Libmonster ID: KG-1296
Author(s) of the publication: Tsypylma Darieva
Educational Institution \ Organization: Friedrich Schiller University (Jena, Germany)

This anthropologically informed paper is focused on the transformation of meanings and practices related to traditional Shia sacred places - ziayarat gah, pirs - in Azerbaijan. The central issue is the one of power and authority, the interaction of a saint with pilgrims in the context of a modern secular city, in this case Baku. In doing so, the author discusses how a residential house in central Baku has been turned into a popular pilgrimage place since the 1940s and until today. The analysis of popular narratives, ethnographies and hagiographies clearly shows that the practice of pilgrimage can be seen, among other things, as part of political interests.

Keywords: pilgrimage, cult of the saints, popular Islam, Stalinism, Azerbaijan.

VENERATION of saints and pilgrimage to holy places are a widespread tradition in Azerbaijan, which has been preserved despite the powerful anti-religious campaigns of the 20s and 30s of the XX century. Like the cult of wandering preachers and messengers of Sufi orders in the North Caucasus and Iran, the veneration of Shiite saints in Azerbaijan is part of the popular faith. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the transformation of typical Shiite forms of the sacred in the context of a secular post - socialist city. We will look at the semantic changes in practices associated with traditional holy sites-ziayarat gah and pirs.

Darieva TS Baku "boneless" Saint: Muslim pilgrimages in the secular city / State, religion and Church in Russia and abroad. 2016. N2. pp. 203-225.

Darieva, Tsypylma (2016) "The 'Boneless' Saint from Baku: Muslim Pilgrimage in a Secular City", Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom 34(2): 203-225.

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Despite the fact that the holy tombs and sacred sites of popular Islam are mostly associated with rural areas, the belief and practice of local pilgrimage are equally widespread among urban residents. To date, the religious practices of the secular urban environment have barely been addressed in the literature on social and cultural anthropology devoted to the Caucasus. Research on the forms of the sacred is rarely linked to the analysis of the urban environment. At the same time, recent studies show that religious beliefs and innovations in ritual practice are an important element of modern urban everyday life.1 Religion in the Caucasus is developing rapidly and dynamically, and the sacred is once again becoming a political, economic and social resource.

What is the significance and impact of the cult of saints in the urban context of Baku , a secular oil city that has been shaped for centuries as a showcase of Azerbaijan's economic and political opportunities? How do social transformations in modern Baku affect the preservation of the practice of venerating saints?

The socio-anthropological approach based on situational-constructivist premises allows us to consider the concept of the sacred as a social category opposed to the secular / secular, that is, as part of the classical binary opposition 2. In this paper3, we are more concerned with the process of sacralization under the influence of various actors, the attribution of sacredness on behalf of the authorities or society, as well as

1. Becci, I., Burchhardt, M., Casanova, J. (2013) (eds) Topographies of Faith. Religion in Urban Spaces. Leiden: Brill; Becker, J., et al (2013) Global Prayers. Contemporary Manifestations of the Religious in the City. Zurich: Lars Mueller Publishers; Desplat, P. (2012) "Representations of Space, Place-Making and Urban Life", in P. Desplat and D. Schultz (eds) Prayer in the City. The Making of Muslim Sacred Places and Urban Life, pp. 9-34. Bielefeld: Transcript; Orsi, R. (1999) Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

2. Eliade, M. (1987) The Sacred and the Profane: the Nature of Religion. The Groundbreaking Work by one of the Greatest Authorities on Myth, Symbol, and Ritual. San Diego: Harcout

3. The article is based on the materials of field research conducted by me in the framework of the m/n research project "Transformation of the sacred space in the post-Soviet Caucasus" (University named after V. I. Abramovich). Friedrich Schiller, Jena) in April and May 2014 and 2015. I would like to express my gratitude to Yulia Aliyeva, Niyazi Mehdi, Elmir Kerimov, Ainur Zarintach and Novruz Nuriyev for their interest in my work and assistance during my stay in Baku.

