The Kazan khanate, like Volga Bulgaria, was the Islamic centre of
Eurasia. The Islamic faith and its practices were formalized and
codified. The Khanafi madhhab of Sunni Islam formed the basis of
the legal system of the khanate. An intricate network of Muslim
clergy was established. It comprised seyids, shaykhs, mullahs,
imams, dervishes, hajjis, hafizes, danishmends, shaykh-zades and
mullah-zades. They enjoyed high social status and authority. Their
head was elected from the seyids and was regarded as the second
most important figure in the Hanate. He usually headed the
provisional government during interregnums.49 The Kazan clerics
geared the system of religious law of the Hanafi madhhab to the
local conditions, determined by the geographical alienation of
Kazan from the Islamic heartland, and the specific requirements
of the state. The Kazan clergy tended to rely on the principle of an
ijma' (the agreed opinion of legal experts) as a valid basis of fiqh
(an Islamic law) and emphasized the regional specifics of Islam in
the Volga region. Muslim clerics enjoyed an honoured place in the
khanate.

Kazan±Rus relations also developed along the same lines as

those between various Rus principalities and Volga Bulgaria. They
consisted of wars, alliances, collaboration and conspiracies. As in
the past the religious factor was not essential and quite often the
Kazan khans allied with the Rus Orthodox kniazes against the co-
religious Turkic khanates. From the 1450s Rus±Kazan relations

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were increasingly influenced by a new regional player ± the

Kasimov khanate on the Oka river. Its first khan was Kasim ben
Ulug Muhammad, a rebellious son of the khan of the Golden
Horde, who in 1446 joined the Moscow Kniaz Vasilii II (1425±62)
against his father. Vasilii II rewarded him with land and the town
of Gorodets-Mesherskii on the Oka river. The town was renamed
Kasimov and became the capital of the Kasimov khanate which
was the first Islamic enclave within the Rus Orthodox mainland. In
1467 the first mosque was built in Kasimov. The khans of Kasimov
were the first Muslim vassals of Moscow kniazes and often played
the role of fifth column among the Genghizids. The crumbling of
the Golden Horde forced some other Genghizid dignitaries to seek
the protection of the rising Moscow principality. Many of them
pledged loyalty to Moscow and were accepted into the Rus
aristocracy. Some married into the Rus nobility and considerably
increased the portion of Turkic blood in the veins the Russian
aristocracy. Among their famous descendants were Russian Tsar
Boris Godunov (1598±1605), as well as such renowned Russian
families as Aksakov, Apraksin, Akhmatov, Berdiayev, Bulgakov,

Bunin, Gogol, Godunov, Karamazov, Rakhmaninov, Saltykov,

Turgenev, Yusupov and many others.50

The first serious attempt to cast off Genghizid tutelage was

made by the Great Kniaz Dmitrii (Donskoi) of Moscow in 1380. He
defeated the Genghizids under the leadership of khan Mamai on
the river Don and denounced the Genghizid suzerainty. In 1382
Khan Toktamysh managed for a short period to bring the Moscow

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principality back under Genghizid rule, but the days of the

supremacy of the Golden Horde were numbered. From the late
fourteenth century the Golden Horde de facto ceased to exist and
turned into a conglomerate of autonomous principalities and
khanates. The most powerful was the Moscow principality while
among the prominent khanates were those of Kazan, Nogay,
Astrakhan and Crimea. The Nogay khanate was founded by
Wakkas, a grandson of khan Edigey in the 1390s, between the
rivers Volga and Irtysh. It was a typical Turkic nomadic state
formation modelled on the Golden Horde. Its political centre was
the town of Saraychik situated in the delta of the Ural river. The
Nogay khanate extended its political influence from the northern
parts of the Kipchak steppe to Siberia and the Bashkir lands.
Another emerging regional power was the Astrakhan khanate
under Timur-Kutlug, the son of Urus Muhammad. It broke away
from the Golden Horde in 1459. Earlier, in 1428, the ruler of
Tumen' denounced the Genghizid suzerainty. He was followed in
1443 by the Crimean Khan Khaji-Girey who founded a new
Crimean dynasty of Girey (1443±1792). The new regional leaders
clashed over the right of succession to the Golden Horde and
forged changing alliances against the crumbling centre and each
other. From the very beginning, there was a rapprochement
between Moscow and Crimea against both the Golden Horde and
the Kazan khanate, as the religious factor was subordinated to
political and pragmatic considerations.51

In 1480, Moscow Kniaz Ivan III (1462±1505) put a final end to

the Genghizid domination over Rus. He succeeded in uniting most

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of Rus under his rule by subjugating his long-time rivals ± the

Kniazes of Yaroslavl' in 1463, Novgorod in 1478 and Tver' in 1485.
Ivan III became the first ruler of the independent and unified Rus
state which subsequently became known as `Russia'.52 The
political make-up of the Russian state was based on the
indigenous, eastern Slavic, Islamo-Genghizid and Byzantine
traditions. The latter were of particular importance since the
rulers of independent Russia appealed to them in order to
emphasize their separation from the Genghizid political context.
Ivan III adopted

