I wrote the following to Skipper in an email and he has replied, but he asked me to share what I wrote as a comment: Thank you for this, Skipper. What you've written is very interesting. So, Tolstoy has the novella begin in the same year as the raid in which he took part in his early 20s! And the tensions between Russia and Chechnya cannot have been resolved to this day, despite there being no substantial fighting in, what, the last 10+ years? So, at least in terms of length of time, it dwarfs the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I know next to nothing about Chechens (except that they are Sunni Muslims) or their history in relation to Russia.
But since I research Islam, I'm curious if there's anything, substantial or not, that one can glean about Tolstoy's view of Islam itself. At least from what you wrote in his view there can definitely be virtuous fighting Muslims. You write also that religion was very important to Hadji Murat, as his name would suggest since customarily those called "Hadji" have made the Haj to Mecca. So, he was probably in reality a mature Muslim.
Thanks for replying. As for Tolstoy's view of Islam, I haven't come across anything about that. He considered himself a Christian, but he and the Russian Orthodox Church didn't get along. His extreme pacifism made him more attuned to Buddhism.
He portrayed Murat as devout in that he dropped everything five times a day to pray. But his own Imam was trying to kill him. If I had to guess, I would say that Tolstoy approved of those who were themselves religious, Muslims included, but disapproved of any organized system of religion, Christianity included.
Thanks for pointing out the significance of the "Hadji." I wondered why Tolstoy shortened everyone else's name but always referred to Murat as "Hadji Murat."
I wrote the following to Skipper in an email and he has replied, but he asked me to share what I wrote as a comment: Thank you for this, Skipper. What you've written is very interesting. So, Tolstoy has the novella begin in the same year as the raid in which he took part in his early 20s! And the tensions between Russia and Chechnya cannot have been resolved to this day, despite there being no substantial fighting in, what, the last 10+ years? So, at least in terms of length of time, it dwarfs the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But I know next to nothing about Chechens (except that they are Sunni Muslims) or their history in relation to Russia.
But since I research Islam, I'm curious if there's anything, substantial or not, that one can glean about Tolstoy's view of Islam itself. At least from what you wrote in his view there can definitely be virtuous fighting Muslims. You write also that religion was very important to Hadji Murat, as his name would suggest since customarily those called "Hadji" have made the Haj to Mecca. So, he was probably in reality a mature Muslim.
Thanks, Steve. Here was my reply.
Thanks for replying. As for Tolstoy's view of Islam, I haven't come across anything about that. He considered himself a Christian, but he and the Russian Orthodox Church didn't get along. His extreme pacifism made him more attuned to Buddhism.
He portrayed Murat as devout in that he dropped everything five times a day to pray. But his own Imam was trying to kill him. If I had to guess, I would say that Tolstoy approved of those who were themselves religious, Muslims included, but disapproved of any organized system of religion, Christianity included.
Thanks for pointing out the significance of the "Hadji." I wondered why Tolstoy shortened everyone else's name but always referred to Murat as "Hadji Murat."