Muslim charity in the pre-revolutionary Orenburg region

The article is devoted to the main directions and features of the organization of Muslim charitable activities in the Orenburg province in the pre-revolutionary period. The authors also focus on the theological foundations of the formation of the tradition of Islamic social service and the main directions of its manifestation in the socio-cultural life of that time. They examine the active participation and contribution, in particular, of Tatar merchants and Muslim clergy to organizing the construction of mosques, mektebas and madrasas, holding various public events, developing the system of religious education, and helping the state during the famine. On the basis of archival materials, research works, pre-revolutionary reference materials, the events of the past are reconstructed, the scale of charitable activities of Muslims, its features and significance for society and the state are revealed. The authors identify the main stages of the emergence of charitable societies in the life of pre-revolutionary Orenburg region and the formation of a tradition of various forms of social activity of religiously oriented societies. They note that, although Muslim charity in the Orenburg province with its significant Muslim population had many similarities with general Islamic charity, it also had its own specific features due to its «frontier» status: as the Tatar merchants gained financial stability, it was Tatar charity as well as the nature of private initiative in its implementation that prevailed in the region.