According to Arab sources, it is known that in the 10th century some part of the Rus converted to Islam. The then ruler of the Rus bore the name or title Buladmir, consonant with the name of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich. At the same time, Prince Vladimir is called kagan, as the rulers of the Turks.
What faith did Saint Vladimir accept?
According to the church version, Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (prince of Novgorod from 970, prince of Kiev in 978-1015) adopted the Orthodox faith, Christianity in 988, therefore he is considered a holy prince. True, on closer look, it is obvious that there was little holiness in him. Vladimir became famous as a very life-loving man who had a harem of hundreds of concubines, a pogromist in Polotsk, where he massacred the princely family of the Rogvolodovichs, one of the instigators of the civil war and a fratricide - on his order, Grand Duke Yaropolk was killed.
The main sources about how Prince Vladimir was baptized and baptized Kiev are the Greek "Detailed story about how the people of the dews were baptized" and the Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years". "A detailed narrative" reports that the prince of the dews sat in his city and thought that his people adhere to four religions and could not unite around one correct one in any way. Some honored the faith of the Jews (Judaism) as the greatest and oldest; the second - the belief of the Persians was respected (pagans-fire-worshipers, however, it could be pagan Rus, in their faith fire was also of great importance); the third - “honored the Syrian faith” (apparently, Nestorianism, one of the directions of Christianity); the fourth - adhered to the "faith of the Hagarians". Hagar is the concubine of Abraham and the mother of Ishmael, who became the progenitor of the Arab tribes. That is, Hagarians are Muslims. So, we see that before the official baptism of Rus Rus-Kievans were Judaists (obviously, the Khazar community, very influential in Kiev), Christians, Muslims and pagans. That is, Muslims were present in Kiev even before the official baptism of Rus.
Vladimir sent ambassadors to Rome, and they really liked the Catholic service, he already wanted to accept this faith, but he was advised to also check the Greek faith. Again he sent ambassadors, this time to Constantinople. The Russian ambassadors were presented with rich gifts, and they liked the Greek rites even more than the Roman ones. Returning, the ambassadors began to extol the Greek faith. As a result, Vladimir decided to accept the Greek faith. It is interesting that the ambassadors were not interested in the content of religion, but only in the form - rituals.
What do the Russian chronicles say? Vladimir sat in Kiev and made sacrifices to the pagan gods. Ambassadors from different nations came to him with a proposal to accept the true faith. Muslims came from the Volga Bulgaria. They praise their faith: to pray to one God, “to be circumcised, not to eat pork, not to drink wine,” but you can have several wives. Vladimir liked about wives, but he did not like: circumcision, abstinence from pork meat. And about wine, he said: "Russia is joy to drink: we cannot be without it." Catholics from Rome praised their religion: “… your faith is not like our faith, because our faith is light; we bow to God, who created heaven and earth, the stars and the moon and everything that breathes, and your gods are just a tree. " Vladimir said to the Germans: "Go where you came from, for our fathers did not accept this."
Khazar Jews came and praised their faith: "Christians believe in the one whom we crucified, but we believe in one God …" Vladimir asked: "What is your law?" The Jews answered: "To be circumcised, do not eat pork and hare, keep the Sabbath." The prince asks them: "Where is your land?" It turned out that God turned his back on the Jews, deprived them of their homeland. Naturally, such a belief should not be accepted.
Then the Greeks sent a philosopher to Prince Vladimir, who said: “We heard that the Bulgarians came and taught you to accept your faith; their faith defiles heaven and earth, and they are cursed beyond all people, they have become like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, upon whom the Lord let a burning stone and flooded them …”So the Greek philosopher scolded all the laws and praised his own. Vladimir became interested, and on the advice of the boyars and elders, he ordered to send ambassadors to various countries to learn more about the faith. Then everything is repeated, as in the Greek source. The ambassadors did not like the Bulgarians and Germans, but they were delighted with the beautiful reception, rituals and generous gifts from the Greeks. As a result, Vladimir accepted the faith of the Greeks.
It is interesting that Christian tombstones appear in Russia only at the end of the 15th century. Before that, the graves of Christians and pagans were difficult to distinguish, they were no different. This is generally not surprising, in the countryside (where the overwhelming majority of the people lived) paganism persisted for several centuries after the official baptism.
What Eastern Sources Report
Eastern sources report that a significant part of the Rus (Russians) converted to Islam. True, with their differences, they did not know the rituals, they ate pork, etc.
