Информация о поездке мусульман-паломников из СССР в Мекку в 1955 году Молотову от Председателя СДРК Полянского SDRK Chairman Poliansky to Molotov on the trip of Muslim pilgrims from the Soviet Union to Mecca in 1955

Translation

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Secret

Copy No. 4

CPSU CC

USSR Council of Ministers

To Cde. V. M. Molotov

USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs

17 September 55

Information on the trip of Muslim pilgrims from the Soviet Union to Mecca in 1955

The Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults hereby reports, for your information, that the group of 20 Soviet Muslim citizens who flew out from Moscow on an airplane of the Civil Air Fleet on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia (Mecca, Medina) has returned to the Soviet Union.

During their time abroad, the pilgrims established ties with a number of prominent Muslim leaders. In Mecca, Medina and Cairo, they visited and presented gifts to the heads of large mosques. In Cairo they twice visited the prorector of the Muslim Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Al-Huseini Sultan, with whom they exchanged gifts, and were received by Sheikh Hassan Bakuri, the minister for wakf [property endowment for religious or charitable purposes] affairs.

In Cairo the pilgrims participated in a large reception arranged at Al-Azhar on the occasion of the official celebration of the Muslim New Year. On 16 August they held a press conference for correspondents of Cairo newspapers, at which they made a statement about the freedom of the Muslim religion in the Soviet Union and answered correspondents' questions.

The day before the pilgrims' departure from Cairo for the Motherland, the Plenipotentiary of VOKS [the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations With Foreign Countries] arranged a reception with their funds, which was attended by prominent Egyptian religious, social and governmental leaders, diplomatic representatives and representatives of the press. The Egyptian press this year has devoted a great deal of attention to the trip by the Soviet Union's Muslims on the pilgrimage and to their stay in Egypt. The attitude of the governmental representatives in Saudi Arabia, and especially in Egypt, toward the pilgrims from the USSR this

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year was significantly better than last year.

Meetings between the Muslims from the Soviet Union and pilgrims from other countries, especially from Turkey and Pakistan, helped to dispel the slanderous propaganda to the effect that the Muslim religion is prohibited in the Soviet Union.

The trip by the Muslim pilgrims from the Soviet Union to Mecca and Medina, like last year, prompts the following conclusions:

1. The annual appearance of pilgrims from the Soviet Union abroad and the attention paid them by ordinary believers and the Muslim clergy, as well as Egyptian social and governmental leaders, places in a very disadvantageous position in the eyes of public opinion the foreign circles that systematically put out mendacious propaganda about the destruction of the Muslim religion and the persecution of clerics in the USSR.

2. The appearance of representatives of the Muslim clergy at the press conference on the freedom of religion in the Soviet Union was well worthwhile. In order to further dispel the slanderous propaganda about the supposed lack in the Soviet Union of freedom of worship for the Muslim religion, it is advisable in the future as well to hold such press conferences with statements there by Muslim religious leaders and to continue appearances by these leaders on radio broadcasts to foreign countries and publication of their articles on this subject in the foreign press.

3. To deem it advisable to permit Muslim centers in the Soviet Union to arrange a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1956 by a new group of pilgrims, unless the political situation interferes with this.

4. To study the proposal by the USSR Ambassador to Egypt, Cde. Solod, that it would be advisable, on an annual basis, to dispatch a special ship with several hundred pilgrims aboard from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia. When studying this matter, take into account that the Muslim pilgrims in countries contiguous with the Soviet Union (China, Bulgaria, Romania and others) could make use of the Soviet ship.

Following is more detailed information about the pilgrims' trip to Mecca.

Unlike previous years, this year all of the four Muslim religious directorates

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in the Soviet Union took part in arranging the pilgrimage.

According to data in the press, about 230,000 Muslims came to Mecca from other countries on a pilgrimage in 1955, of whom more than 58,000 were from Yemen; about 35,000 from Egypt; more than 22,000 from Pakistan; more than 10,500 from Iraq; more than 10,500 from Indonesia; more than 8,500 from Syria; more than 8,500 from Palestine; more than 7,500 from Sudan; about 6,000 from Transjordan; about 5,000 from Iran; more than 4,000 from Africa; about 3,500 from Malaya; about 2,000 from Afghanistan; 1,700 from Lebanon; 1,700 from Siam; 1,600 from Turkey; about 700 from the Philippines; about 110 from Ceylon; 65 from Yugoslavia; 62 from China; 47 from Indo-China; 20 from the Soviet Union; and 10 from Burma.

