Imperialism through Islamic Networks 33Bazili immediately took up their case. He took the three pilgrims who had
shown up at his door into the consulate, and housed and fed them for several
days. He sent money through a consular agent to the surviving pilgrims in
Damascus, and a letter assuring them that their case would be “specially han-
dled” by Nejib Pasha. Bazili reported the crime to the Damascus city-governor
(müsselim), and asked him to provide security for the survivors in his city. In
the meantime, he contacted the Russian ambassador in Constantinople, V. P.
Titov, who extracted from the Ottoman government an imperial order for Nejib
Pasha, instructing him to investigate the case of the “Dagestani pilgrims” and
punish the Bedouin attackers. Finally, he wrote directly to Nejib Pasha, remind-
ing him of his “double title” as governor of Damascus and caravan commander,
and asking him to “uphold his duties” by “rendering justice” to the Dagestani
pilgrims named in the imperial order.^46
Within nine months the case of the Dagestani hajj pilgrims was resolved. In
a final report to Ambassador Titov, Bazili recounted how Nejib Pasha had sent
troops out into the desert, found the Bedouin culprits, and seized 425 camels
from them as indemnity. With the next hajj season fast approaching, Bazili
went to Damascus to supervise the process of selling the camels at public auc-
tion, and disbursing the proceeds to the Dagestani pilgrims through the local
Islamic court (mahkeme). Bazili assured Titov that he had kept the pilgrims out
of the Islamic court—given their legal immunities as Russian subjects—and
had also “scrupulously” avoided intervening in the division of the money,
which the pilgrims had carried out themselves, equitably, “according to their
religious law.”^47
With rumors circulating that the Damascus hajj caravan might not leave
again that year, Bazili arranged for the Dagestani pilgrims to join the Cairo
caravan instead. At consulate expense, he brought all twelve pilgrims from
Damascus to Beirut, and housed and fed them for several days before sending
them off to Egypt by steamship. As a final gesture, he sent word through diplo-
matic channels back to their relatives in the Caucasus, assuring them that they
were safe and were finally headed to Mecca.^48 A year later, while in transit in
Egypt, waiting to catch a steamship back to Russia, they wrote Bazili a final
note: they thanked him for his help, told him they had prayed for him and the
tsar in Mecca, and reported that they had all made the journey safely but for
one, who was buried in Jeddah.^49
By intervening in the case of the Dagestani pilgrims, Bazili was fulfilling his
duty as Russian consul to provide diplomatic protection to tsarist subjects in