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about the staging of the sacred with the participation of secular and political forces. Sacredness is by no means an empty, abstract space of the transcendent, but it is an experiential and constructed place that is endowed with certain properties. 4 Here I would like to talk about how religious practice is legitimized in a secular urban society. I will be based, in particular, on the everyday narratives of the city's residents ' memories, on modern hagiographic literature, and on the statements of pilgrims at the saint's house, which became a place of pilgrimage for Baku residents back in the Stalin era.

Feasts and ziyarats in Azerbaijan

Holy places in Azerbaijan are traditionally designated as pir, ocaglar, ziayaratgah and scheiykh5. Etymologically, the concept of pir, which came from the Persian language, means "old man", "a respected person of advanced age". There are two types of sanctuaries. First, shrines include places that are mythologically associated with supernatural powers, miraculous healings, medieval Muslim missionaries, or martyrs. At the same time, selected places in nature, unusual landscapes, mountains, rocks, trees or stones are associated with such phenomena as health, longevity and fertility. Such shrines are considered in the ethnographic literature to belong to the archaic category of pirs and are associated with pre-Islamic beliefs (totemic and animistic representations), as well as with traditional methods of production.6 The second type of holy places includes the following:

4. Desplat, P. "Representations of Space, Place-Making and Urban Life"; Calhoun, C. et al, (ed.) (2011) Rethinking Secularism. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Ghassem-Fachandi, P. (2008) Muslimische Heilige in Gujarat: Sufismus, Synkretismus, und Praxis im Westlichen Indien, Berlin: Eca.

5. Osad means "holy place", "bonfire place", "shelter" in Azerbaijani; the concept of ziayaratgah consists of two words: ziayarat (to visit) and gah (place); scheiykh is an Arabic word meaning "saint, ancestor". See Yampolsky Z. Feasts of Azerbaijan / / Questions of Religion Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences, 1960; Balaev M. Survivals of the cult of "saints" in Azerbaijan. Abstract. Баку: Эльм, 1970; Pfluger-Schindlbeck, I. (2005) Verwandtschaft, Religion und Geschlecht in Aserbaidschan. Berlin: Reichert.

6. Meshchaninov I. Feasts of Azerbaijan // Izvestiya Gosudarstvennoi akademii istorii material'noi kul'tury imeni N. Ya. 1931. Vol. 9. Issue 4.

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pirs and ziayarat-gahs, the origin and preservation of which is associated with the names of Muslim saints, missionaries and martyrs 7. Such holy places take on recognizable Islamic features (for example, they are decorated with quotations from the Koran-inscriptions made on architectural frames and on grave stones).

Typically, pirs are located in rural areas. Natural pilgrimage sites (mountains, rocks, springs, trees) are usually marked by such visible objects as small shrines (gumbez, masar), stones, or burials. It is not uncommon to see individual trees or shrubs hung with many pieces of cloth near shrines and holy burials - a common phenomenon in the Eurasian landscape. In Azerbaijan, the source of authority of saints is often their origin, genealogical connection with the pious Seyyid family - descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Saints are carriers of spiritual powers, performing the exclusive function of intermediaries between the divine reality (Allah) and people.

According to official statistics from the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, more than 700 ziyarats and feasts were registered in 2014.8 Both in Western and Russian ethnological and religious studies literature, there are major studies that refer to the practice of venerating saints in the Caucasus as "folk Islam", "pre-Islamic beliefs", unorthodox Muslim practices, the cult of burials and masare (mausoleums)9. Classical religious studies studies devoted to the worship of holy places and various types of religious pilgrimage interpret them primarily as an expression of religious piety, as a rite de passage, as a kind of morality-

7. Alekperov A. Research on archeology and ethnography of Azerbaijan. Baku: Izdatel'stvo Akademii nauk, 1960; Alekperov, Y. (2013) Peygammer Neslinin Yadigary. Baki: Elm ve Tehil.

8. In recent decades, pirs have been closely monitored by State-run institutions such as the Qavkaz Musulmanlari Idaresi (Caucasus Muslim Board), which has resulted in the creation of new small mosque structures along with shrines.

