Abstract

This article examinesthe situation in the Muslim school (madrasah) in the Middle Volga region after 1905 and changing aspirations of Russians towards the acculturation of Muslims connected with it. The fears and suspicions of the Russian authorities concerned the development of cultural ties between Russian and Turkish Muslims, which legitimized the idea that these ethnic groups could unite in a new political entity on the basis of common religion or on a common ethno-linguistic basis (Turkish). Much of the blame for the spread of Pan-Turkic and Pan-Islamic ideas was placed upon the new method schools of the region. Muslim traditional educational system also underwent changes which particularly involved teaching of the Russian language and other secular subjects.While Muslim community continued to reform their educational system, the local authorities continued to question the idea of the Muslim “national”school.

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