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The Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly (Russian: Оренбургское магометанское духовное собрание) was a state-controlled religious administration in the Russian Empire that had jurisdiction over certain aspects of Islamic activity in Siberia, the Volga-Ural region, and parts of Central Asia, including the Kazakh steppe. It was established in 1788 by order of Russian Empress Catherine II.

It was one of several religious bodies created in the Russian Empire, forming state-allied 'clergies' to manage non-Orthodox religions.

History

In 1791, the similar Tauride Muslim Spiritual Authority was created, presiding over Crimean Tatars.

In the 1830s, the Department of Religious Affairs gave support to the Orenburg Assembly in religious disputes with the Hanafi and Sufi schools of thought

The Kazakhs were removed from the assembly's jurisdiction in the 1860s as part of a policy to decrease the exposure of the Kazakhs to Tartar influence.

According to statistics from 1883, the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly presided over 4,093 mosques, 7,341 ulema, and 2.14 million Muslims.

Structure

The head position in the assembly was mufti, under whom there were 5 or 6 qazis.

Mufti

The role of the mufti was established in the assembly's founding documents of 1788, however neither his social status or the scope of his powers were made clear. The first mufti, Mukhamedzhan Khusainov, immediately began to push for more power, demanding the same status as the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church. He met several times with Catherine II in St. Petersburg, and began to see himself as an important political figure in the Volga-Ural region. This worried local Russian administrators, who requested and received permission from Prince Alexander Bezborodko to severely limit Khusainov's influence and keep him under their control. Local authorities then decreed "his duty is to administer strictly religious matters, and not to touch secular ones, except when the administrations sees fit to use him for these".

According to an 1802 decree the mufti could not make any decisions without the consent of his deputies, however this was rarely followed by Khusainov. The first mufti was constantly dogged with lawsuits and complaints concerning bribery, swindling, and failure to follow salat. Though Emperor Alexander I sent a letter supporting Khusainov, and in effect granting him legal immunity, charges over Khusainov's abuse of power continued for the duration of his time as mufti.

See also

• Islam in Russia
• Islam in Central Asia
• Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Central Asia and Kazakhstan
• Muftiate
• List of Islamic Muftiates

Notes

1. Davies, Franziska; Wessel, Martin Schulze; Brenner, Michael (2015). Jews and Muslims in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 49–52. ISBN 978-3-647-31028-2. OCLC 930490047.
2. ^ Kollmann, Nancy Shields (2017). The Russian Empire 1450-1801 (1st ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom. pp. 115, 408. ISBN 978-0-19-928051-3. OCLC 969962873.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. Martin, 58.
4. Frank, Allen J. (2001). Muslim religious institutions in Imperial Russia : the Islamic world of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910. Leiden: Brill. p. 2. ISBN 90-04-11975-2. OCLC 45166719.
5. Azamatov, 356.
6. Azamatov, 356-357.
7. Azamatov, 357-361.
8. Azamatov, 355.

References

• Azamatov, Danil D. (1998), "The Muftis of the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly in the 18th and 19th Centuries: The Struggle for Power in Russia's Muslim Institution", in Anke von Kugelgen; Michael Kemper; Allen J. Frank (eds.), Muslim culture in Russia and Central Asia from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, vol. 2: Inter-Regional and Inter-Ethnic Relations, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, pp. 355–384, ISBN 3-87997-269-9
• Crews, Robert D. (2006), For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press., ISBN 0-674-02164-9
• Martin, Virginia (2001), Law and Custom in the Steppe: The Kazakhs of the Middle Horde and Russian Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century, Richmond, Surrey, UK: Curzon Press, ISBN 0-7007-1405-7

• Defunct Islamic organizations
• Sunni organizations
• Islamic organizations based in Russia
• Religious organizations established in 1788
• 1788 establishments in the Russian Empire
• History of Central Asia
• Religion in Central Asia
• Religion in the Russian Empire