9. Meshchaninov I. Pirs of Azerbaijan; Yampolsky Z. Pirs of Azerbaijan // Questions of religion and atheism, Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences, 1960; Grant, B. (2011)" Shrines and Sovereigns: Life, Death, and Religion in Rural Azerbaijan", Comparative Studies in Society and History 53: 654-681; Pfluger-Schindlbeck, I. (2005) Verwandtschaft, Religion und Geschlecht in Aserbaidschan. Berlin: Reichert.

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the obligation of members of a religious community to the Almighty. This kind of religiously saturated space is considered in the collective as a regular place of communication between God and man. However, in the Soviet context, Fluger-Schindlbeck points to the fact that in Azerbaijan " one should call oneself a believer... it means first of all to believe in the power of the ziyarat (sanctuary) and only to a lesser extent to believe in God in the abstract. " 10 Based on this fair observation, as well as on my own ethnographic studies of pilgrimages in modern Baku, I would like to emphasize that ziyarats and feasts should be considered as identifiable, constructed and staged places that are deeply incorporated into secular structures and represent part of the secular world.

The practice of venerating saints involves more or less regular visits to shrines or holy burials. Unlike the standard and collective prayer rituals in mosques, visiting ziyarats is a simple action that each adult and child can perform individually at any time. Individual or collective pilgrimages are an integral part of social life in Azerbaijan. Meshchaninov in 1929 described a typical pilgrimage of rural residents as follows::

The villager adapts to any external demands of his new life. He joins a cooperative, registers with the local Idare11 (executive committee), goes to Ganja or Baku, spends the night in a hotel, goes about his family affairs and makes purchases, and before that goes to a certain holy tree and ties a piece of colorful cloth on it. If the wish comes true, the peasant returns to the city to collect it. Then it is considered that the thing has served its purpose. On the next big holiday, he may visit the mosque, but this is not necessarily 12.

10. Pfluger-Schindlbeck, I. Verwandtschaft, Religion und Geschlecht in Aserbaidschan, p. 125.

11. Idare in Arabic means "administrative department, institution".

12. Meshchaninov I. Feasts of Azerbaijan. P. 7.

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In contrast to the deeply institutionalized and controlled norms of pilgrimage to Mecca or Karbala, pirs and ziyarats can be described as popular and "informal" forms of pilgrimage to holy tombs. Visitors to ziyarat believe in their therapeutic effect, in the healing power of the place, transmitted with drinking water, through touching a tombstone or other holy objects. Often, a sacrificial animal (sheep, less often chicken) is slaughtered in front of the saint's grave, and the "curators" (pir yiyesi) at the sanctuary receive a small nazir (alms) in the form of money or a piece of the slaughtered animal.

It is precisely because of the belief in spiritual powers, in the mysterious power of the saint (judd) and its informal, "uncontrolled" nature that ziyarats and feasts are increasingly being criticized by orthodox Sunni Muslim "purists" (Salafis), as well as by young educated Muslims who consider the practice of kissing "holy" objects. in holy places as "backward" and "quackish". Nevertheless, the belief in the supernatural powers and miracles of Shiite saints seems to be not only connected with the expectation of healing from a physical or mental illness, but also has to do with politics. In Soviet times, the sacred seyyid and pirs were credited with the ability to resist even the political regime and official authorities. Bruce Grant describes this phenomenon as an example of "peaceful resistance" to communist rule in Azerbaijan. 13 I would like to draw your attention to the fact that relations between the state and the religious world in Azerbaijan were more complex: feasts and ziyarats were not only subjected to persecution and state control, but were also used by the authorities for their own purposes. Altay Geyushov, an Azerbaijani historian, emphasized in an interview in 2014 that pirs, masars and ziyaratgahs gained popularity primarily after violent anti-religious campaigns. The reason was that hundreds of mosques and official religious institutions were closed, and the religious elite lost its power.

