Kazan: Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2009 (568 p.)
The reviewed book is the most comprehensive and systematic study to date devoted to the history of a unique religious national movement of the second half of the XIX - first quarter of the XX century, widely (and sometimes scandalously) known in the Volga region and Central Asia. We are talking about the "Vaisovtsy", whose name comes from the surname of the founder and eponym Baha' ad-din (Bagautdin) ibn Hamza ibn Vayis (Vaisov, 1810-1893). The movement is not quite correctly referred to in Russian-language documents as the "Vaisovsky God's Regiment of Old Believers-Muslims", but D. M. Usmanova deliberately included in the title of her monograph this unusual name, attached to the vaisovtsy and borrowed from the Orthodox dictionary ("sect/sectarianism", "Old Believers-Muslims", etc.), which is commented in the second part of the article. Introduction. From the comments and original documents published by the author for the first time related to the Wa'is movement, it follows that the Orthodox "sectarian" dictionary in the official letters of the followers of Baha' ad-din was not only the product of notes and articles by Russian experts, but was also readily used by the "sectarians"themselves. As D. M. Usma rightly believes-
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such names were supported (in Russian translations of their proclamations, letters, and khutb) by the Vaisovites themselves as a self-presentation of the new-born "sectarians", which is understandable for the Russian-speaking audience, emphasizing their commitment to the primordial ("Old Believers") islam (p. 5-6).
A significant number of papers have been published on the subject of the monograph, a brief analysis of which (for more than a hundred years) The author provides an overview of archived and published sources in the Introduction. In this series of publications, the works of D. M. Usmanova herself are also quite widely known (pp. 30-33). However, she abandoned their literal calculation, and seriously revised and supplemented them. I am very impressed with the critical review of the sources used, given by D. M. Usmanova. Here she suggests taking into account historical, political, psychological (personal), social, partly religious and other contexts that affected the forms and content of sources, showing that only this approach allows us to reconstruct the history and ideology of the Vaisov movement more correctly. The authors of most previous studies on this topic often took literally the ideological allusions and preferences of the compilers of various documents and manuscripts.
The monograph consists of two large sections, the first of which is a research part, the second contains a large body of archival documents, most of which are published in the form of typed texts and some in the form of photo-productions of original texts in Russian and Tatar, with the usual inserts of benevolent prayers and fragments from the Koran in Arabic.
The research section (p. 3-150), in addition to the introduction, includes two chapters, in the first of which D. M. Usmanova covers in detail the early history of the Vaisov movement. Here she uses not only well-known publications and documents, but also funerary epigraphic materials studied by the researcher at the cemetery in Staraya Kulatka, as well as materials made available to her by Professor M. Kemper (pp. 36-39).
The reconstruction of the biography and spiritual connections of Baha ' ad-din Vaisov looks complete, at least to date. Although the question of his real and imaginary connections with the sheikhs of naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya through Sheikh Ja'far al-Kulatki/Kulatki; died in 1862), remained open. It is interesting to describe the" Caucasian tour "of the latter in the transmission of Baha' ad-din Vaisov, who was particularly impressed by the imperial conformism of his spiritual master. In particular, Sheikh Ja'far was extremely negative about the jihad announced by Imam Shamil, supporting the assessment of some theologians who considered the territory of the Russian Empire as Dar al-Islam or Dar al-ahd (Territory of Islam, Territory of Consent). It is also important that Vaisov himself presented himself as a direct heir to the conformist ideology of Ja'far Kulatka. Hence appeals, praises, and even khutbas addressed to the emperors (pp. 46-48) or positioning oneself as a "loyal subject of the king". According to M. Kemper, Vaisov "sought cooperation with the monarch" (Kemper, 2008: 528, 537).
This political conformity (regardless of the form of power of the "infidels") was inherited by all vaisovites, including the period before and after the Russian revolutions of 1917, easily accepting even the ideas of socialism. Vaisov needed this marked political loyalty to compensate for his status as a reprehensible "impostor dervish" alienated from the Spiritual Administration. As you know, this institution received from the authorities the right to religious power, having the status of a legitimate "imperial representation".
