Tsarist officials valued religion instrumentally as a tool of social control

Evidence

Even more pervasive was the influence of an official hierarchy of Islamic authorities, established in 1788, that oversaw mosques throughout the empire (separate institutions performed similar functions for Muslims in the Crimea and, later, in the Caucasus). Tsarist police backed the authority of Muslim clerics in these communities, particularly in matters that seemed to shore up the state, for instance by preaching loyalty to the emperor, respect for public morality, and by assisting in expanding the bureaucratic reach of the state. Muslim clerics were more than mere servants of the state, though, and sometimes lay men and women could appeal to the regime to discipline wayward prayer leaders and scholars. Indeed, it was the tsarist government’s defence of particular Islamic legal claims that made it so central to disputes about Islam among these communities. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 525 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Russia ran Islam through a state-backed clerical hierarchy and used it for control; Tsarist Russia institutionalized an official Muslim clerical hierarchy to police loyalty — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 525

Broader Connections

• Russia ran Islam through a state-backed clerical hierarchy and used it for control #exemplifies (0.95)
• Tsarist Russia institutionalized an official Muslim clerical hierarchy to police loyalty #expands (0.95) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 525