1872 წლის დებულებები ამიერკავკასიის მუსლიმი სასულიერო წოდების მართვის შესახებ

Abstract

On April 5, 1872, Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) approved the provision for the establishment of Sunni and and Shi‘a Religious Boards in Transcaucasia – the Statute on the Administration of the Transcaucasian Sunni Muslim Clergy and Statute on the Administration of the Transcaucasian Shi‘a Muslim Clergy. The establishment of the Transcaucasian Shi‘a Religious Board was due to a large number of Muslim Shi‘as in the region, especially in the Islamic enclave of the region − North Azerbaijan. At the same time, the Tsarist government, which operated on the principle of “divide and rule,” sought to prevent the unity of Muslims in religious matters and to deepen the confrontation between the various denominations of Islam. The provisions concerning the governance of the Shi‘a and Sunni Muslim clergy in the Caucasus were virtually identical and consisted of 7 chapters and 115 articles. The Statutes of 1872 on the governance of the Shi‘a and Sunni clergy in the Caucasus determined the normative and legal status, obligations and rights of the Muslim clergy. On January 2, 1873, the Transcaucasian Shi‘a and Sunni Religious Boards officially opened in Tbilisi. They were under the control of Ministry of Internal Affairs and directly attached to the Viceroyalty. Their jurisdiction covered Muslims in the Baku, Elisavetpol (Ganja), Tiflis (Tbilisi) and Erivan (Erevan) gubernias. All other Transcaucasian territories and the North Caucasus that were not included in the universal Russian rule (military-communal administration) remained outside the jurisdiction of the Transcaucasian Muslim clergy. However, archival documents confirm that, on the basis of special instructions or with the permission of the Viceroy of the Caucasus, the Sunni Muslim clergy had the right to discuss the cases from areas not subject to the rule. According to the regulations, a candidate for a religious position had to be a Russian subject and had to have a certificate confirming the knowledge corresponding to a religious rank. Age restrictions were also introduced. Defendants wanted by the court, persons whose employment was terminated by the court and pauper debtors held under guardianship for embezzlement could not obtain the clerical rank. The applicants also had to have a certificate that they did not belong to any society or doctrine “inadmissible” by the government. Before a “cleric” could occupy any post he had to pledge “loyalty to His imperial Majesty and conscientious fulfillment of his obligations (texts of the oath had to be printed in Russian, equipped with a translation into Azerbaijani).” The Muslim clergy was to celebrate every holiday with prayers in the mosques, praying to the Lord for the health and longevity of the Emperor, as well as his wife, heir to the throne, and the entire royal family, according to existing rules. The regulations also established a three-tier system of governing the religious life of Muslims in the Caucasus, or “a unified government vertical from the village mullah to the Mufti.” Based on the archival materials, we have compiled a complete list (with biographies) of the Heads of the Muslim clergy of Transcaucasian Krai (Mufti and Sheikh-ul-Islam). The well-organised structure of the Religious Boards of Transcaucasian Muslims existed with minor changes until 1917.