Arabs were pioneers in documenting historical information about the Slavic nation
The most important thing that distinguishes the relationship between the Arabs and the Russians is the cultural exposure of the Russian and Arab nations to each other. Arab historians and travelers wrote in-depth reports and studies that dealt with the Russian character, revealing its characteristics and social lifestyle, defining its religious affiliation (pagan and then Christian), and describing its political and military behavior.
These studies were so deep and broad that they influenced and enriched even the contemporary Russian mind, and Russian historians considered them the first documented historical information about the life of their nation. On the other hand, the Russians were not less keen than the Muslims on such studies, but their work came - within the context of the phenomenon of Orientalism - about a thousand years later than what the Arab did.
The Russians were described in a number of Muslim books before and after the era of Ibn Fadlan, as being tough, patient, and brave and victorious over enemies in the battlefields, to the point that Al-Bakri says about them: “The Russians have no farms or earnings except with their swords”!!
History of Islam in Russia
The history of Islam in Russia dates back centuries. 22 years after the death of our prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, his followers came to Russia. They reached Today’s Russia in the 7th century. In 641 AD the Muslim army led by Abdul Rahman Ibn Rebia Al Bahli advanced towards the northeast of South Caucasus after the conquest of Iran and Jerusalem.
It can be said that the history of Islam in Russia begins with the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661 AD). First, Islam spread through the territory of today’s Dagestan, Muslims came to a city that is currently known as Derbent, which is located in Southern Dagestan. So the first Azan, call to prayer, in Russia, was heard on the lands of Dagestan, and then throughout the North Caucasus region. In the year 18 AH, Islam entered the land of the Eastern Caucasus (Azerbaijan). By the year 38 AH, it had permeated the Caucasus, finding fertile ground for rapid expansion.
Actually, the preoccupation of the people of that region, in religious and doctrinal conflicts among themselves, helped accelerate the spread of Islam. Thus, the Muslims were able to control Baku, and the Islamic conquests continued until they took control of the entire region of Southern Daraya, and that was in the period extending from the year 56 AH until In the year 96 of the Hijri year
Islam spread widely through Muslim merchants and economic relation
In another part of Russia, in the Upper Volga region, which was considered a crucial Eurasian trade meeting point because of its strategic position, Islam gradually spread into the Volga river basin through trade and other economic relationships with Muslim merchants. Moreover, this region played a significant role in Islam’s penetration into other parts of Russia.
The adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria had a profound political and cultural consequences, it influenced religious policies followed by the rulers of the Kievan Rus. The first Muslim state within the boundaries of today’s Russia was Volga Bulgaria, which is now the territory of Tatarstan.
Following the victory over the Khazar Khanate in 737, the Umayyad Caliphate took over North Caucasus. After the spread of Islam in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the region has been ruled by Muslim dynasties for 1200 years. During the golden age of Islamic civilization, and as a result of a central Muslim administration, the region produced many scholars of hadith and fiqh as well as prominent philosophers, physicists, and mathematicians.
Flexibility and tolerance of the Hanafi Mazhab helped in spreading Islam
Tolerance of the Hanafi Mazhab in Volga Bulgaria contributed extensively to the spread of Islam and allowed Muslim religious leaders to accept and acknowledge, local traditions and rituals which had existed before the arrival of Islam. According to some historical sources, wars between Volga Bulgars and the proto-Russians were not religious or ethnic conflicts, but they were driven solely by economic and political goals.
In the 10th century, the European Russians located around Moscow came into contact with Islam through Muslims traders. Currently, there are more than 10 million Muslims living in the Tataristan whose capital is Kazan, Bashkirdistan, and Ural regions, as well as in the Volga river basin. The second wave of Islamic expansion in Russia came with the Golden Horde Khanate in 1242.
Under Muslim Rule Russian churches and religious freedoms were protected, while Russians massacred Muslims after the fall of Kazan
Thomas Arnold's Preaching of Islam, 1930, explains to us how Russian orthodox churches were protected under Muslim rule. Arnold retold that the Muslim Mongol Sultan Muhammad Uzbek Khan (1341 AD), who ruled Moscow and Kiev, issued a decree addressing the Russian Orthodox Church in Kiev: “From (Sultan) Uzbek to our princes, great and small, and others: The Church of St. Peter is sacred, and no one is allowed to harm it by any means, or to harm any of its servants or priests, nor seize any of its property, goods, or men, nor interfere in its affairs, because it is all sacred. And whoever disobeys this order of ours - by attacking it - is sinful before Allah (God), and his punishment from us is death”!! This approach reflects the great civilized behaviors of Muslims throughout history.
In fact, this Islamic position toward the Russian Church reflects the tolerance and civilized attitude of Muslims toward other religions and is considered an enlightenment moment that is an extension of the days of the Companions of the prophet peace be upon him, when Islam entered the Caucasus region. Muslims did not interfere in Russians' administrations or in their religious rites, and they did not impose Islam on them; so many of them remained Christians.
After centuries, namely in the early 15th century, several independent Muslim khanates emerged. These khanates, that were originally Turkic covered almost all of what is now Russia, except the region between the cities of Moscow and Kiev where the Russian principalities were dominant. Being Muslim and of the Turkic ethnicity, The Ottoman Empire began supporting these small Turkic and Muslim states in that period. People adopted Islam in the Balkans, Karachay, Eastern Circassians, and Balkaria by the end of the fifteenth century. And Islam dominated most of Russia incessantly until these Muslim khanates were defeated by the Russian Empire in the 16th century and Muslims suffered extremely in the hands of the Slavic nation.
Kazan Massacre
Given the importance that the Volga River had on logistics and transportation levels within the Tsarist Russian Empire, the first thing the newly-founded Russian Empire did was to capture this region. In 1552, a Russian army composed of 50,000 soldiers invaded Kazan and massacred a huge number of Muslims. Following the fall of the Kazan Khanate, Islam was wiped out from these regions for 200 years, an era known as the “the silent period” by Muslims.
During that dark period, mosques and Muslim scholars were absent from social life, and Muslims were deprived from practicing their religion in public, and they had to perform their religious rituals in secret. Forced to live in hiding, the Muslims of Russia, were forced to take part in all insurrections against the Russian Empire, including the Razin Rebellion, Pugachev’s Rebellion, and the Bashkir Uprising. On the other hand, the invasion of Kazan proved to be a turning point for Russo-Ottoman relations, which had been quite positive until then.
As a consequence, the two empires entered a period of wars and conflicts. However, the conflicting relations was in Russia’s favors as it was now able to suppress the Ottoman-backed small communities, and expanded its influence as it became more powerful. With the annexation of Crimea, the number of Muslims in the empire naturally increased.
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- https://www.academia.edu/42922165/THE_PREACHING_OF_ISLAM_A_History_of_the_Propagation_of_the_Muslim_Faith_First_Volume
- https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusya%27da_%C4%B0slam
- https://en.insamer.com/russia-and-the-region-s-muslims-a-history-of-relations_1056.html
- https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85_%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7
