«Рабочие мне угрожали убийством за назначение Баязитова…»: М.-С. Баязитов и дело ленинградских мулл 1932 года
“Workers Threatened to Kill Me for Appointing Bayazitov…”: M.-S. Bayazitov and the Case of Leningrad Mullahs of 1932

Summary/Abstract: In the focus of the article is a criminal case which was instituted by OGPU (Obyedinennoe Gosudarstvennoe Politicheskoe Upravlenie) against the ministers of Islamic religion in Leningrad in 1932. One of the accused was the last mufti of the Russian empire, Mohammed-Safa Bayazitov (1877–1937). Besides Bayazitov and the members of the so-called “dvadtsatka” (the congregational council of the mosque), the investigating authorities also arrested underground mullahs who had unofficially conducted religious rites among the Muslims of Leningrad. The latter activity caused serious apprehensions among OGPU by virtue of the very fact of its existence, since it was practically beyond the control of the authorities. The criminal case of 1932 is interesting not least because it puts into circulation new data concerning the biography of M.-S. Bayazitov (in particular, details about his work as imam-khatib of the Leningrad Cathedral Mosque in 1931–1932). Despite the image of a secret officer of the imperial security service (ohranka) that Bayazitov had in Soviet times, he continued to enjoy authority among a certain part of believers in Leningrad. The case materials are also a valuable source of information about the daily life of the Muslims of Leningrad in the second half of the 1920s — early 1930s. In particular, as can be seen from the testimony of the accused and the witnesses who were involved in the case, the principle of fellowship in the period under review continued to be of great importance to Tatars in Leningrad.

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