ОРЫНБОР МҮФТИЛІГІНІҢ ҚАЗАҚТАРДЫҢ ҚОҒАМДЫҚ-САЯСИ ЖӘНЕ МӘДЕНИ ӨМІРІНДЕГІ ОРНЫ МЕН РӨЛІ (XVIII ҒАСЫРДЫҢ СОҢЫ –XX ҒАСЫРДЫҢ БАС КЕЗІ)

Abstract

This article examines the role of the Orenburg Muftiate (Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly) in the socio-political and cultural life of Kazakhstan in the late XVIII-early XX centuries. In 1788, Empress Catherine II created the first and only body that united all Muslims of Inner Russia and Kazakhstan –the Orenburg Muftiate. On September 22, 1788, a nominal decree of the Empress was adopted "On the definition of mullahs and other spiritual ranks of the Mohammedan law, and on the establishment of a spiritual assembly in Ufa to manage all spiritual ranks." Thus, the Muslim clergy was placed under the control of the state, which completely determined its personnel composition. If we take into account that freedom of religion already existed in Russia, then this decree established a mechanism for the supervision of clergy, while the main focus was on their loyalty to the Russian state. According to the status, the Orenburg Muftiate was entrusted with the following issues: to give fatwas on the fidelity or wrongness of acts in religious affairs, the acceptance of examinations from persons appointed to thepositions of akhuns, mukhtasibs, mudaris, khatibs, imams and muezzins who were appointed to the positions of performing duties under Sharia. In the eyes of the missionaries, it was the Orenburg Muftiate represented by the Muslim clergy that was the main tool for turning the sedentary and nomadic population of the Lower Volga, Steppes and Siberia into Muslims.