152 Chapter Four
in Ottoman lands? He worried that the state-supported and state-promoted
itinerary through Russian and Ottoman lands gave Muslim pilgrims a bad
impression of Russia. They did not see Russia’s “great cities,” he noted, only
drab train stations, where they encountered thieves and bandits. He imagined
the hajj journey through Russia as one of hardship and abuse that would only
reinforce their positive impressions of Constantinople when they arrived in the
Ottoman capital.^126
Nikolʹskii’s concerns made a great deal of sense, and they illustrate another
dimension of the hajj. In addition to being a religious ritual, an economic event,
a network that opened other parts of the world to Russia, and a conduit of
infectious disease and dangerous Pan-Islamic teachings, it was also a long-
distance journey taken by growing numbers of Russia’s Muslims by the early
twentieth century, largely with the help and support of the government. They
were taking this journey at a crucial moment, when Russia was trying to inte-
grate its vast regions and populations and encourage a sense of belonging in the
empire. What did they experience on this journey, what did they see from
the window of their trains, how did this momentous journey reshape their
Figure 4.8. Zlatoust station, view of mountains and railroad tracks. This station lay along
the main rail route that hajj pilgrims from Central Asia followed to reach Odessa. Early
1900s. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collec-
tion, LC-DIG-prokc-20533)