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Russia and Islam

The Protohistory (Ninth to Twelfthlike a brilliant meteor over the dark horizon
Centuries):  -of  Europe.
Russia's position on the eastern flank ofIn the tenth century, when Russians were
Europe has often been compared to that ofstill mostly pagans, Islam had already
Spain on the western side. Both are seen aspenetrated Eastern Transcaucasia and
bulwarks of Christendom facing the hostileDaghestan. It had conquered the whole of
world of Islam, of civilization facingTurkestan south of Syr Darya and the King of
'barbary'. Russia exhausted herself in aBulghar in the far north had adopted the
heroic struggle of several centuries, butreligion of the Prophet, Except for the
this sacrifice was not to be in vain, forBulghar Kingdom, all these territories had
Europe was saved and could go on to developlong been settled with highly developed urban
its brilliant civilization well protected bysocieties going back to the second millennium
the Russians. The price of this voluntaryBC. Even the nomadic Turks of the Caspian
sacrifice was heavy, since in order tosteppes - the Khazars - whose feudal nobility
survive and finally to overcome the 'Asiahad adopted Judaism as their official
barbarians', Muscovy was obliged to adoptreligion, had attained a higher level of
their ways, such as tyranny, despotism,political and cultural development than the
serfdom and lack of liberty. Such is theancestors of the Russians, their vassals in
picture that is painted in nearly all Russianthe  eighth  and  early  ninth  centuries.
and Soviet historical works. Far-fetched as
it is, there are deep reasons for defendingDuring the eleventh and twelfth centuries
this absurd concept. According to thepolitical and cultural equilibrium was
Russians, 'they have suffered more than anyestablished between the sedentary Kievian
other people' and have 'played the role ofRus, Christianized and civilized by Byzantium
protectors and saviours', a kind of St Georgeand the nomadic Qypchaqs (Polovtsy) - heirs
killing the Asiatic dragon and rescuing theto the Khazars who ruled over the Steppe
European princess. This exclusive positionterritories between the Dniepr and the Aral
'gives the Russians certain messianicSea.
rights', in particular the right to assume
the leadership over their lesser EuropeanContrary to the commonly accepted but totally
brothers and to 'civilize' the worldmisleading version put forward by Russian
Asiatics.historians, relations between sedentary
Russians and nomadic Turks were not limited
The reality is of course far from thisonly to plundering expeditions and punitive
Manichaean approach to history. When thecounter-expeditions, but included wide
ancestors of the Russians first came intocultural and diplomatic exchanges between
contact with Asia in the ninth century theypartners who treated each other as equals.
were the 'Barbarians', not the highlyMoreover, during this period Turkic
civilized  Muslims.princesses often married Kievian princes. (It
is a well known historical fact that the
In the early tenth century, the borderlinevassal seeks the hand of his suzerain's
between 'Civilization' and 'Barbary' followeddaughter.) This happy period ended with the
more or less exactly the frontier which todayMongol invasion, but not before a
separates the Slavic 'European' people of theconsiderable number of Turkic, Iranian and
USSR from the area populated largely byeven Arabic words synonymous with advanced
Muslims: Middle and Lower Volga, Northsocieties were borrowed and have become so
Caucasian mountains, Derbent, Syr Daria.thoroughly Russified as to make it nearly
However, 'Barbary' at this time wasimpossible to recognize their Asiatic
represented by the 'Europeans', ancestors oforigins: chugun, bulat, topor, sablia, saray,
the Russians. (There are those who believebumaga, khram, terem, yazyk, ochag, cherdak,
that the position has altered little overloshad', chemodan, bogatyr, magazin,
time.)karandash, karaul, etc. In contrast, Slavic
vocabulary made no impression on Turkic
For the Muslims, the 'Rus' were wild andlanguages - at least until the nineteenth
primitive natives, purveyors of rare blondcentury.
slaves and such precious raw materials as fur
and ivory. But they were dangerous neighborsIn the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the
and their plundering expeditions (912 andequilibrium which existed between the
941-4 raids in the Caspian Sea, thesedentary Kievian civilization and the steppe
destruction of the Khazar Empire in 945 andnomads in the Black Sea-Caspian Sea area
985 expedition against Bulghar) werecould be likened to an outwardly similar
described in gruesome detail by early Muslimsituation between the sedentary Irano-Turkic
chroniclers.and nomadic Turko-Mongol worlds along the
line of Syr Daria. To draw any sort of
During 942-4 the 'Rus' devastated all Muslimparallel would, however, be wrong. In Central
Transcaucasia. Berdea, the most prosperousAsia, Bukhara of the Samanids and Empire of
city of Azerbaijan, was completely destroyedthe Seljuqs were the great centers of world
and its inhabitants slaughtered. According toculture at that time and the defense line on
Ibn Hawkal, from the 1,200 5 remained. InSyr Daria marked the border between
1850,  a Russian historian, Grigor'ev, wrote"civilization and Barbary. There could be no
borrowing of Mongol-Turkic or Manchu words
When anarchy, fanaticism and barbarity werefrom the Qara Khitay by the Persians or the
disputing the domination of Europe, theSeljuqs and a Samanid king or a Khwarezm shah
Khazar Empire was a center of law, order andwould never dream of marrying the daughter of
religious tolerance, a refuge for all thosea nomad chieftain roaming the Mongolian
who were persecuted for their belief. It wasoutback.



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