8686
3
Forging a Russian Hajj Route
Hav i n g mapped the basic geography of the hajj, Russia next turned to orga-
nizing it. In the 1890s Tsar Nicholas II ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs
to create a government “monopoly” of the hajj.^1 This plan fit the regime’s
broader efforts to control and co-opt Russia’s mass migrations and channel
them in ways beneficial to the state and the empire.^2 It was testimony to the
growing consensus within the government that stopping the hajj traffic was
impossible and that it must do something to regulate and manage it—and, that
Russia could benefit from organizing the pilgrimage.
Russia’s goals were ambitious. It wanted to redirect Muslim pilgrims’ move-
ment way from secret, unsupervised land routes and onto a state-sanctioned
route, and have them adhere to a state-established itinerary that eliminated
many popular stops along the way, including Constantinople, which tsarist of-
ficials saw as a center of Pan-Islamic activities. The government wanted pil-
grims to register with Russian consulates in Jeddah and other key nodes abroad.
With support from Russian railroad and steamship officials, tsarist officials en-
visioned speeding Muslim pilgrims through Russian lands to its Black Sea
ports, and from there directly to Arabia and back.
Organizing the hajj, then, was ultimately about forging and streamlining a
single Russian route to Mecca, keeping Russian-subject Muslims within the
imperial orbit even while abroad. To attract pilgrims to this route, Russia would
try strategies used by the Ottomans and previous Muslim empires to forge their
own imperial hajj routes: ceremonies and pageantry, economic incentives, sub-
sidized transport, and facilities along the route to enhance comfort and secu-
rity. In other words, Russia would begin to sponsor the hajj.