Краткий обзор состояния и деятельности мусульманского культа за 1948 год члена СДРК Тагиева Brief overview of the state and activities of the Muslim cult for 1948 by the SDRK member Tagiev

Translation

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Brief Overview of the State and Activities of the Muslim Cult for 1948

Among the religious cults under the purview of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults, the Muslim cult takes first place in terms of number of adherents.

Muslims are largely concentrated in the Uzbek, Kazakh, Turkmen, Tadzhik, Kirgiz, and Azerbaidzhan SSRs, and in the Bashkir, Tatar, Dagestan ASSRs. Furthermore, there are quite a few Muslims in republics and oblasts within the RSFSR.

As of 1 January 1949, there were 416 active registered mosques within the USSR, and 500 unregistered houses of worships have been discovered. No mosques or Muslim houses of worship were opened in 1948 in response to petitions from groups of worshipers submitted to the council. During this period, based on decisions by oblast executive committees and the Councils of Ministers of autonomous and union republics, 50 petitions from believers to open mosques were rejected.

Activities of Religious Directorates

The Muslim religious movement in the Soviet Union is overseen by four religious centers:

1. The Muslim Religious Directorate for Central Asia and Kazakhstan in Tashkent;

2. The Muslim Religious Directorate for the European USSR and Siberia in Ufa;

3. The Muslim Religious Directorate for Transcaucasia in Baku;

4. The Muslim Religious Directorate for the North Caucasus in Buinaksk.

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Congresses of Muslim Religious Directorates

In the second half of December…year and with permission from the USSR government, the Muslim Religious Directorate for Central Asia and Kazakhstan held another in a series of congresses of the Muslim clergy and…believers of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kirgizstan in Tashkent.

There were 96 delegates at the congress. Furthermore, …three other USSR Muslim Religious Directorates (Transcaucasia, North Caucasus, and the European USSR and Siberia) participated as guests.

The congress heard a report by the mufti Ishan Babakhan about the activity of the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan during the reporting period from 1943 to …and conducted elections to select the new membership of the religious directorate and inspection commission. The congress confirmed the religious directorate's charter and adopted an amendment to it--to convene congresses every 5 years instead of 3, as in the past.

Eleven members and three candidate members were elected to the Muslim Religious Directorate. Mufti Ishan Babakhan Abdul Medzhidkhanov [Abdulmajidkhanov], who has held this post since…was unanimously elected as chairman of the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

In October 1948 a congress of Muslim clergy and believers from the European USSR and Siberia was held in Ufa. The congress addressed the same questions and adopted the same resolutions…as the congress in Tashkent, and the mufti Rasulov was unanimously elected as chairman of the Muslim Religious Directorate for the European USSR and Siberia.

Furthermore, the congresses instructed the presidiums of the religious directorates of Central Asia and Kazakhstan and the European USSR and Siberia to appeal to all Muslims

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in foreign countries to struggle against warmongers.

The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults approved of this intention by leaders of the Muslim clergy. The Council based this on the following considerations: addressing foreign Muslims over the radio could have a certain political significance in and of itself, since it could serve to spread the word not only that the Muslim clergy is not constrained in the USSR, but also that it is able to organize congresses, decide religious questions at them, and so forth. In other words, it could offer irrefutable proof that there is freedom of religion in the USSR.

Religious Schools (Madrassas)

USSR Council of People's Commissars Order No. 14808-r dated 10 October 1945 instructed the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults to allow the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan to open two religious schools in the cities of Tashkent and Bukhara with a contingent of 30 students in the Tashkent madrassa and 60 in the Bukhara one.

The Tashkent madrassa has not opened yet because there are no suitable facilities.

In early 1949 the building of the former Barakkhan madrassa, which had been occupied by the Voroshilov artel, was vacated. The Muslim Religious Directorate intended to use the Barakkhan building as a madrassa.

The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults found it inadvisable to open the second madrassa in the Uzbek SSR because the madrassa that has existed in Bukhara since 1946 does not have a full complement of students and it is able to satisfy SADUM's [Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan's] needs in preparing cadres for the Muslim clergy.

The madrassa in Bukhara was opened in April 1946 and admitted 26 students into the primary division; in 1947,

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it admitted 7 students and, in 1948, 5. In 1948, only 38 people are studying at the Bukhara madrassa.

The course of study at the madrassa is 9 years: 5 in the primary division and 4 in the main one. Students currently range in age from 23 to 40.

