Islamophobia on the Eastern Front

The social, cultural, political, and religious dichotomies evoked by the term Islamophobia are most readily conceived of as a modern-day conflict between Islam and the Protestant-Catholic West, and the people and institutions of the Middle East with those of Western Europe and the United States. Less well known, however, is what Professor Hamid Algar characterizes as an unbroken history of systematic hostility, persecution, and violence perpetrated against Muslims by adherents of Slavic Orthodox traditions dating back to the 16th century.

Russia’s rise as a continental power for example, is historically linked to the decline of two major Muslim principalities, the Khanates of Kazan and Siberia. The term khanate is a Turkic word used to describe a territory ruled by a military or political leader known as a khan. Kazan and Siberia were Tatar territories that emerged from the changing geopolitical landscape that resulted from the gradual decline of the Mongol empire.

The historical record reveals a long series of conflicts between Russia and Kazan from 1438 until the conquest and absorption of Kazan by Ivan IV—better known as Ivan the Terrible—in 1552.  Underscoring this conflict, Professor Algar argues, was a rising undercurrent of anti-Islamic sentiment that would quickly metastasize into a state backed campaign of religious persecution. Anti-Muslim rhetoric, which first began to make appearances in the writings of Orthodox monks in the 1520’s, would eventually come to characterize Tatars and Muslims as “godless and unclean creatures destined for eternal perdition.”

The conquest of Siberia by Ivan IV in 1586 was precipitated by the capture of the Siberian capital by Yermak Timofeyevic four years earlier. Originally hired by the prominent Stroganov family to protect their trade interests, Yermak was by all known accounts a former bandit leader turned mercenary. However, following his defeat, capture, and death he was canonized a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Yermak’s posthumous elevation to sainthood is puzzling unless framed within the context of anti-Islamic sentiment. Chronicles, replete with miracles and visions of angels carrying the banner of Jesus, were written about his battles. In contrast, the Muslim antagonists in those stories would be plagued by visions of shining cathedrals and the sound of triumphant church bells ringing. Yermak’s case thus appears to serve two purposes: It both legitimizes the military conquest through religion, as well as the religious conquest of Islam by Orthodox Christians.

Following the conquests of Kazan and Siberia, Russia would engage in intensive campaigns of converting the local populations to Orthodox Christianity. The historical record reveals stories of priests and soldiers forcibly baptizing Muslims by dunking them into rivers, and hanging crosses around their necks in order to convert them. It also included the destroying of mosques, and the building of churches in Muslim districts, whether or not any Christians even lived there.

Over time, many Tatars attempted to reconvert to Islam, one consequence of which was to have their lands confiscated as punishment. By the 1600’s, any Muslims found guilty of reversion were to be burnt at the stake. Individuals identified as fomenters of religious dissent were to suffer a similar fate, but only after undergoing an “ecclesiastically defined and approved set of tortures.” It was not until 1773 that a decree providing religious tolerance was pronounced. However, a number of scholars interpret this move as a political—as opposed to moral or humanitarian—response to the pressures created by a regional revolt and ongoing conflicts with the Ottomans.

According to Professor Algar, illuminating the historical continuity of anti-Islamic sentiment serves to reframe our understanding of the present day persecution of Muslims in Serbia, as well as the conflicts between Russia and Chechnya. Only in light of this broader historical context can we adequately make sense of video images of priests blessing soldiers before battle, or widespread populist support for state-sponsored campaigns of repression. And only by identifying these threads that bind past to present, can we hope to untie them for a better future.