D. M. Usmanova carefully reconstructs the biography of Baha ' ad-din Wa'zadeh, his wives, numerous descendants and successors, and offers a history of the movement's origin based on a critical analysis of previous publications and new material. The biographical reconstruction seems important to me, since it adds "lively touches" to the portraits of the Vaisovites, first of all Vaisov himself, and allows us to understand the nature of his conflict with famous contemporary theologians (for example, with Sh. Marjani), with executive authorities and "decree clergy". These details (which seem insignificant at first glance) make up the behavioral modes of the movement's founding fathers, the reasons for their conflicts, social alienation, the search for possible allies and opponents (or rejection of them), and ultimately the reasons for the eccentricity and even known radicalism of most of the movement's leaders. Describing the openly hooligan and even somewhat rebellious actions of Vaisov, the author shows that careful attention to the memories of contemporaries of such details can help researchers restore the psychological portrait of the "crazy saint", a tireless litigator.
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As far as D. M. Usmanov can understand, information about the spiritual education of Vaisov himself (both family and official) is very scarce and is extracted only from brief references to Riz ad-din b. Fakhr ad-din (Fakhretdinov). Meanwhile, such information would be very useful, because Vaisov himself wrote essays in which it is clear that he knew the "formal syllable" necessary for such compositions. However, it seemed to me that it was not fully, which is why he often resorted to compilations of necessary prayer and other phrases from previous works of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi circle and works on Fiqh, and most importantly made mistakes. In this respect, the list of works (the author has given it almost entirely) that were seized by the authorities from the Vaisov library is also interesting. Although the published list contains errors in the transliteration of titles (especially Arabic and Persian works) (sometimes going back to the original ones, which is also noteworthy), I am sure that the list itself will be very useful for researchers who will study (in much more detail than it was done by D. M. Usmanova, A. Frank or M. Kemper) features of the formation of religious views of Baha ' ad-din Vaisov, the degree of his education, etc.
In the 4th paragraph of the 1st chapter, the social aspects of the riots of 1870-1880 and various forms of participation of the Vaisov people in them are briefly considered. The next (5th) paragraph is devoted mainly to the analysis of the work of Baha' ad-din Vaisov, written by him in a psychiatric clinic. The problem of Vaisov's own mental adequacy remains unclear. If I understood D. M. Usmanova correctly, Vaisov was assigned to a hospital for the mentally ill not so much because of his "violent temper" and inappropriate behavior in the world, but because of the tradition of sending "socially dangerous people" to such clinics who wanted to be isolated from society. It is in the clinic that he writes another of his works with the Persian title "Javakhir-i hikmat - i Darvishan", but in Tatar, which was analyzed by D. M. Usmanova together with M. Kemper.
The most interesting part of Baha' ad-din Vaisov's work was the review and analysis of eschatological concepts. Particularly noteworthy is the appeal to the image of the Mahdi (Messiah), whose arrival many Muslim authors associated with the end of the 13th century of the Muslim calendar. The last day of this (1300) year, 30 Dhu'l-hijjah, corresponds to October 19 or 31, 1883, according to the Gregorian and Julian calendars, respectively. I will add that this date was also perceived as the beginning of the "Day of Judgment" by some authors of religious (especially Sufi) works written in Central Asia.
In general, this tradition of waiting for a Dajjal (False Messiah) and Mahdi in Islam on the last day (sometimes during the last year) of each century of Hijra is quite old and usually revived as an eschatological idea in difficult periods of the community's life, including clashes with "infidels" [Babadzhanov, 2010, p.33-34]. Moreover, Baha ' ad-din Vaisov himself in his Spiritual Testament calls himself Mujaddid al-Islam ("The Renewer of Islam") (p.320, end of the first line of paragraph 59). This is very similar to the idea of the "Renovator of the new century" (variant - millennium), which is also associated with the eschatological ideas of many Muslim authors, primarily branches of the mujaddidiyya [Kugelgen, 2004, pp. 5-7, 110-117 et seq.], to which Vaisov belonged. In any case, D. M. Usmanova, having singled out this idea of "makhdism" in Vaisov's above-mentioned work, considered it possible to link one of the stages of the movement's development with it, calling it "purely eschatological" (p. 89).