A December 1947 order from the USSR Council of Ministers instructed the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults to allow the Muslim Religious Directorate of Transcaucasia to open a madrassa in Baku with a contingent of no more than 40 students. The madrassa is not currently open due to a lack of facilities because of the small number of people expressing a desire to study and devote themselves to religious activity. Only 7 applications were received by the spiritual directorate.

Muslim Religious Directorate Publishing Activities

Since 1945, the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan has been publishing a religious magazine, 5,000 copies per issue. In 1948, only one (double) issue came out, and over the entire period of its publication there have been three (double) issues. A portion of each issue (500 copies) is circulated outside the Soviet Union. The magazine is barely surviving. This is due to a lack of suitable material to publish in it.

Furthermore, the Muslim Religious Directorates for Central Asia and Kazakhstan and for the European USSR and Siberia publish lunar calendars, 5,000 copies in Tashkent and 2,500 in Ufa.

Muslim Religious Directorate Measures Associated with Ramadan and the Uraza and Kurban Holidays

As regards the month-long fast and the uraza and kurban holidays, Muslim Religious Directorate activities are primarily aimed at limiting the spontaneity of the movement and the most negative phenomena of the cult through explanations (fatwas) of the quran and hadiths for believers. The goal is to prevent possible financial

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losses to the societal and personal economy of collective farm workers due to their failure to show up for work during uraza and on holidays, the slaughter of sacrificial livestock, the payment of fitr (a special type of tax on believers observing uraza and for the poor and the clergy) and so forth. The Muslim Religious Directorate for Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Muslim Religious Directorate for the European USSR and Siberia, the Muslim Religious Directorate for Transcaucasia and the Muslim Religious Directorate for the North Caucasus appealed to believers through their mukhtasibs. In their appeals they urged believers to perform honest labor and not permit truancy  and, citing the quran and hadiths, explained to them that making sacrifices, paying fitr, and observing uraza are not mandatory. The appeals went on to explain to believers that, under Sharia, making sacrifices is not mandatory but rather is an act of good will by believers; that fasting is also not mandatory for pregnant and nursing mothers, for workers engaged in taxing labor in industry, and for the sick; that, under socialism, the payment of fitr has lost its importance, since in the Soviet Union poverty has been eliminated and whoever works honestly does not need fitr.

It should be noted that these measures aimed at eliminating or at least limiting the most negative elements of the cult are a positive aspect of the religious directorates' activities. But due to insufficient oversight and efficiency on the part of the religious directorates themselves, some local members of the clergy in many cases did not conscientiously communicate this to believers.

In his sermons, Mufti Rasulev does not raise the matter of sacrifices, evidently feeling that sacrifices really are mandatory for well-to-do believers.

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Performing Rites in the Cult of Islam

The most common rites in the cult of Islam are considered:

Daily prayer, uraza (fasting), uraza bairam, and kurban bairam (the feast of the sacrifice).

Praying Five Times Daily

Daily prayer is the exception and is not performed regularly, even by the elderly. Although among some elderly believers daily prayers are performed in an organized manner, this only occurs where there is an active mosque. Even then, this rite is observed only in the winter, when collective farm workers have relatively more free time and elderly collective farmers are free from field work. In the summer months, when collective farmers are busy in the fields, praying five times daily is essentially reduced to zero.

Friday prayers (juma namaz) can be an exception. They are performed mostly by elderly believers, even in the summer months. For example, in the Tatar ASSR, in all registered mosques, including under rural conditions, approximately 35–50 people attend mosque on Fridays.

Uraza Bairam and Kurban Bairam (Facts and Figures)

Uraza and kurban bairam are most revered by adherents of Islam and are considered the cult's most important holidays.

Every Muslim is obligated to observe a thirty-day fast prescribed by Sharia, i.e., to abstain from eating or drinking water from sunrise to sunset. (Observing uraza is not mandatory only for children, breastfeeding women, and the ill, etc.). The month-long fast began on the 1st of Ramadan, which corresponds to 8 July. The holiday of fast-breaking (Uraza Bairam) was conducted 7–9 August. The month of Ramadan thus coincided with a period of intense

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collective farm work.