The Arab traveler of the XII century Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahim al-Garnati al-Andalusi made a more trip, visited Derbent, the Lower and Middle Volga. In 1150, from Bulgar, he went to Russia, driving along the "Slavic River" (Don). Visited Kiev. And this is what he tells about the people of Kiev: “And I arrived in the city of the Slavs, which is called“Gor [od] Kuyav”(Kiev). And there are thousands of "Maghribins" in it, looking like Türks, speaking the Türkic language and throwing arrows like Türks. And they are known in this country under the name bedjn [ak]. And I met a man from Baghdad, whose name is Karim ibn Fairuz al-Jauhari, he was married to [the daughter of] one of these Muslims. I gave these Muslims a Friday prayer and taught them the khutba, but they did not know the Friday prayer. " That is, they live in Kiev, but they cannot read the Friday prayer correctly. It turns out that at that time there was a large Muslim community in Kiev, but they did not know the rituals well.
In eastern sources there is a message that Kiy (the founder of Kiev) was a native of Khorezm - his real name was Kuya. Some of the Khorezm Muslims were resettled to Khazaria, where they were settled along the borders of the Kaganate. Kuya became the wazir of the Khazaria, his position was inherited by his son - Ahmad ben Kuya. The Arab historian, geographer and traveler of the 10th century Al-Masoudi, who combined previously scattered historical and geographical observations into a large-scale work of an encyclopedic nature, and nicknamed the "Arab Herodotus", reports that the leading military force in Khazaria is the Muslims - Arsii (Yases), newcomers from Khorezm. The inhabitants of the army have Muslim judges. Arsania is one of the "Slavic" countries in Eastern sources, along with Slavia and Kuyavia. In addition, it is known that a significant part of the population of the Khazar Kaganate were Slavs. Obviously, many of them may have been Christians and Muslims.
And what do the eastern sources say about Vladimir? The Persian author and historian Muhammad Aufi (late 12th - first half of the 13th century) reports that the Russians get their food only with the sword. If one of them dies, then all the property is given to the daughter, and the son is given nothing but a sword, saying to him: "Your father got his property for himself with the sword." This was until the Rus became Christians. Having converted to Christianity, they sheathed the sword. But because of this, their affairs fell into decay. Then the Russians decided to convert to Islam in order to be able to wage a war for the faith. Russian ambassadors, relatives of their tsar, who bore the title "Buladmir", as the Turks carry the title of Khakan, arrived at the Khorezm Shah. Khorezm Shah was very happy about this, presented the ambassadors with gifts and sent one of the imams to teach them the rules of Islam. After that, the Russians became Muslims.
The Rus make trips to distant countries, constantly wander the sea on ships. Who do the Russians usually fight with? With Christian countries - Byzantium, Poland, Bulgaria, Christian cities in the Crimea are attacked. It is interesting that in the hoards on the territory of Russia there are mainly eastern dirhams, which indicates a developed trade with the East. There are few Byzantine coins in the hoards. Also in Kiev, during excavations, objects with an Arabic inscription were found. Arabic inscriptions are commonplace for wealthy Russian helmets (including the helmet of Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky). Old Russian coins up to Ivan the Terrible have either only Arabic inscriptions, or Russian and Arabic together.
Thus, the official picture of Russian history, adopted under the Romanovs, has many flaws. So, in the "classical" history, which is very convenient for Western Europe and the German-Romanesque historical school (which became "classical" in Russia), and the official church, the history of the Rus was cut off almost to the point of baptism. They also preferred to “forget” that the overwhelming majority of the Rus remained pagans for several centuries after the adoption of Christianity. There was also a very powerful community of Muslim Slavs.
The farthest paganism lasted in the Russian North, in the Novgorod land. Only in the city did Christianity prevail, in the villages it was pagan. A similar situation was in Kiev, in the southwestern Russian lands. In Kiev, the princes, the nobility, focusing on Rome or the Second Rome (Constantinople), adopted Christianity. There was also a powerful Jewish and Muslim community (obviously, the heritage of the Khazars). But the people were dominated by the ancient faith. Christianity was alien to the people. In the south-west of Russia, Christianity began to penetrate the people only under the influence of Poland, approximately in the XIV century.
Paganism prevailed in the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Those who retained their faith in the old gods were called "filthy" ("pagans"). It took many centuries until, around the time of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Christianity and paganism merged into one, in fiery Orthodoxy. A neighbor was the Muslim Volga Bulgaria-Bulgaria, where the Volgar-Bulgars lived, a mixed Slavic-Turkic population. Contacts were active: wars, raids, trade, resettlement of prisoners, cultural ties. Therefore, there were many Muslim Slavs who later converted to Christianity or joined the Tatar ethnos.
