The Islamic Question in the Confessional Policy of the Russian State (the Second Half of the 18th – the First Half of the 19th Centuries)

The subject of the study is the confessional and legal policy of the Russian Empire regarding Muslims during the inclusion of the North Caucasus in the orbit of influence. The thesis is substantiated on how the political events of the second half of the XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries influenced the state-legal coordination of the confessional strategy developing in the region in the conditions of modernization and wartime. The scientific novelty is seen in the fact that the role of the socio-legal institutions of Russia is understood in a special way in the work. Despite the abundance of scientific works on this subject, the author, based on both well-known and little-studied archival and documentary materials, presented his vision of the specifics of the theocratic policy of the empire regarding the Muslim highlanders at the specified time. Based on the review, the author came to the conclusion that the issue of confessional interaction with the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus was initially the focus of attention of the Russian state, which, spreading its influence on the autochthonous population in the national districts, used various means of communication – from "stick" to "carrot", which affected its policy, in which such incompatible concepts as freedom of faith and control over it got along so "successfully". Despite this, the socio-spiritual modernization being developed by the Russian state contributed to the consolidation of the Islamic faith in the mountain environment. But many of the projects of the ongoing reform turned out to be ineffective, and therefore to this day generate controversy not only among Russian politicians, but also foreign political scientists. In this context, this publication can be useful not only for Russian, but also for foreign researchers in developing balanced diplomacy in solving Muslim problems.

Russian state, North Caucasus, North Caucasian region, indigenous peoples, Islamic question, Muslim religion, confessional policy, spiritual modernization, polyconfessional region, interethnic dialogue