The Muslim Community of Yekaterinburg between the Late 19th and Early 20th Century: Size and Institutions

Abstract

The article discusses the history of Yekaterinburg city’s Muslim community between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The analysis made with reference to archival sources, statistics, periodicals, and documentary photographs allows the authors to define the Muslim community’s population dynamics and gender composition as well as to distinguish and localise its main religious institutions. It is shown that by the 1890s, the Yekaterinburg Muslim community was officially registered as such and established all the necessary institutions, such as a separate cemetery, and two sites to conduct communal services and prayer. They had their own imam and muezzin and founded Muslim primary and secondary schools. According to the First All-Russian census of 1897, the city’s Muslim community reached almost 700 persons and was the largest religious minority in Yekaterinburg. Most of them were ethnic Tatars engaged in trade. In the early 20th century, the Yekaterinburg Muslim community experienced a rapid development and was running several charity projects. However, they were unable to build their own mosque. The authors argue that the main reason was the relatively low number of male Muslims permanently living in the city — under the required 200. The de facto principle of registration during the 1897 Census as well as its fair time schedule entailed significant overestimation. Nevertheless, due to the position of their spiritual and secular leaders, the Muslim community was able to blend in with the rest of the city’s population, and contributed to its urban development.