Russian hajj : empire and the pilgrimage to Mecca / Eileen Kane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kane, Eileen M., 1972- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muslim pilgrims and pilgrimages--Russia--History.

Muslim pilgrims and pilgrimages.

Muslim pilgrims and pilgrimages--Saudi Arabia--Mecca--History.

Islam and state--Russia--History.

Islam and state.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, New York ; London, [England] : Cornell University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The first book in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule, Russian Hajj tells the story of how tsarist officials struggled to control and co-opt Russia's mass hajj traffic, seeing it not only as a liability, but also an opportunity. To support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to Russia's policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border, migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials' fears of infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but Kane innovatively argues that it also generated new thinking within the government about the utility of the empire's Muslims and their global networks. Russian Hajj reveals for the first time Russia's sprawling international hajj infrastructure, complete with lodging houses, consulates, "Hejaz steamships," and direct rail service. In a story meticulously reconstructed from scattered fragments, ranging from archival documents and hajj memoirs to Turkic-language newspapers, Kane argues that Russia built its hajj infrastructure not simply to control and limit the pilgrimage, as previous scholars have argued, but to channel it to benefit the state and empire. Russian patronage of the hajj was also about capitalizing on human mobility to capture new revenues for the state and its transport companies and laying claim to Islamic networks to justify Russian expansion.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Maps

Preface: Sources and Maps

Introduction: Russia as a Crossroads of the Global Hajj

1. Imperialism through Islamic Networks

2. Mapping the Hajj, Integrating Muslims

3. Forging a Russian Hajj Route

4. The Hajj and Religious Politics after 1905

5. The Hajj and Socialist Revolution

Conclusion: Russian Hajj in the Twenty-First Century

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501748509

1501748505

9781501701313

1501701312

OCLC:

1080551070