President Sukarno of the Republic of Indonesia came as a pilgrim from Indonesia with his wife. On 29 July he delivered a message in Arabic on the radio in which he greeted the population of Saudi Arabia, expressed his satisfaction that he had had an opportunity to come on a pilgrimage this year and called on Muslims, especially in Arab countries, to come together for joint action in the effort to drive the colonialists out of Muslim countries. In his message, Sukarno said it was essential to strengthen relations between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

On 3 August, the day before the departure of the Soviet pilgrims from Mecca, King Saud appeared before representatives of the pilgrims from all countries. The pilgrims from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China were not invited to this reception. The King called on all Muslims in his address to strengthen mutual ties and to strengthen the religion of Islam.

The pilgrims recounted the following about their trip.

When the Soviet plane carrying the pilgrims landed in Ankara, about 30 Turkish citizens gathered at the airport, not far from where the plane landed; but they did not approach the plane. The same thing occurred in Beirut, where an assembled group of Lebanese, as many as 40 people, without getting close to the plane, greeted the pilgrims in Arabic. While they were in Mecca and Medina, the pilgrims paid visits to a number of religious leaders. For example, in Mecca they visited and presented gifts to the head of the city's main mosque, Seid Ibrahim. In parting with the pilgrims, Seid Ibrahim asked them to convey his regards and gratitude for the gifts to the leaders of the

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Soviet Union's Muslims. The leader of Central Asia's pilgrims, Alikariev, visited the head of the other mosque in Mecca, Abdul Hamid, in order to receive a blessing from him. In Medina, the pilgrims visited the head of the city's mosque, Sheikh Abdul Aziz. He joyfully accepted gifts and eagerly chatted with the pilgrims. In Mecca, pilgrim Abbasov from Azerbaidzhan talked with pilgrims from Turkey. They were surprised to see Muslims from the Soviet Union, since, they said, there were widespread rumors in Turkey, about which the newspapers write as well, that mosques and religious schools in the Soviet Union have been shut down or demolished, and the leaders of the Muslim religion have been annihilated or exiled. Pilgrim Abdullaev from Dagestan, during religious rites on the outskirts of Mecca, had a talk with a pilgrim from Kashmir, a salesman named Haidar Aliev. The latter related that the newspapers in their country write that Muslims in the Soviet Union are badly off, the populace is very poor, and the authorities prevent believers from performing religious rites. In Jiddah, the pilgrims had a meeting with a group of medical workers from Turkey and Pakistan, who asked the pilgrims to describe what collective farms are like and whether Muslims are admitted to them.

During the pilgrims' stay in Cairo, they twice visited the deputy rector of the Muslim Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Al-Huseini Sultan, presented gifts to him and delivered a letter from the chairman of the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, Mufti Ishan Babakhan. The leaders of the Central Asian pilgrims talked with the sheikh about a number of issues, including the enrollment this year by three graduates of the Bukhara madrassa in Al-Azhar's theology department.

Sheikh Al-Huseini Sultan, who is filling in for the university rector while the latter is abroad, welcomed the dispatch of the Uzbek students to Al-Azhar, declaring that there had always been a strong friendship between the Muslims of Egypt and Central Asia, which unfortunately was interrupted recently because of the interference of politics in religious affairs. He said that now, after the revolution, when Egypt has joined the ranks of free nations, this long-standing and strong friendship between the Soviet Union and Egypt has been restored. Al-Huseini Sultan transmitted to Mufti Ishan Babakhan a reply to his letter, then gave each pilgrim a copy of the Quran with a handwritten inscription that he was presenting the Quran to mark

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the strengthening of friendship between the Muslims of Egypt and the Soviet Union. In the conversation with the pilgrims, the sheikh questioned them about the life of Muslims in the Soviet Union, about the state of religion, the activities of mosques, religious schools, etc.

