Harmony of the people of which modern Tatarstan is rightly proud is not a matter of chance, but the result of centuries of work and the wisdom of generations. Inquisitive scholars, whose research contributed to the mutual understanding of cultures, played a special role in this process. One such scholarly champion was Mikhail Georgievich Khudyakov, a brilliant historian who dedicated himself to the study of the peoples of the Volga region. In his works, the Soviet scholar deeply respectfully revealed the richness of the Islamic culture of the Kazan Khanate and its predecessors.
Despite a comfortable childhood in a wealthy Orthodox merchant family, Khudyakov made an unexpected choice: he immediately and unconditionally embraced the October Revolution. This move is especially remarkable given his illustrious education: a gold medal from the First Kazan Gymnasium and studies in the history and philology department of Kazan University. The future innovator sincerely saw the revolution as an opportunity for an unbiased and objective study of the history of the Tatars and other peoples of the Volga region.
Khudyakov's research in the early 1920s was extremely productive. In his article "1000th Anniversary of Muslim Culture in the Volga Region", the scholar argues that Islam began to penetrate Volga Bulgaria even before the official embassy from Baghdad. This spread occurred through the neighboring Khazar Khaganate, where the Muslim community already enjoyed considerable influence. He emphasizes the peaceful nature of this process, which was facilitated through trade and cultural ties.
According to Khudyakov, the adoption of Islam in 922 was a fateful political step. It was aimed at gaining independence from the Jewish Khazars and joining the powerful Islamic Caliphate. This event marked the beginning of a new era, linking the Volga region with advanced Arabic culture, education, and literacy. Furthermore, the historian disputed the thesis of decline during the Golden Horde period, pointing out that for Bulgaria, this period marked an era of cultural flourishing. After the destruction of Bolgar, its legacy, according to the scholar, passed to the Kazan Khanate.
While still a student at Kazan University, Khudyakov participated in archaeological expeditions in Bolgar and Bilyar. It was during this time that he began to develop an independent opinion. The young specialist meticulously studied the history of Bilyar and the surrounding villages. He was deeply moved by how ancient tombstones were used by peasants for the foundations of chapels and cellars. Khudyakov was the first archaeologist to explore Mount «Huzhalar Tavy» where, in his opinion, Muslim saints were buried. He also studied a settlement near Bilyar, suggesting that it could be connected to Tamerlane and Tokhtamysh.
The pinnacle of Khudyakov's scholarly research was the book "Essays on the History of the Kazan Khanate", published in 1923. The book appeared during the Tatar "renaissance" in the Tatar ASSR, when the local government actively supported the revival of national culture. However, this course was abandoned, and Khudyakov moved to Leningrad, where he studied for his graduate degree and worked at the Academy of the History of Material Culture.
Contemporary Tatar historians consider Khudyakov's "Essays..." to be the most truthful and comprehensive study in the Russian language. In its objectivity, this work is unparalleled. For the first time in Russian scholarship, the author described the Tatars as a highly civilized people with their own statehood and characterized the fall of Kazan as the greatest tragedy in the nation's history.
As Khudyakov emphasizes, the Tatar people survived thanks to Islam, high literacy rates, including among women, and their own education system in their native language, which ultimately became the key to a cultural revival. In his work, he described in detail the entire history of the khanate—from its formation to its tragic defeat, including a vivid and horrific account of the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible's troops.
Khudyakov reliably depicted the internal struggles within Tatar society, provided a wealth of information about the khan dynasties and nobility, analyzed the internal structure of the state, its external relations (with Turkestan, Crimea, and elsewhere), and the influence of various groups on politics. The author supports all his conclusions with a solid documentary base. His sincere internationalism and search for truth enabled the Soviet historian to make a significant contribution to Tatar studies and identify its key problems.
In 1936, Khudyakov received his doctorate in history. That same year, prominent historians, ethnographers, and archaeologists, including Mikhail Georgievich himself, were arrested. Investigators, unsuspecting of each other, arbitrarily combined the scholars into a fabricated case of a "counterrevolutionary group". All were convicted and executed, and their works forgotten. Khudyakov was rehabilitated only in 1957, but his works, even the famous "Essays on the History of the Kazan Khanate", remained inaccessible until the late 1980s.
Born and raised in the city of Malmyzh, surrounded by Tatars, Khudyakov absorbed the atmosphere of a different culture from childhood, which shaped his deep respect for Islam and the Tatar nation. However, just the fact of coexistence of different peoples, as we see in numerous examples around the world, is no guarantee of mutual understanding and harmony. The key to true harmony lies not in mere proximity, but in a conscious desire to recognize and acknowledge the beauty of another tradition, a willingness to explore it with open-mindedness and genuine interest, while remaining righteous and true to one's own moral compass.
Khudyakov's article "Old is young!" (published in the Kazan Museum Bulletin in 1920) reveals its paradoxical title from the very first line. The author argues that the study of antiquity is not a conservative pursuit, but a vibrant and youthful endeavor. Khudyakov demonstrates how the union of archaeology and art has infused science with new energy, and calls on provincial residents, especially young people and indigenous peoples, to immediately work to preserve disappearing monuments and traditions.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"