Along with the existing traditional feasts and ziyarats in cemeteries in the XX century, the practice of using private housing or apartments as a prayer house and an informal place of pilgrimage developed. The private houses of the saints, and especially of the descendants of the Seyids, were transformed,

13. Grant, B. "Shrines and Sovereigns: Life, Death, and Religion in Rural Azerbaijan".

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depending on the degree of popularity of the saint, to places of pilgrimage 14. So, Gasimoglu describes how the home of the local popular Syed Yousif Agha in Barda province became a popular place of pilgrimage during his lifetime. "After his death in 2005, people gathered outside his home, where his son met visitors. In response to a petition to the Azerbaijani parliament drawn up by his fellow villagers, the latter decided to change the name of the settlement from Janavarly to Seyyid Yusifi. "15 Based on such facts, I further consider a vivid example related to Baku. We will talk about a private house in Icheri Sheher, the Old City of Baku, which has been regularly visited by believers and pilgrims since the 1940s.

Et-Agha in modern Baku

After experiencing the so-called second oil boom, the capital of Azerbaijan, often referred to in local media as "Dubai on the Caspian Sea", has become one of the rapidly developing regional centers with a population of about 2.5 million since the late 1990s. This melting pot between East and West has been undergoing economic and social modernization since the second half of the 19th century, during the first oil boom. 16 56% of the Azerbaijani population lives in cities, two-thirds of them in Baku. 17 Here, on the periphery of the Russian tsarist Empire, Europeans were becoming increasingly popular.-

14. Grant, B. "Shrines and Sovereigns: Life, Death, and Religion in Rural Azerbaijan".

15. Gasimoglu, N. (2012) Problems of Muslim Beliefs in Azerbaijan: Historical and Modern Realities. Unpublished article.

16. For more information about the modernization process in Baku, see: Darieva, T. (2015) " Modernising the Waterfront. Urban Green, Built Environment and Social Life of the Baku Promenade", Europa Regional 22 (1-2): 65-79.

17. According to recent opinion polls, 85% of respondents consider themselves Muslims. However, the number of people who practice religion in everyday life is much smaller. Based on X's data. Хаджи-заде [Hadjy-zadeh, H. (2011) Islam and Religious Freedom in Independent Azerbaijan. Analytical Reviews, Essay and Sociological Research on Religiosity in Newly Independent Azerbaijan. Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing], only 5% of the population adheres to the five Islamic precepts. In the literature, "official Islam" is embodied primarily in mosques, newly furnished Koran schools and madrasas, as well as in the Islamic University of Baku and QMI (Qafkaz Mususlmanlari Idaresi/Office of Caucasian Muslims). The latter organize an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which was attended by President Aliyev and his family in 1993. ziyartagahs and pirs are also overseen by QMI (Qafkaz Musulmanlari Idearesi), with the larger and better-known ziyaratgah being assigned an akhund (steward). Control

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ics-oriented secular educational centers, a new system of law was introduced 18.

Baku is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city 19. Currently, a significant part of the population of Baku is made up of displaced people from rural areas, along with international specialists and the management elite. Since 2000, official Baku has been trying on new geopolitical landmarks. On the one hand, Baku was declared the "capital of Islamic culture" in 2009, and on the other hand, in 2012 and 2015, it became the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest and the first European Olympic Games. In 2012 Iran accused Azerbaijan of "immoral" (from the point of view of the Muslim world) behavior: after all, Eurovision is an event for "homosexual" Europe 20.

Despite the relatively short period of influence of religious actors on politics immediately after the declaration of independence in 1991, Azerbaijan remains a secular society, where control over the sphere of religion is clearly institutionalized.21 Erected in the center of the city during the Soviet period, in 1970, the monument "Liberated Woman", located in close proximity to the Friday mosque near the central metro station" Nizami", symbolizes the secular orientation of Azerbaijani society. Unlike neighboring Transcaucasian countries, where the privileges of "national" Christian churches are enshrined in law, Islam in Azerbaijan does not have such privileges.

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Merciful. Agha Seyid Ali Mir Movsumzadeh, who has an amazing ability to grant peace, faith and spiritual power over people, called eno-

religious communities, as well as the activities of QMI, are regulated by the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations established in 2001.

