Muslim Parish Clergy in 19th — Early 20th Century (Metric Books of Bukhara Volost of Tobolsk Uyezd, Tobolsk Governorate)

Abstract

The article focuses on the manuscript monuments of Turkic-speaking peoples — Muslim metric books. The compilers of books in Old Tatar language are representatives of the Muslim clergy. The study is based on archival documents from the Bukhara Volost of Tobolsk Uyezd, Tobolsk Governorate from the 19th to the early 20th centuries. The aim of the research is to study the composition of the Islamic clergy through the introduction of understudied sources and the historical and sociocultural facts contained in them. As a result of the analysis of metric records, data on 35 individuals were established, including the name of the spiritual rank, personal name and patronymic (by the end of the 19th — early 20th century — surname) of the clergyman, the time and place of his service, and the name of the madrasah where he studied literacy (in the early 20th century). It is noted that the chronological principle in compiling the books allowed tracing continuity in religious cult service, for example, through blood relations. The authors conclude that Muslim metric records are valuable historical and linguistic sources for studying the sociocultural and linguistic situation of the 19th — early 20th century.