The author's further research on the fate of the Wa'is movement and analysis of extant writings and documents are important for understanding this stage (conventionally, "post - Baha'uddin") in their history, especially in the context of other important events in the life of Muslims in the Volga region and their complex relations with the authorities. It is important to conclude that the Vaisovites, being rejected by the authorities, the so-called official clergy and a significant part of the faithful, remained loyal to the cause of their teacher, whose sincere passion in trying to "correct Muslims" was enough for many years.
The second chapter of the research part of the monograph is devoted to the history of the Vaisov movement at the beginning of the XX century. Here we see new biographies of the followers and descendants of Baha 'ad-din Vaisov (primarily Gainan (Sardar) and Ghaziyan) and, as expected, a challenge to the" sole succession "in the community, notes on the Central Asian saga of the famous "Vaisov regiment" in the Red Army, etc."official clergy" did not improve, but rather became even more heated. However, the Vaisov people have already had the experience of adapting to the most unfavorable conditions, multi-sided conflicts, and sometimes seem to have needed them as an important incentive for the resilience of their own community and the development of their own culture.
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quasi-ideologies. At the same time, contesting leadership has led to divisions and even splits within the community. Persecution by the authorities did not stop, although the community was revived again (especially in 1905-1909) and even expanded. The author thoroughly examines these stages of the movement's history, up to 1917. Her conclusion is remarkable: "... in the Vaisov movement, religious motives and arguments did not play a decisive role, being significantly inferior in severity to social and national problems" (p.150).
The documents of the Vaisov chancellery of that time were increasingly invaded by the Russian clerical language, through which (often with completely clumsy definitions) the Vaisovites tried to present, as it seemed to them adequately, their community. This phenomenon itself can be understood as one of the aspects of the gradual entry of the Russian language into the life of the Muslim community of the Russian Empire.
Special attention should be paid to the original photo gallery of the movement's leaders, their descendants, other famous people, historical monuments, etc. given by D. M. Usmanova in her book. These photos bring the monograph to life very much and even allow you to see firsthand the image of the Vaisov movement and, if you like, the "living face" of the era.
As for the second section of the book, then, as it was said, this application is in the form of publishing documents from various archives of the Russian Federation. Documents are organized, numbered and arranged in chronological order within each block, titles indicate exactly where they are stored, etc. It seems to me that D. M. Usmanova's approach to publishing this body of documents is completely correct: she practically does not interfere with the form of original texts (based on the principle of "presumption of correctness of the text"), even in cases where computer sets of these texts are proposed. The only disadvantage is the small scale of some texts, especially Arabic texts, which makes them difficult to read. And of course, it would be quite useful to give a brief description (codicological or, say, stylistic features) of the original documents in the Preface to the published texts. However, the fact that these documents were published for the first time in the practice of "Religious studies" is a very important and useful phenomenon for those researchers who will undertake further study of other aspects of the history or methods of religious argumentation of the leaders of the movement.
In general, I believe that D. M. Usmanova managed to fully cope with the task set for herself. Her critical and strictly objective attitude to the studied material (publications and documents), which is accompanied by an unbiased analysis and very interesting observations and conclusions, captivates her.
The reviewer has some comments. As an Islamic scholar, I was primarily interested in the religious aspects of the Vaisovites ' argument, although the author (due to her professional background) focuses mainly on the political, social, national or historical aspects of the problems she raised. Of course, the religious aspect of the history of the Wa'is (for example, deliberately emphasized purism and adherence to the Sunnah, ritual practices, etc.) has yet to be studied in more detail, which will be facilitated by the presented monograph, as well as the work of M. Kemper, to which the author of the reviewed monograph often refers.