The pilgrims from the Soviet Union were received along with pilgrims from the People's Republic of China by the minister for wakf affairs, Sheikh Hassan Bakuri. He also questioned the pilgrims about the life of Muslims in their countries. When the pilgrims expressed a wish to meet with him in the Soviet Union, he replied: "Comrade Bulganin has invited Minister Nasser to visit him, and he wants to take me with him, I will be happy to visit your country." The minister gave the Muslim Religious Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan two big albums with views of the largest mosques in Egypt. In addition, small albums were given to everyone. Bakuri had his picture taken with the pilgrims. When he said goodbye to the pilgrims, the minister invited them to take a sightseeing tour of the city, to which end he put a bus and a tour guide at the pilgrims' disposal.

The pilgrims took a sightseeing tour of Cairo and visited the major mosques and museums. The pilgrims were met at all the mosques by believers and clergy with great respect. At some of the mosques the pilgrims read the Quran. The believers and clergy who were present were very happy with this. After pilgrim Bakhramov from Tashkent read the Quran at one of the mosques, the believers declared that Soviet Muslims read the Quran as well as the Muslims of Cairo. During a visit to a mosque in Cairo, Egyptians questioned the pilgrims about the life of Muslims in the Soviet Union, about the state of the religion of Islam, about the number of pilgrims who had come, etc. At the oldest mosque, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, the pilgrims were greeted by the blind cleric of the mosque, who delivered a speech. In it he hailed the friendship between the Muslims of the Soviet Union and Egypt. At all of the mosques, believers expressed a feeling of friendship toward Soviet Muslims. They did all they could to express these feelings: they laid out carpets for them, helped them to put on footwear, made room for them, etc.

On Friday, 19 August, the day before the Muslim New Year, the pilgrims from the USSR and the PRC were invited to the Imam Husayn Mosque. They were greeted their by the deputy prime minister of Egypt, Seid Abdel Latip. The pilgrims were led into a special room where Muslim relics were stored. There they were shown Muhammad's "hair" and

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"color for his eyelashes." The meeting between Egyptians and the pilgrims from the USSR and China developed into a celebration in their honor. The aforementioned deputy rector of the Muslim Al-Azhar University, Sheikh Al-Huseini, congratulated the pilgrims on their safe return from the pilgrimage and the advent of the New Year, underscored his particular respect for the pilgrims from the USSR and the PRC and invited them to visit the Al-Azhar Mosque the next day to take part in the official celebration of the advent of the Muslim New Year.

At a large reception at the Al-Azhar Mosque on 20 August, the pilgrims met and chatted with many Egyptian governmental, religious and social leaders. When the pilgrims set off for the reception, they were met by Al-Azhar students from Turkey, who questioned them with great interest about the state of the Muslim religion in the Soviet Union and about the existence and activities of religious schools. The day before the pilgrims left Cairo, the Plenipotentiary of VOKS arranged a reception with their funds at the House of Culture of the USSR Embassy in Cairo, which was attended by the deputy rector and members of the Al-Azhar council of supreme ulemas; clerics of the largest mosques; diplomatic representatives of countries in the Muslim East and the countries of people's democracy; high officials of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; representatives of the press, etc. The reception took place in a friendly atmosphere.

One of the Egyptian correspondents at the reception, someone named Mahmud Kabir, gave pilgrim Abdullaev from Dagestan two books on Egyptian history, on which he wrote that he was "giving these books to the Dagestani scholar Abdullaev."

During the pilgrims' time abroad, they had meetings, as in previous years, with émigrés from the former tsarist Russia and with White émigrés who fled from the Soviet Union at various times. Many of the émigrés, according to the pilgrims' accounts, have loyal feelings toward the Soviet state, and some of them were interested in the possibility of returning to the Motherland, asked to have letters and souvenirs delivered to their relatives, etc. Pilgrim Abdullaev met with his relative living in Mecca, a merchant named Abdul Aziz Akhmedov, whose son Hassan supposedly received an education in the United States and England and now serves as an official at the Ministry of Trade of Saudi Arabia. The father and especially the son were interested in life in the Soviet Union, the state of

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Islam, the existence of freedom of trade, laws on the family and marriage, taxation and financial support for office clerks and workers. Hassan asked whether the USSR had Sharia courts, whether Muslims pay a zakat (military tax), and so forth. Abdul Aziz and Hassan voiced the opinion that wherever Muslims live, Sharia law must exist, that people should not be equal but be rich and poor, and that it is bad when there are no landlords and landowners. When he learned that Abdullaev receives 1,000 rubles a month, Hassan said that it is a very small amount to live on.

