Tobolsk akhuns in the XVI-XVIII centuries

The main purpose of the article is to examine a poorly studied issue about the structure of the Muslim clergy in Siberia in the 16^th-18^th centuries. To achieve the set goal, it was planned to solve the following tasks: to identify the composition of Muslim clergy and determine the status and functions of different groups of Muslim clergies in Siberia during the Siberian Khanate and during later historical stages. The author has given the special attention to the category of Akhuns. The source of the research was the materials of central and regional archives. In the course of the study, the author concluded that as a result of the Islamization of the Siberian Khanate, representative of the Muslim clergy also entered the ruling stratum of this state, including sheikhs, mullahs, hodjis, hafizis, muftiys and mudarrises. A special place in the Muslim leadership of the Siberian Khanate was assigned to the Sayyid, who was the highest clerics in Turkic-Tatars states. According to the author in the 16^th century in the Siberian Muslim elite was already known the category of Akhuns. Akhuns was Muslim theologians, the main clergymen, who have the right to make judgments and issue religious legal orders. The names of the Tobolsk Akhuns were revealed: the turn of the 16^th- 17^th centuries the Tobolsk akhun was Khojam-Shukur b. Yusuf, and in the 18^th century was Khwajam-Shukur b. Avvas-Baki. On the base of identified archival documents it was found that Khwajam-Shukur b. Avvas-Baki was a son of the head of Tobolsk service Tatars Avazbakey Kulmametev. Murzes Kulmametevs had great authority among the Muslim population of Siberia. They opposed the policy of Christianization of the Tatar population. In the second half of the 18^th century, the Imperial government instructed the supervision of “Mohammedan law” in the exclusive jurisdiction of Kulmametevs. Apparently during the 18^th century the main clerics Akhun were appointed members of the clan Kulmametevs. In this example we can see that this powerful clan of the Tobolsk murzes Kulmametevs sought to keep the secular and clerical power in theirs hands.

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