The critical task of textualization of Sufi practices in the 10-13 centuries was legitimization and establishing Sufism within the framework of “orthodox” Islam. That is why the authors of this period strive to present Sufism as an authoritative “science,” which uses other Muslim sciences’ methods and techniques. Another important aspect of legitimizing the Sufi movement was creating its pious history, which traces the roots of Sufi teachings back to the Prophet Muhammad’s time. The authors of Sufi bio- and hagiographic works of this period constructed the history of Sufism that involved the early Islamic renunciants and representatives of the local mystic-ascetical movements that Sufism encountered after spreading its influence outside Baghdad. One of those movements was the “Path of Blame” (malāmatiyya) representatives, which was initially one of Sufism’s regional competitors. However, as the 10-13 century sources demonstrated, its representatives, ideas, and practices were actively incorporated into the “Sufi science.” They became part of the history of Islamic piety constructed by the Sufi authors.

   The article is devoted to the analysis of such a phenomenon as the emergence, development, and transformation of the «Bulgar idea» among the Vaisovites along with the inception and evolution of the teachings and practical movement of the Vaisovites in the early 1870^s — early 1920^s. The choice of this a half-century chronological segment is conditioned, on the one hand, by specific historiographic gaps; on the other, by the presence of autochthonous and relevant written evidence, speaking in the voice of the «Vaisovites» themselves. The article also indirectly touches upon examples of the various manifestations of «Bulgarism» in the Tatar intellectual environment and the historiographic field of the 19^th century (covered in the works of M. A. Usmanov, A. Frank, M. Kemper, etc.).

   The study deals with the formation of the idea of the national history among the Muslim Tatars of the Russian Empire in the periodicals in the early 20 century. The study’s analysis is based on the materials of the journal “Shura” (1908-1917). Discussions about the history of the Turkic Tatars were built around the concepts of “our history” (tarihymyz) and “national history” (tarih-e milli and milli tarih). The ideas about “our history” in the journal “Shura” were formed through the construction of the “glorious history” of the Turks and the creation of the image of a civilized (madani) nation. Discussions about national history allow us to reveal whom the authors of the publications attributed to the category “our ancestors” and what traits were attributed to them. The interpretation of the Turko-Tatar history was considered to be distinctive for this periodical (A. Assmann).

   The article analyzes the usage of the images of Musa Kundukhov, the Ossetian Major General of the Russian Imperial Army and, later, the Brigadier General of the Ottoman army (1818–1889), in constructing the narratives of collective memory. The author examines how the image of Musa Kundukhov, as a figure of collective memory for more than a hundred years, have been used by several authors to construct identities and shape memories of historical events and traumas. The article shows how the figure of Kundukhov was transformed in various narratives, sometimes was “reborn” and sometimes sinking into “oblivion,” depending on their involvement in topical discussions.

   The agitation posters on Muslim women’s emancipation and Bolsheviks’ gender policy open up a diferent perspective on the soft sociocultural reforms in Soviet Turkestan. Visual agitation was a means of cultural transfer of Europeanized and secular norms into the patriarchal public and private space and a tool for recoding the indigenous peoples’ worldview. The paper investigates visual agitation and analyzes the principles of functioning of emancipation posters of Muslim women in a culturally sophisticated society. Agitation posters are examined as instruments of modernizing women’s living environment in cities, villages as well as in the steppe (of a nomadic lifestyle). The paper partly raises the question of the potential limits of the perception of indigenous women’s image. The theoretical researches of Soviet art critics are used for this analysis. There is an attempt made to analyze the visual propaganda in the cultural and psychological contexts as well as in terms of the artistic features of the images. The visual agitation is studied as an essential component of emancipation, which played a significant role in promoting the values of Soviet feminists in the first half of the 1920^s.

   The article analyzes the viewer’s perception of the TV series released in spring 2020 called “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes,” based on the same-name novel by Guzel Yakhina. Like the book’s publication, the TV adaptation led to sharp polemics in Tatarstan and among Tatars living outside the republic. The TV adaptation demonstrated ethnic-identity elements, including acceptable boundaries and forms of demonstration of “Tatar” identity outside of the Tatar public. The debates exposed the reflection on the idealized perspective of the Tatar past. The “battles for history” in the Tatar discourse on the novel and the TV series become more than just a polemic on the interpretation of a particular event or period of history; it also became a battleground for monopolizing the interpretation of the abstract “past” by diferent sides. Opponents in debates relied on arguments based on the literary sources or their family narratives while rejecting narratives contradicting their picture of the world.

   When Russian forces occupied the Volga-Ural region in the sixteenth century, they nearly eliminated the local Muslim nobility. In the absence of a politically active nobility, Islamic scholars kept the region’s Muslim inhabitants connected as a larger community. This population of agricultural peasants and seasonal nomads rarely ventured beyond the vicinity of their villages or market towns, but scholars traveled extensively to pursue knowledge. As they traveled, they forged lasting connections with other students and scholars. When they graduated and dispersed through the region as village imams, they maintained these connections through kinship ties, letters, Sufi associations, and theological debates. Some of them also engaged in a broader network of Islamic scholars that extended primarily from Transoxiana to the Ottoman territories. As such, they served as the glue that held Volga-Ural Muslims together in a shared world, a regional Muslim domain, and they integrated this regional community of believers further into a transregional Muslim domain.

   The article considers the role of Odessa as a key transport hub in the pilgrimage route of Russian Muslims. The infrastructure of the Hajj industry was formed in Odessa throughout the 19^th – early 20^th centuries and had an influence on the formation of the local Muslim community, what article shows. The pilgrimage infrastructure of Odessa, formed in the pre-revolutionary period, was used in the Soviet era to carry out the Hajj of 1927. It had a generally beneficial efect on the policy of the Soviet government towards pilgrims.