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the Byzantine title of the Tsar of Russia, alongside the traditional title of `Great Kniaz of all Russia'. In
accordance with Byzantine political culture the authority of the Tsar was declared divine and sacralized
by the Orthodox Church. The resulting indivisibility of state and church in

Russia emphasized her political and cultural divergence from Western

Europe, where the secular authority of a king was contested by the religious authority of the Catholic
Church. Ivan III's second marriage to the Byzantine princess Sophia Paleologue strengthened his claims
to the Byzantine legacy. He adopted Byzantine court and diplomatic protocol and the Byzantine symbol
of two eagles as Russia's insignia. From then on, eastern Greek themes became increasingly
incorporated within Russian national mythology, whereas the relevant Western mythologies were
dominated by the Latin-Germanic heritage.53

In spite of the substantial Byzantinization of the new Russian state it maintained its strong Islamo-
Asian component. It was present in the economic and military organization of the Russian state, its
political and social hierarchy, its ethnic composition, its court ceremonial, costumes, architecture, arts
and design. The Genghizid influence remained particularly strong during the first two centuries of
Russia's independent existence and continued to shape its state, society and material and spiritual
culture.54 Russia inherited from the Genghizid period such vital features as the extreme concentration
of power at the centre and the vertical tribute-redistributary economic relations between the autocratic
centre and the periphery. The Genghizid legacy was present in the development of the Russian
autocracy based on the supremacy of personal relations between a ruler and a subject over any other
relations which were dependent on social or genealogical status. The policy of the Russian state
towards its subjects also had a strong Genghizid element and was characterized by such features as
cruelty, ruthlessness, lawlessness, arbitrariness, flogging, torture and capital punishment. This
promoted negative attitudes among ordinary Russians towards the state authorities, which were often
perceived as a symbol of legalized plunder and banditry.55
The Genghizid rule prevented the development of the cantonal system and predetermined the failure
of local democratic governments represented by veche (city councils) and their subjugation by the
central authorities. The only exceptions were the northern Russian cities of Novgorod, Pskov and Viatka
which until the late fifteenth century enjoyed limited autonomy from the centre. The consequent
economic and political weakness of cities and towns defined the evolution of ownership rights in
Russia. The Genghizid nomadic practice of individual ownership of livestock with collective
appropriation of the land strengthened the supreme state power, based on supreme state
landownerhip. This was decisive in the perpetuation of the `Asiatic principle' that hereafter led to the
imposition of serfdom in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In other words, Genghzid tutelage
maximized the vertical relationship and blocked the development of horizontal links and social
solidarity. As a result, in Russia the state principle irreversibly overcame the social principle and the
public sphere eclipsed the private.56

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These economic and political characteristics of the new Russian state distanced it from contemporary
Western Europe. In the West, the cities and towns were incomparably stronger than in Russia. Western
towns presented self-governing communities which since Roman times had preserved their corporate
economic, political and military autonomy from the central ruler and the Church. As a result, the towns
restricted the arbitrariness of the monarchs and gentry and forced them to reckon with representative
bodies of various estates that limited their absolute power but, simultaneously, also supported and
financed them. The existence of strong towns rendered a flight from serfdom and promoted the
eventual emancipation of the serfs, which occurred during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Also, the towns provided nuclei for national markets and nation-states.57

The Russian juridical, military, and taxation systems also continued to resemble their Genghizid
analogues. Thus, Russian rulers continued to adhere to the Genghizid succession tradition which
prioritized the right to succession of the son over other male relatives of the ruler. The official list of the
Russian nobility ± a `Velvet book' which was compiled by Sophia Paleologue ± claimed that out of a
total of 930 Russian noble families, 158 were of Turkic Islamic origins. Until the late seventeenth
century, Russian official documents and correspondence contained a tugra ± a special heraldic sign of
the Islamicized court. In particular, a tugra was used by the Genghizid and Ottoman rulers. The first
Russian criminal code was modelled on that of the Genghizids. Its core was the death penalty and
physical punishment. The Russian troops were formed according to the Genghizid principles. The
Russian military elite ± ulans (from the respective Genghizid title `oglans') consisted of commanders of
ten men (desiatniki), commanders of a hundred (sotniki), commanders of a thousand (tysiachniki) and
commanders of ten thousand (temniki).58
The Russian rulers preserved and `improved on' the extensive bureaucratic and surveillance
apparatus which they inherited from the Genghizids. They took over the Genghizid practice of taking a
regular general census for tax and police purposes and controlling the population through passports.
The Russian authorities preserved and further advanced the postal service which was also introduced
by the Genghizids.59 The inauguration ceremony of the first Russian monarchs very much resembled the
similar procedure at the Genghizid court. It is significant that Russian tsars were crowned for the throne
with the Genghizid furand-gold hat (`shapka Monamakha'). Russian court etiquette included such
Genghizid elements as bowing to the feet of a monarch (`bit' chelom'), strewing the new monarch with
coins and so on. The Genghizids had also a visible impact on Russian architecture, design, costumes,
popular epics, music and the Russian language. From those times the Russian vocabulary absorbed
many Turkic words relating to military activity, trade, travel, cuisine, cattle-breeding and
entertainment.60

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