Kurban bairam was celebrated 13–15 October. Observance of rites associated with the holidays of uraza and kurban bairam is one of the most important indicators of the tenacity of religious vestiges among the most backward segment of the Muslim population. While religious vestiges are generally a hindrance in the building of communism, the holidays of uraza bairam and kurban bairam… Religious sentiments are markedly revived during these holidays, especially during the month-long fast. This phenomenon finds concrete expression in increased attendance at mosques during the month of the fast, in mass gatherings dedicated to celebratory worship, and in the observance of uraza and the rite of sacrifice (the slaughter of small and large horned cattle), etc., by many believers. Taken together, all this inevitably affects productivity and, consequently, causes a certain financial loss for collective farms. In a number of republics and oblasts, more people observed uraza in 1948 than in 1947. This was true first and foremost in the Central Asian republics, where the conservatism of religious vestiges is more strongly expressed than in other republics and oblasts. For example, in  Kashka-Darya, Bukhara, and Surkhan-Darya Oblasts, Uzbek SSR, not only adults of both sexes, but also school-age youth observed uraza. The same could be seen in other republics of Central Asia. Chechens, Karachai, Balkars, and Ingush moved to the Kirgiz SSR as special [forced] settlers observed uraza most strictly.

This traditional rite is observed by believers everywhere. For example, in the Tatar ASSR, where uraza was primarily observed by older people, young

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people were not an exception, since in many settlements people between 15 and 40 also fasted. The same phenomenon was also observed in the Udmurt ASSR. Here, in 4 settlements with a combined population of 3,130, a total of 2,150 people celebrated uraza, including 20 percent of young people.

The damage uraza caused to the collective farm economy is huge. For example, at the Kuibyshev Collective Farm (Dzhalal-Abad [Jalal-Abad]), before uraza 107–110 people went to work the cotton fields and in a day they would hill up to 50 hectares, but during uraza, the number of cotton workers was reduced to 60–70 people, and the daily output reached 28 hectares. Collective farm workers of the third brigade at that collective farm earned up to 289 workday units in a five-day week before the fast, and with the arrival of the fast, their output dropped to 95 workday units for a five-day week. A female collective farm Stakhanovite from that same brigade, Davydova, earned 17 workday units per week in the cotton field before uraza, and during uraza she started to earn only 3.3 units per week.

We must attribute this abnormal phenomenon to the fact that believers who observe uraza, abstaining from food and water from sunrise to sunset, quickly become physically exhausted.

During the holidays of kurban and uraza bairam, huge numbers of believers participate in mass worship. In Osh (Kirgiz SSR) on 14 October, 30,000–35,000 people participated in holiday worship, and on 7 August, close to 60,000. The reason for such huge gatherings of worshipers is that Osh, with its Taht-I-Suleiman mountain, is regarded by Muslims of Central

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Asia as a second Mecca. Usually pilgrims come not only from Osh Oblast, but also from the Uzbek and Tadzhik SSR. It is not unusual for believers to spent 2–4 days on this trip.

Worship involving huge numbers of believers also took place in the Uzbek, Tadzhik, Turkmen, and Kazakh SSR. In the village of Kundzhi-Kaly, Bukhara Oblast, 4,000 people participated in worship on the day of kurban bairam; in Gizhduvan [Gijduvan], approximately 3,000; in Petropavlovsk, 2,500; in Kazan, more than 20,000, and so forth. Mass worship dedicated to the uraza holiday, with even more worshipers than on the day of the kurban bairam holiday, was conducted in all republics and oblasts with Muslim-majority populations. For example, on the day of uraza bairam, 11,000 people participated in the two mosques of Andizhan [Andijan] alone. Young people of school age also participated in worship.

As indicated above, the kurban holiday is celebrated with sacrifices: believers sacrifice small and large livestock (sheep, goats, cows, etc.). The number of animals sacrificed depends on believers' material situation, how much livestock they possess. However it is not uncommon for believers who do not personally possess the livestock required for the rite to buy it at the market.

It is impossible to calculate exactly how many heads of livestock are sacrificed. However, according to data from the Council of Plenipotentiaries, we can estimate the number of slaughtered animals. It is very hard to imagine a town or village with a Muslim population where individual believers did not perform the sacrificial rite.

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Approximately 1,000 heads of cattle were slaughtered in the city of Bukhara in 1948, and, according to incomplete data, 2,000 in the oblast. In 1947, across Bukhara Oblast, including the city, there were 2,000 heads slaughtered--1,000 fewer than in 1948. In Kazan, 1,000 heads were slaughtered, and throughout the republic, including Kazan, 13,000–14,000 heads. Across Ulyanovsk Oblast, in the 18 registered communities alone, 286 heads were slaughtered--86 heads more than in 1947. Across the Bashkir ASSR, approximately 900 heads of cattle were slaughtered in 1948, compared with fewer than 300 in 1947. In Przhevalsk, 300 heads were slaughtered. This circumstance inevitably affects the market price for livestock. For example, while in Frunze, where a comparatively large number of livestock is sacrificed, before the holiday a sheep costs 300–400 rubles at the market, but when the holiday comes, the price rises to 500–600 rubles.