18. Motika, R. (2001) "Islam in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan", Archives de sciences socials des religions 115: 111-124; Swietochowski, T. (1995) Russia and Azerbaijan: a Borderland in Transition. New York.

19. Along with the Shiite and Sunni communities, the following religious communities are registered in Baku: Christian-Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant; three Jewish communities; various Christian sects, Baha'is, and Hare Krishnas.

20. Ср.: Ismayilov, M. (2013) "State, Identity and the Politics of Music: Eurovision and Nation Building in Azeribaijan", Nationalities Papers. Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicities 40 (6): 833-851.

21. Motika, R. "Islam in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan".

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When he was popularly known as Et-aga (Boneless), he became a real legend in his lifetime and achieved fame outside of Azerbaijan. Today, many witnesses - residents of Baku-had the opportunity to see Seyid, raise their hopes to him, and experience the healing touch of his hands. Thanks to his generosity, thousands of people were spared from hopeless diseases that seemed incurable. People, as always filled with pious faith in the power of his spirit, make a real pilgrimage to him and offer nazir (alms) as a symbol of their boundless gratitude.22
In April 2014, a faded copy of Mir Movsum Agi's photograph could sometimes be seen above the driver's seat in minibuses and taxis. A small mobile icon showed a fifty-year-old disabled man. He is dressed in an old-fashioned Baku garb with a traditional headdress papah (short summer papakh). It seemed that this small image of the saint conveyed spiritual powers not only to the driver, but also to the passengers of the bus. Through eye contact, the bus passengers seemed to receive a blessing. Small images of the saint were often found at major transfer stops: street vendors sold them for one manat right on the bus, along with water, handkerchiefs and cheap household utensils. Mir Movsum Agha, popularly known as Et-Agha (Boneless), is revered by members of various social and ethnic groups, women and men, as a miraculous healer, clairvoyant and messenger of God-for his outstanding gift of healing people without the help of drugs. Born in 1883 in the center of Baku in the Old City (Icheri Sheher) with the official name Mir Buyuk Agha Abutali, he was diagnosed as a child with "poliomyelitis" (infantile paralysis that affects the nerve cells that control the muscles and leads to complete paralysis not only of the body, but also of the brain). Since Mir Movsum Agha could barely speak and move independently, he spent his entire life under the care of his unmarried sister Zakine.

22. The Sanctuary of Mir Movsum Agha (promotional brochure) (2012).

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The grandson of Mir Movsum Aga's brother, Rafut Makhmudov, says: "Et-Aga was thin, ate little, mostly minced meat, did not drink alcohol, but smoked a lot, usually "Kazbek" cigarettes without a filter "23. His physical and mental infirmity turned into an exceptional "transcendent" power - the ability to create perform miracles, heal people, and fulfill people's desires. This religious practice, which was portrayed in local newspapers in the 1980s as a special "bioenergy", was widespread in the Caucasus and the Balkans, especially during the late socialism24.

Unlike the akhund (imam or mullah in a Shia mosque), Mir Movsum Agha is a saint with his privileged status.

23. Zapletin G. Ya Etaga chaddi! Life is a legend of Agha Seyid Ali. Baku, 1999. p. 16.

24. Belief in the miraculous actions of Et-Aga can be compared with the popularity of alternative beliefs in fortune-tellers and clairvoyants from Bulgaria and Russia. See: Valtchinova, G. (2004) "Constructing the Bulgarian Phytia: Intersecting Religion, Memory and History in the Seer Vanga", in D. Kaneff, F. Pine, H. Haukanes (eds.) Memory, Politics and Religion: The Past Meets the Present in Contemporary Europe, pp. 179-198. LIT Verlag.

