Confessional policy of the Russian Empire in the western part of Kazakhstan (mid XIX – early XX centuries)

Abstract

Undoubtedly, the western region of Kazakhstan is unique and strategically important compared to other regions. First of all, the influence of the Kazan and Ufa madrassas, the largest Muslim centers in the region due to their geographical location, and the international nature of the Jadid movement, and secondly, the richness of archival data and the independence of religious representatives from the region should be accentuated. At the same time, the Muslim influence of Tatar mullahs’ activeness in the region weakened, and the number of educated Kazakh clerics increased, who, in their turn, joined forces with the Alash intelligentsia to intensify the struggle for national liberation. The western region of Kazakhstan has long been distinguished by its close historical and cultural ties with Volga Bulgaria, the Caucasus, the Black Sea and developed Muslim centers such as Iran and Khorezm. Especially in the late XVIII-XIX centuries cultural ties with the Volga-Ural region intensified as the Kazakhs of Junior Zhuz became Russian citizens and further integrated into the Empire. In other words, favorable historical conditions have been created in this region for the rapid development of Islam. Therefore, the geographical scope of the topic is based on the western regions of Kazakhstan.