80 C h a p t e r Tw o
also, according to Ishaev, hard to avoid: for reasons of safety and lack of knowl-
edge of Arabic and local customs, pilgrims relied heavily on guides for support
while on the hajj. “Official dalils” as well as private, freelance ones cruised
around the Kaaba (the central site of the Meccan pilgrimage) looking for pil-
grims to serve. The sharif of Mecca appointed dalils to groups of pilgrims based
on their land of origin, and the volume of traffic from that region. For the Rus-
sian Empire and its protectorates of Bukhara and Khiva, Ishaev reported, there
were nineteen dalils in Mecca. To help Russia’s hajj pilgrims get from Jeddah to
Mecca, the dalils relied on deputies (vekils) that they hired in Jeddah, many of
whom were émigrés from Turkestan.^107
Ishaev described the dalil system as corrupt and exploitative. “After the
ordeals of the Hejaz,” he wrote, “a pilgrim is lucky if he makes it home alive.”
He noted that dalils were authorized to handle estate cases when pilgrims
died while in Mecca. They were supposed to inform the Ottoman authorities
of the death, and take the deceased’s property and money for safekeeping
until it could be gotten to the proper heirs, but this did not always happen.
The deceased’s travel companions sometimes made off with the property, or
the money stayed in the hands of the dalil.^108 Ishaev noted that elite pilgrims
were treated much better by the dalils, who arranged everything for them in
Mecca: apartment rentals, a samovar, bed linens, coal, and clothing. His own
experience illustrated this. The head dalil for Russia, a sixty-year-old local
Arab named Muhammad Ali Srudzhi, had greeted Ishaev when he arrived in
Mecca and given him and his family a “very cordial welcome.” He brought
them sacred water from the Zam Zam well, and served them meals in his
home.^109
Ishaev’s reports made clear that Russia’s hajj pilgrims were suffering in many
ways under the status quo in Arabia. Turkestani émigrés and dalils alike
exploited them ruthlessly, and the Ottoman government was failing to provide
adequate services and an infrastructure to accommodate the fast-growing hajj
crowds showing up in Mecca. But Ishaev’s reports also revealed that the exist-
ing system had its strengths, and that not all pilgrims were unhappy with it.
Srudzhi emerged in his report as a particularly influential figure. As the head
dalil for “all Tatars and Kirgiz from Russia,” he wielded enormous authority,
not least of all as the official responsible for handling estate cases for pilgrims
who died in Mecca. He spoke perfect Russian—learned during a two-year stint
in a Turkestani prison, after being charged with entering Russia illegally—and
was “very well respected” among Russia’s Muslims.^110 He had close ties to Mus-
lims back in the Russian Empire. Ishaev reported that he knew all of the richest