Leaders of the Tatar society of Moscow in the petition movement of Muslims in 1905

The article is devoted to the study of the social activity of the urban Tatar community of Moscow, the regional leaders of the ethno-confessional society of which took an active part in the petition movement of the first half of 1905. The objective is to identify the features of Moscow Muslim Tatars’ participation in the political life of Muslims in Russia during the years of social emancipation in the context of the socio-political situation in the country as a whole and the life of the Tatar community of Moscow. The author of the article has established four reasons for the increased political activity of Moscow Tatars. A comprehensive analysis of the Memorandum on the Needs of Muslims, which was compiled in Moscow, regarding all the issues raised in the document, allows us to state that it is imbued with liberal ideology and is aimed at achieving equality of the Islamic denomination with the Orthodox denomination, which was dominant in the Empire at the time, on a number of fundamental issues, including equality in the exercise of religious rights for Muslims at the level of Orthodox subjects – the titular people of the empire, as well as in the civil and military spheres. Compared with the practices that were in force for the time being and the existing public relations in the country, those requests were of political nature. The petition of Moscow Tatars, thanks to its publication in the periodical press, turned into a “public memorandum” that played a significant role in the political education of co-religionists, the formation and development of social and political activity of Russia’s Muslim peoples. In addition, the events related to the drafting and filing of the petition contributed to the consolidation of the Tatar elites in Moscow, allowing them to publicly declare themselves as a mature social unit in matters of protecting the religious rights of co-religionists.