An émigré from tsarist times named Akhmed Amirkhanov, who lived for 35 years in Turkey, where he was a teacher, and has now moved to Saudi Arabia, said in a conversation with the pilgrims that it is bad when the Soviet Union does not permit people to engage in commerce and there are no merchants. At the end of the conversation with the pilgrim Abdullaev, Amirkhanov burst into tears, kissed Abdullaev's hand and said he would like to return to the Motherland. Émigrés from Uzbekistan named Mir-Akhmed and Mukhamed-Bek, who live in Mecca, wept with joy when they met with the pilgrims, and one of them said: "We will probably not be able to visit the Motherland. It would be nice if our children visited there." They expressed a strong desire to return to the Motherland. One of those living in Medina, a White émigré from Namangan named Nigmatulla, who said he is now a supply manager at a military school in Saudi Arabia, asked a question during the meeting with the pilgrims: "Why do so few pilgrims come from the Soviet Union?" and then added: "If more of them came, relations between our countries would improve."

In Cairo, the pilgrims, like last year, visited there one of the influential Kazakh White émigrés, Seid Mubashirkhan, who emigrated from the city of Dzhambul in 1928. The pilgrims delivered a letter and gifts to Mubashirkhan from Ishan Babakhan. They also visited an Al-Azhar instructor named Yunus, who has lived in Cairo for more than 40 years.

While the Soviet pilgrims were in Mecca, Medina and Cairo this year, the White émigré nationalist organizations were much less active in trying to work on them than in past years. Seid Umarkhai, an émigré who left Tashkent even before the revolution, told the pilgrims that the White émigré nationalist organization Milli-Turkestan continues to exist and operate in the émigrés' milieu. From time to time, its representatives make the rounds of émigrés and demand that they donate

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sums of money to the organization. The pilgrims encountered one of the representatives of the organization in Medina. Someone named Khamidulla followed on their heels and once attempted to start talking with the leader of the pilgrims from Central Asia, Alikariev. Trying to strike up a conversation with him. Khamidulla asked Alikariev: "Who is now the head of the Government of the Soviet Union—after all, Stalin died? After Stalin came Malenkov, but who is it now?" Without waiting for Alikariev to respond, he continued: "Now you have Bulganin, but why did they oust Malenkov?" Alikariev replied that he did not work in the Government and did not know why Cde. Bulganin had been appointed Chairman of the Government in Cde. Malenkov's place. If Khamidulla was interested in this question, he should contact Cde. Malenkov directly. The émigré, convinced that the pilgrim did not want to continue the conversation with him, backed off.

In Jiddah and in Cairo, agents of Milli Turkestan attempted to give the pilgrims magazines that contained articles with anti-Soviet content. But according to the pilgrims, they did not read these magazines and immediately returned them.

During the visit to Mecca, one of the émigrés with whom the pilgrims met, Abdul Khamid from Andizhan, warned the pilgrims that someone named Mukhamed Bek, who was visiting the pilgrims, was a former basmach and White émigré, had been instructed by the police to monitor the pilgrims. Abdul Khamid said that among the émigrés there were people who immediately after the pilgrims' departure reported to the police on all of the local inhabitants who met with the pilgrims from the USSR and that Mukhamed Bek had ruined many people in this manner. Abdul Khamid went on to say: "Muslims living in Mecca may want to meet with you, but they are afraid."

Just like last year, correspondents from various foreign newspapers and magazines talked with the pilgrims and photographed them at the Ankara and Cairo airports, in the Cairo hotel, stores and on the street. None of these actions by the correspondents this year, however, was of a pushy or harassing nature as was the case in past years. In addition, the information about the pilgrims this year was more objective.