Uraza- and Kurban-Related Activities in Registered and Unregistered Communities

While kurban and uraza bairam, as particularly revered holidays, naturally energize believers, the level of this energy can differ. In raions and oblasts where there are registered mosques, believers are much more active than where no mosque has been opened. An indicator of this is the number of believers taking part in holiday worship. Having registered mosques and permanent clergy in a particular area has a greater organizing and disciplining effect on believers. Specifically as a result of these legal conditions, holidays are marked with more grandeur and draw more believers, including many women and school-age youth.

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In contrast, believers in unregistered communities gather for celebratory worship in smaller groups. Usually these gatherings take place in graveyards, outdoors, or in private homes under the leadership, in most cases, of a member of the so-called "itinerant" clergy. Women and young people rarely take part in such gatherings. This by no means suggests, however, that there are few believers in places where no mosques have been opened and fewer [sic.] believers where there is a mosque. This would be an inaccurate conclusion. Even given an equal number of believers in both cases, holidays with large celebrations take place specifically where there are registered mosques. This is confirmed by data from a number of republics and oblasts. For example, in the Bashkir ASSR, across 24 registered communities, 8,840 people took part in holiday worship on the day of kurban bairam, according to approximate data, as compared to 684 people in 23 unregistered communities.

Other Islamic Rites

The rites performed by Muslims are not limited to those mentioned above. There are other rites prescribed by sharia and adat. Among the most common are: religious marriage (nikakh [nikoh]), funerals (dzhenaza-namaz [janaza-namaz]), circumcision (sonniat), the remembrance of the dead, and other less common rites. As a rule, these rites are observed by more believers than daily and Friday namaz, uraza, and sacrifices, which are more burdensome for believers. Ordinary namaz, which, although directly stipulated by Islamic doctrine, in the practical life of Muslims are not distinguished by

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particular conservatism, unlike circumcision, burials, weddings, etc. These are more conservative, more persistent. The conservatism and persistence of these rites are explained not only by believers' economic and living conditions, but also by psychology and the strength of opinions in those who adhere particularly adamantly to religious traditions, superstitions, and prejudices. Circumcision, funerals, weddings, etc., are observed by all believers.

Performance of Religious Rites by Some Unreliable Members of the Party and Komsomol

It has been noted that some of the least reliable members of the party and Komsomol take part in mass holiday worship, observe the month-long uraza fast, and so forth. For example, VKP(b) members Arslanov (communal services bookkeeper for the Przhevalsk oblast executive committee), Matsaev (locomotive engineer), Kuchukbaev (former head of the Przhevalsk municipal housing directorate), Artykov (veterinary college bookkeeper), Butashev (party secretary at the Oktiabr Collective Farm), Ostanaev (Kuibyshev Collective Farm, Issyk-Kul Oblast), and Bagaugodinov and Shamgunov (Tatarskii Kalmaiur[NF1] , Cherdakly Raion, Ulyanovsk Oblast) took part in mass worship celebrating the 1948 Uraza holiday; VLKSM [Komsomol] members Abdiev (master tannery worker in Naryn, Tian Shan Oblast) and Nadarshin and his wife (bookkeeper for the Przhevalsk Komsomol oblast committee) observed uraza.

Candidate VKP(b) member Faima Makhmudova (head of the Chelkar Raion commercial department, Aktiubinsk Oblast) registered with citizen (official of the West-Kazakhstan Geological Directorate) in the Chelkar mosque to perform the marriage rite (nikakh).

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Itinerant Clergy

The revival in religious sentiments among believers is to a certain extent promoted by "itinerant" mullahs. They find fertile ground for their "activity" primarily in places where there are no registered communities and buildings of worship. During the uraza fast in Tashkent and Tashkent Oblast, itinerant mullahs conducted agitation among believers, hoping to draw as many people as possible to celebratory worship services. Many of them traveled to rural places and went from house to house talking believers into attending prayer gatherings and making contributions for the clergy. In Kazan, where there is one registered mosque, holiday worship was organized in six places. Of these six services, five were conducted by the itinerant clergy. In the Kabarda ASSR, in six places lacking registered mosques, when the month of fasting began, believers, led by the itinerant clergy, began to regularly gather in unregistered mosques for evening prayers (taravikh [tarawih]). When the local authorities found out, they prohibited these prayers. However, on the uraza holiday, the believers of these villages, on their own, led by the itinerant clergy, conducted mass gatherings in unregistered mosques. Analogous phenomena were seen in other republics and oblasts.

