The perception of Muslims within the culture of Muscovy (the seventeenth century): terminology, ideology, images

<p>The research analyzes the various ways in which Russian primary sources of sixteenth century sources perceive the Muslims and the culture of Islam.</p><p>Additionally, this research offer a detailed examination of the connotations (implications, meaning, significance) of various terms, concepts and images of Kazan residents and other representatives of Islam. Such findings have important implications both for studies of medieval history, early modern history, history of religions, and comparative history.</p><p>The general question this study will attempt to answer is whether we can speak of the existence of a certain normative related to the traditions of Orthodox Christianity view on Islam. This general question incorporates several related questions:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-left:1.0cm;">1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What qualities were prescribed to Muslims?</p><p style="margin-left:1.0cm;">2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Does the attitude towards Muslims indicate an attitude to the citizens of Kazan (residents of Kazan khans) and vice versa - does the attitude towards the citizens indicate an attitude towards Muslims?</p><p style="margin-left:1.0cm;">3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; How does a rare positive outlook on the representatives of Islam relates to a negative evaluation of one&rsquo;s coreligionists &ndash; taking Orthodox Christian group as an example?</p><p style="margin-left:1.0cm;">&nbsp;</p><p>The objective of this study will thus attempt to answer the following question: &ldquo;Which system of stereotypes has been inseparably linked with Islam and Muslims in the minds of Orthodox Christians of the sixteenth century?&rdquo; In other words, the research goal is to recreate the normative view of Islam, by a detailed analysis of a number of sources on their attitude to the Tatars of Kazan in particular.</p><p>A wide range of primary data has been utilized in order to answer this question, such as narrative sources, government decrees, official chronicles and letters, polemical epistles and iconography.</p><p>Once again, this study aims to reconstruct the views on the Islam and Muslims from the available primary sources of Moscow principality (XVI century). This research is devoted to studying the various ways in which Russian primary sources of seventeenth century view the Muslims. To achieve this objective, this investigation will be divided into five main chapters.</p>