Мусульмане в советском Петрограде – Ленинграде (1917–1991) - Ренат Ирикович Беккин

После праздничного намаза во дворе Соборной мечети (нач. 1980-х гг.). Автор съемки: Д.И. Исхаков (из фондов ГМИР).

After a festive prayer in the courtyard of the Cathedral Mosque (beginning of 1980s). Photographer: D.I. Ishakov (courtesy the State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg).

Джаназа-намаз во дворе Соборной мечети (нач. 1980-х гг).

Автор съемки: Д.И. Исхаков (из фондов ГМИР).

Janaza prayer in the courtyard of the Cathedral Mosque (beginning of 1980s). Photographer: D.I. Ishakov (courtesy the State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg).

Похороны на Татарском участке Ново-Волковского кладбища (нач. 1980-х гг.). Автор съемки: Д.И. Исхаков (из фондов ГМИР).

Funeral in the Tatar section of Novo-Volkovo cemetery (beginning of 1980s). Photographer: D.I. Ishakov (courtesy the State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg).

Джаназа-намаз на Татарском участке Ново-Волковского кладбища (нач. 1980-х гг.). Автор съемки: Д.И. Исхаков (из фондов ГМИР).

Janaza prayer in the Tatar section of Novo-Volkovo cemetery (beginning of 1980s).

Photographer: D.I. Ishakov (courtesy the State Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg).

Имам-хатиб Ж.Н. Пончаев (крайний слева) иМ.Х. Зарипова (вторая справа) с зарубежной делегацией на Дворцовой площади (нач. 1980-х гг.). Автор съемки неизвестен (из семейного архива М.Х. Зариповой).

Imam-khatib Jafar Ponchaev (on the extreme left) and M.H. Zaripova (second to the right) with a foreign delegation at the Palace (Dvortsovaya) Square (beginning of 1980s). Photographer unknown (M.H. Zaripova’s family archive).

Мусульмане во время пятничной молитвы в Соборной мечети (1990 г.). Автор съемки: И.И. Куртов (из фондов ЦГАКФФД СПб).

Muslims during a Friday prayer in the Cathedral Mosque (1990).

Photographer: I.I. Kurtov (courtesy the Central State Archive of Documentary Films, Photographs, St. Petersburg).

Мусульмане, просящие милостыню, у входа в мечеть (1990 г.).

Автор съемки: И.И. Куртов (из фондов ЦГАКФФД СПб).

Muslims asking alms at the entry to the Cathedral Mosque (1990).

Photographer:

I.I. Kurtov (courtesy the Central State Archive of Documentary Films, Photographs, St. Petersburg).

Мусульмане выходят из мечети после службы (1990 г.).

Автор съемки: И.И. Куртов (из фондов ЦГАКФФД СПб).

Muslims leaving the Cathedral Mosque after a Friday prayer (1990).

Photographer: I.I. Kurtov (courtesy the Central State Archive of Documentary Films, Photographs, St. Petersburg).

Summary

In recent years, the topic of Islam in the Soviet Union has been increasingly attracting researchers’ attention. Besides state policy towards Islam and Muslims, research is conducted on Islamic institutions, including informal ones, that had functioned in some of the country’s regions during Soviet times.

As regards Islam in Leningrad, unfortunately, very few sources of information capturing moments of everyday religious life created by Muslims themselves have survived. First of all, there are a few letters. Keeping a diary was a rare practice among Leningrad Muslims and those that have survived can be counted on the fingers of one hand. A considerable amount of primary sources is made up by various materials, dossiers and cases produced by Soviet governmental bodies whose task was to monitor the activity of believers. Not coincidentally, these materials continue to inspire both Russian and Western researchers studying Islam in the USSR.

In view of the above, materials (primarily from Leningrad citizens’ personal archives) that captured everyday life of Muslims in the Soviet Union were the most important and in some cases the exclusive source of information for my research. It is necessary to note here that any photograph that has come down to me from a personal archive needed a competent narrator, without which the image imprinted on the film would be a dead artifact of the past, a fragment of a strange destiny. However, in most cases, the owners of photo albums (children and grandchildren of Muslim Petrograd – Leningrad citizens) were not able to give me a substantial explanation to the photos – either because they did not have the information or because, for various reasons, did not want to do that. The latter can be said about those whose relatives were victims of Stalin’s repressions. My interest in the bygone cases of their relatives caused apprehension and even fear.

Fortunately, though, a large number of images contain inscription on the back side. However, those explanatory notes often failed to provide sufficient information necessary to reconstruct the history which the picture hid.

Speaking about state archives (primarily The Central State Archive of Cinema and Photo Documents of Saint-Petersburg (TsGAKFFD)), there are largely official photos showing the most important events in the history of the Muslim community of Petrograd – Leningrad – in the first place, visits of foreign delegations. Some of these materials are duplicated by photos from family archives belonging to the descendants of imam-khatibs who served in the Leningrad Cathedral Mosque, namely: Musa Bigeev, Gabdulbari Isaev and Hafiz Makhmutov.Interestingly, the descendants of Muslim spiritual leaders of Leningrad turned out to be the owners of the largest private photographic archives that shed the light on the history of the Muslim community of the city.

A particular attention should be paid to the collection of the State Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg (GMIR). Among protocol images there are photos which depicted the daily religious life of the Muslim community. For example, of great interest are the images of Friday and Eid prayers at the site of the Tatar section of Novo-Volkovo cemetery dating back to 1954. These photos, taken by a GMIR employee D.I. Iskhakov, capture a remarkable period in the life of the Tatar-Muslim community of the city on the Neva river when the cemetery served as a venue for collective prayers. Two years later, the Mosque, which had been closed since 1940, was returned to the Muslims of Leningrad. From 1940 to 1956 (with the exception of