The itinerant clergy are active almost everywhere that lacks a registered mosque.

One of the most effective measures aimed at limiting the activities of itinerant mullahs is imposing an income tax on them. As a result of such measures, many of them refuse to fulfill a clerical function.

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Violations of Soviet Law on Cults by the Clergy and Connivance and Meddling in the Internal Affairs of Muslim Religious Communities by Individual Party and Government Officials

Not only so-called itinerant mullahs, but also the clergy of registered mosques conduct agitation promoting participation in holiday worship by the most people possible for the major holidays (uraza and kurban bairam). For example, as a result of such agitation, on 7 August 1948 (the first day of the uraza holiday), 8,000 people attended the Divan-Abai mosque in Andizhan. With that goal in mind, the clergy of the registered mosque in Bukhara organized an orchestra that played on the mosque's roof in the evening during the month of Ramadan to attract more believers to evening prayers (taravikh).

In response to the revival of religiosity and the increased attendance at mosques during Ramadan, some local officials have resorted to administrative measures that were neither economically nor politically expedient. For example, an income tax in the sum of 4,858 rubles was for a second time imposed on Abdulmalikov, the mullah of the registered mosque in Shakhriziabs [Shahrisabz] (Kashka-Darya Oblast). Because Abdulmalikov did not pay this tax, the local authorities closed the mosque in the city of Shakhriziabs on 7 August (the day of the uraza holiday).

In Khodzhaev Raion, Andizhan Oblast (Uzbek SSR), the chairman of the village council, Matkasimov, fearing that during the uraza holidays believers would not

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come to work, closed the registered mosque and forbid prayer on the holiday. However, believers from several surrounding collective farms, 3,000 people, went to Osh (Kirgiz SSR) to take part in holiday worship rather than coming to work. Through his actions, Matkasimov violated not only the law on cults, but objectively promoted violations of collective farm labor discipline.

There were a number of instances of direct connivance by the heads of enterprises. For example, the heads of the Akmolinsk station depot, the Kora-Kol State Farm (Kirgiz SSR), and the Kakhselmash transport department, among others, gave workers the day off on the day of the uraza holiday.

The chairman of the Urnek Collective Farm, Tiup Raion, VKP(b) member Rakhim; chairman of the Kodzhochuk-Kuch Collective Farm, Dzheti-Oguz Raion, VKP(b) member Abdraev; and the chairman of the Karl Marx Collective Farm in the same raion (Kirgiz SSR) Akunbaev issued the collective farm workers an advance on their workday units, timing this payment to coincide with a particularly festive day (the eve of the uraza holiday, arafa), which Muslims consider "holy."

A session of the Kamsaktinsky aul council (Airshavsky Raion, Kokchetav Oblast) that took place in the summer of 1948 adopted a resolution: "Shailap Duisenbaev was named mullah by the Kamsaktinsky aul council in 1944, but since the day of his appointment he has not brought any benefit to the state and was not able to show himself to the people as a religious figure. Therefore, bearing in mind

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the aforementioned shortcoming and a request by Sh. Duisenbaev himself, participants in the session--deputies and activists--unanimously resolve to relieve Shailap Duisenbaev of the post of mullah for Kamsaktinsky aul soviet."

The Aktiubinsk municipal social security department sent a letter to the Aktiubinsk Muslim religious community requesting that a collection drive be undertaken to help invalids and the families of those who died at the fronts of the Patriotic War.

In October 1948, students of Bukhara's Mir-Arab Religious College volunteered to pick cotton at the Stalin Collective Farm, Atabasar village council, in Bukhara Raion, and helped collective farm workers by picking 275 kilograms of cotton in 8 hours.

In addition to the students of the religious college, clergy members from the following mosques also took part in the organized cotton picking: Barakiian, Khoja Taban, Takban Bufon, and Khoja Zainutdin. Including students and clergy members, a total of 60 people took part in the cotton picking.

Member of the USSR Council of Ministers Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults (Tagiev)