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he was not due to publicly recognized knowledge acquired in madrassas, but to his Seyid origin. His grandfather, a learned merchant from Karbala (now part of Iraq), was from the Seyid family, which was considered the hereditary line of the Prophet Muhammad through the seventh Shiite Imam Musa-Kazim. Mir Movsum Aga's sacred "purity" was based on lifestyle restrictions related to abstaining from alcohol and sexual practices. Many of his stories emphasize his boundless love for children, the poor and beggars. Ethnicity or religion played no role in recognizing the healing power of a Boneless saint. At the same time, stories about the amazing abilities of Mir Movsum Aga are interspersed with descriptions of his human weaknesses, such as smoking tobacco, interest in world news, or love of jokes, especially the stories of the famous Khoja Nasreddin.25
A special feature of the worship of Mir Movsum Aga in Baku is the fact that it refers to two different pilgrimage sites associated with his name: the officially recognized ziyarat in Shuvelyan 26, which appeared near his grave in the cemetery, and his dwelling in the Old City. The sanctuary was built in the 1990s with the help of Iranian investors and on the personal initiative of Nizami Suleiman-oglu, now the abbot of the sanctuary. According to the stories of visitors to the sanctuary and members of the Mir Movsum Aga family, until the late 1980s, this place was not so easy to visit: a policeman was on duty near the grave. The contrast with the current sanctuary is all the more noticeable. Now the whole sanctuary complex is located on the territory of the village cemetery. With two light blue domes and an exquisitely decorated minaret, the sanctuary in Shuvelyan resembles the mosque-shrine of the Iranian Imam Reza in Mashhad (the holy city of Mashhad is located in Northern Iran). The sacred building in Shuvelyan was completely reconstructed in 2002. Previously, it was replaced by a modest mausoleum with a single dome. In the center of the sanctuary, behind silver bars, are two burials: the saint himself and his sister Zakine. Four other buildings are completed by-

25. Khoja Nasreddin was the most famous protagonist of humorous stories in the Turkish Islamic space from the Balkans to Central Asia.

26. The tombstone is located in the mausoleum at the cemetery of a country village in Shuvelyan, a suburb of Baku near the coast. Even during the first oil boom at the end of the 19th century, Shuvelyan (10,000 inhabitants) turned into the most attractive holiday quarter on the Absheron Peninsula.

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They have different functions and are intended for pilgrims; they are almost identical in architectural terms to other secular buildings in Azerbaijan: a two-story hotel, a large dining room, a giant parking lot and a modern slaughterhouse for sacrificial animals-gurbangah27. The wide spaces between buildings indicate that we are primarily talking about pilgrims using cars (this is the majority of urban pilgrims), despite the well-organized public transport. Among the buildings is the new building of the "polyclinic", which is intended primarily for receiving blood donated by believers: blood donation as an expression of Shiite piety has become very popular in Azerbaijan. Instead of ritual self-flagellation on the day of Ashura, in the month of Muharam (the anniversary of Imam Hussein's death), people donate blood for medical purposes.

The second sacred place associated with the saint is located in the Icheri Sheher district, in a private residential building with a wooden balcony. Even during Mir Movsum Agi's lifetime, the house at 3 Firdousi Street became a place of pilgrimage , after the saint gained prestige with some of his miracles during the Second World War. Georgy Zapletin, a local journalist, wrote in a pamphlet in 1999::

Baku, Icheri Sheher, 3 Firdousi Street. This address is familiar to many residents of our capital and the republic. Agha Syed Ali Mir Abu Talib Mirmovsum, popularly known as Mir Movsum Agha, lived and died here. People have been drawn to this building since the 1940s with their requests, hopes and joys 28.

The green-painted front door of the house is open day and night. The house is divided into private and public parts, which are closely connected to each other. The private living space turns into the oratory, which is a small room in the mezzanine, without windows, measuring approximately 1.5 by 3 meters. This room is the main attraction point for visitors. Representatives of both sexes can simultaneously stop working with each other.-

27. Right at the entrance to the slaughterhouse there is a board with instructions regarding the order of slaughter and the capacity of the slaughterhouse (up to one hundred sheep can be sacrificed in one day).