In Cairo, the pilgrims, on the advice of the USSR Embassy, held a press conference at the hotel where they were staying, to which they invited correspondents for the Egyptian newspapers and magazines in Cairo.

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After introductory remarks by the pilgrims' leaders, Alikariev and Abdullaev, who described the freedom of worship in the Soviet Union and the life of Muslims, the correspondence in attendance asked the pilgrims a number of questions. Among these questions, in particular, were the following: How many Muslims are there in Central Asia? Are there houses of worship and mosques in the Soviet Union; Do Muslims understand the contents of the Quran? Can Muslims in the Soviet Union take part in the work of the Muslim congress that is expected to be convened next year? etc. Alikariev and Abdullaev gave exhaustive responses to all these questions. The statements and answers by Alikariev and Abdullaev were tape-recorded and, the pilgrims say, were then broadcast on the radio. The press conference was also widely covered in the Cairo press. The newspaper Al Ahram, in its issue of 17 August, carried an article about the press conference in which it wrote: "On 16 August the pilgrims from the Soviet Union arranged a press conference that was attended by correspondents for a number of Cairo newspapers. The group leaders, hajji Alikariev and hajji Abdullaev, spoke at the conference. Shamsutdin Abdullaev, the leader of Dagestani pilgrims, spoke in Arabic. He said the pilgrims included Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Tatars, Bashkirs, Azerbaidzhanis and Dargins. On behalf of all the Soviet pilgrims, he expressed gratitude to the peoples of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who had given them a warm reception while the Soviet pilgrims had been in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Then he said that there were several tens of millions of Muslims living in the Soviet Union, with their own houses of worship and schools, that four religious directorates guide the religious activities of Muslims and that Muslims in the Soviet Union carry out religious rites and the requirements of Islam completely freely.

Abdullaev expressed satisfaction and gratitude to Egypt's governmental and religious leaders for providing a warm reception to the pilgrims who had come from the Soviet Union and affording an opportunity to get acquainted with the wonderful historical monuments of Islam: Abdullaev said that the peoples of the Soviet Union, including Muslims, want to live in peace, and they would be very glad if there were close and friendly ties between the peoples of the Soviet Union and Egypt. Abdul-Halim Al-Ghamrawi, the editor of Al Ahram, congratulated Soviet pilgrims on their safe arrival in Cairo and the impending New Year of 1375.

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Only one newspaper in Cairo, Al Akhbar, printed Alikariev's answers in a distorted form. When the pilgrims found out about this article, they headed for the Soviet Embassy to lodge a protest through it. But they were told there that that newspaper was known as a slanderous one and the pilgrims should not pay attention to its slander.

It should be noted that the Cairo press devoted a great deal of attention to the Soviet pilgrims' stay in Egypt. The newspapers covered literally every step taken by the pilgrims, reporting on their arrivals in Mecca, on their stay in Cairo, on their sightseeing tour of the city, on their visits to mosques, on their reception by the minister of wakf affairs and the deputy rector of Al-Azhar, etc. Concurrently, during the pilgrims' stay in Cairo, the press carried articles about the Soviet Union's foreign policy, which stressed that the peoples of the Soviet Union oppose atomic war, that the Government of the USSR strives to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes, that the Soviet state's policy is aimed at easing tensions in international relations, that science in the USSR is on a high level and the Soviet Union has more scientists than any other country in the world, and so forth.

All the pilgrims noted that their treatment in Saudi Arabia this year was much better than last year. Unlike previous years, the pilgrims' request that they not be divided among different facilities in Mecca, as was the case in the past, was granted. They were not bothered by the police, various agents of White émigré organizations did not act pushy with them, and so forth. In Egypt (El Tor, Cairo) they received friendly treatment. While being quarantined in El Tor, the pilgrims were assigned the best facility, provided with good food, and as an exception to the general rules the pilgrims were exempted from mandatory inoculations and other medical procedures.

(Poliansky)

True copy: [Signature]

4 copies printed zk

No. 1—CPSU CC

No. 2—USSR CM

No. 3—USSR Foreign Ministry

No. 4—for file No. 1t/s [top secret]

Sept.55 No. 708