I will allow myself to make some corrections and express my thoughts on the material presented by D. M. Usmanova:
On page 33, the author suggests studying the entire set of sources, which, in her opinion, will allow us to establish "at which stage one or another aspect of the movement dominated (religious, ethnic, social or political)." It seems to me that this statement is not entirely successful; it may give the impression that at some stages the movement turned into a purely "political" one (for example, under the son of the movement's eponym, 'Inan ad-din), and the social or religious "aspects" were forgotten and ignored, and vice versa.
On page 61, in the title of the paragraph, the word "tribesmen "seems unfortunate; it would be more accurate to say"co-religionists".
On page 62, the term "fatwa "(fatwa) is translated inaccurately as" instruction"; a theological and legal decision would be more accurate. We are talking about a fatwa (which was signed by the mufti), about the legitimacy of the authorities ' requirement for mullahs to learn Russian. In the same place, the term " Mohammedan society "(borrowed from the dictionary of European and Russian orientalism) is incorrect; it should be "Muslims", "Muslim community" , etc.
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On pages 67-68, we regret to note that the names of well-known Fiqh works or Sufi compendiums are not quite accurate, for example: the well-known Turkic translation and commentary of Kitab an-nuqaya 'Mukhtasar al-vikaya'.
On p. 70, "Sharait-i Iman" is not an original work of Baha ' ad-din Wa'isov. Under this name, many works (simplified compendiums) are known that go back to anonymous samples of the Timurid era (possibly earlier samples of the post-Mongol period). Vaisov most likely compiled and adapted Turkic (Chagatai) and Tatar translations.
Some Russian translations (primarily by S. Enikeev), as far as I have managed to compare, are incomplete or represent a very free translation of the main meaning (for example, compare doc. No. 26 and 26a, pp. 227-236). By the way, in the preamble of the main text of this document, as in other works of Vaisov (or attributed to him), in the introductory part there is the famous formula " ... " in various variations. This formula is mainly used in the initial clauses of special documents, which in the tradition of Central Asia and the Volga region are called rivaya (rivayat), i.e. in extracts from authoritative works on jurisprudence (fiqh) to justify a particular theological and legal decision. Rivayas were most often granted by muftis to litigants or debating parties. By the middle of the 19th century, rivayats had effectively replaced fatwas. It looks like the compiler (s?) he used this formula deliberately, as if demonstrating his status as a mufti with the right to make theological and legal decisions.
Errors are found in the Arabic and less frequently in the Tatar parts of the original texts. It would be desirable to note these important details, especially since such a circumstance adds a certain touch to the understanding of the level of theological education of both Vaisov himself and his followers. Among the published documents, researchers are interested in Arabic prayers (du'a) and Tatar texts prefixed to "testimonies" in Russian (doc. no. 109, pp. 513-515). In the typographic forms, they are not translated into Russian, apparently intentionally, because they could introduce an undesirable refrain in a generally neutral Russian text (for example, the formula "" - "Islam is the truth, unbelief is a lie"). It seems that such abbreviations and adaptations are intended for the Russian-speaking audience, to which the drafters of such documents (from the Vaisovtsy office) clearly wanted to appear as a loyal and "pious community".
I hope that my comments did not spoil the good impression of a useful and well-written monograph by D. M. Usmanova, whose contribution to the study of this and other aspects of the history of the late Russian Empire is well known and appreciated by the scientific community not only in modern Russia, but also in the CIS countries.
list of literature
Babadzhanov B. M. Kokand Khanate: power, politics, religion. Tokyo-Tashkent, 2010.
Kemper M. Sufis and scientists in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan (1789-1889). Islamic Discourse under Russian domination. Kazan, 2008.
Kugelgen A. Legitimation of the Central Asian Mangit Dynasty in the works of their historians (XVIII-XIX centuries). Almaty, 2004.
1 Written:
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