About the book: 2020 / Russia occupies a unique place in the Islamic world. For more than five hundred years, it has included territories with a Muslim majority - other European countries do not have such experience. Today the memory of the tragic war in Chechnya is still fresh, but there were times in Russian history when the state’s approach to the Islamic issue provided the country with internal stability. Rejecting the popular “clash of civilizations” theory, according to which Islam inevitably comes into conflict with Western culture, American historian R. Cruz seeks to explain how, during the long 19th century, the Russian Empire managed to achieve the loyalty of the majority of its Muslim subjects. Based on police reports, court records, petitions, spiritual writings and other sources, the author shows what role the policy of religious tolerance laid down by Catherine II played in the history of Russia. The Islamic clergy, as a rule, readily supported the authority of the imperial administration in exchange for protection from attacks by branches of Islam declared heretical. In turn, the officials of the empire, although not always skillfully, performed the functions of arbiters in disputes between Muslims. Robert Cruz is a professor at Stanford University, an expert in the history of Afghanistan, Central and South Asia, Russia, Islam and global history..