Imperialism through Islamic Networks 31in this period, because of Ottoman failures to provide security. They also show
that some Muslims from the Caucasus had begun to mobilize their newfound
status as Russian subjects in response to these failures, and turn to Russian
consulates for help making the hajj.^43
Among those seeking Bazili’s help that winter was a group of Muslims from
Kazikumukh, a Muslim khanate in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan,
ruled at this time by a Russian-appointed khan (prince).^44 They had traveled
overland on foot and horseback, as part of a small caravan of twenty men. Their
case, preserved in a thick file in the archives of the Beirut consulate, offers vivid
details on the pilgrims’ identities, and the conditions under which they made
the pilgrimage. Like many pilgrims traveling to Mecca in this period—just
before the era of modern transport, and the opening up of the pilgrimage to
Muslims of all backgrounds—they were elites with the means and connections
necessary to make the long journey. At the center of the group were three mul-
lahs (Islamic jurisconsults), who had been summoned from their different vil-
lages by the wife of their local khan, and asked to perform the pilgrimage on
behalf of herself, the khan, and their son. She had given them gifts from her
treasury to deliver to officials in the Muslim holy cities, and seventeen of her
personal servants to assist them in the journey. She had also arranged for them
to receive passports from the Russian commander in chief in Tiflis, I. G. Golo-
vin. Golovin had “warmly” received them at his office in Tiflis, giving them
more gifts along with foreign passports, before sending them on their way.
This twenty-man caravan had left Tiflis for Damascus in October 1840, tak-
ing a land route through Erzurum and reaching Aleppo within a month. Half-
way between Aleppo and Damascus they were robbed in a surprise attack by
Bedouins who “came out of nowhere,” on foot and horseback, wielding spears,
clubs, and rifles. The Bedouins stole everything—their money, clothes, pass-
ports, dried food stores, and horses—killed eight of them, and seriously
wounded the rest. Taking refuge in Damascus, the twelve survivors heard that
there was a Russian consulate nearby, and three of them immediately went to
Beirut to seek Bazili’s help. In their first letter to Bazili, delivered in person to
the door of the consulate, they reminded him that it was his “duty” to protect
them as “subjects of the tsar,” and begged him to do one of three things: come
to Damascus to intervene on their behalf with the Ottoman governor, send
them to Constantinople to be cared for by the Russian ambassador, or send
them back to Tiflis to get help from the Russian commander in chief. They had
no money or travel documents and told Bazili, “We are hungry and have no
clothes and we will all die if you ignore us.”^45