28. Zapletin G. Ya Etaga chaddi! Life-legend of Agha Seyid Ali. p. 19.

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fall on the threshold of the room where a portrait of the saint hangs over the chair displayed as the only personal object of Mir Movsum Aga. Visitors cautiously enter the room and look at the portrait. Some touch the frame of the portrait or the chair, others kiss the portrait. After a short prayer, the pilgrims take candy or a lump of sugar from the bowl and, as is customary in many other ziyarats, back away from the "sacred" room.

The custodians of the sanctuary are the descendants of the saint's family members. Their duties include receiving pilgrims, preparing tea, offering ritual practices (reciting Ya Sin, the thirty-sixth surah reserved for funeral rites), and distributing alms to the poor (orphanages and nursing homes). Two people from among the saint's distant relatives look after the room around the clock. They must maintain order in the house and in the yard, almost every 10 minutes empty the dish for nazir (alms or monetary donation in the amount of 50 hapik to 5 manats) and fill the bowl with sweets.

As in any other ziyarat, it is also the duty of sanctuary keepers to offer the ritual practice of slaughtering a sacrificial animal. An interesting fact is that Madina, a member of the guardian family, a young woman of about 38 years of age, took over the duty of reading Ya Sin. According to Fluger-Schindlbeck's observations in her work on ziyarats in rural localities, 29 this responsibility can be assumed by both men and women; however, if they are women, they are usually menopausal. In urban settings, this rule seems to be more flexible. Madina is engaged not only in ritual practices in the saint's house, but also in secular affairs: she is the commercial director of a beauty salon in the city center. In the basement of the house there is a new "mosque" with separate rooms for men and women. In April 2014, Madina explained to me that the keepers ' family had built this mosque in anticipation of the Eurovision Song Contest. According to my observations, between the spring of 2014 and 2015, the premises were very rarely used.

Opposite the house is a niche-like shady shelter with benches, a ritual pool and a small slaughterhouse. A niche protected on three sides is used by visitors to the CA-

29. Pfluger-Schindlbeck, I. Verwandtschaft, Religion und Geschlecht in Aserbaidschan, p. 126.

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honor the reception area and recreation area. The peaceful and cozy atmosphere around the flower-lined spring contrasts with the bustling roads and urban bustle outside the old city wall. One pilgrim interviewee emphasized that she visits here more often than other places, not only for spiritual needs, but also for psychological reasons, in order to "take a break from the city."

The Baku sanctuary house is a very lively place. First of all, we are talking about a large number of visitors who arrive during the day and night for a short stop or address the saint with their wishes. In April 2014, during a week, I could count more than 200 pilgrims arriving in the afternoon in two hours. Unlike traditional ziyarats in Shuvelyan, Nardaran or Khizir Hind on Mount Besh Barmak, a visit to the ziyarat in the house at 3 Firdousi usually lasts no longer than five minutes, after which visitors leave the house and rush to other things. Even the procedure of slaughtering a sacrificial animal lasts no more than fifteen minutes.

Sometimes visitors and people passing by simply touch the walls of the house without crossing its threshold, so that one place on the front door is darkened from frequent touches. Here we are talking about a simple action, easily accessible and fast. In connection with this behavior of pilgrims, we can talk about a specific urban situation: this ritual action corresponds to the modern way of life of residents of a large city. Just as in fast-food establishments, a narrowed and compacted space contributes to the speed of visitors ' actions, so here the pragmatics of "quick prayer"is obvious.

Since Shiite saints are perceived in Azerbaijan primarily as intermediaries in achieving certain specific goals, visitors to Ziyarat believe that by visiting the sanctuary, they thereby bring closer the fulfillment of their desires by Allah. Each pilgrim has an individual or family-related "wish plan" (in Azerbaijani, niyyet): healing from illness, a happy marriage, successfully passing a school or university exam, a new job, a new home, and successful medical intervention. If the wish is fulfilled, the pilgrims return to the place where the wish was expressed to share the sweets (sugar, sweets, halva) brought with their neighbors or to slaughter the sacrificial belly-

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noe. Hand-made halva is especially popular among sweets.

Some visit the place of pilgrimage every week, others-only once a year. Although the majority of pilgrims are women, it would be a mistake to say that this is only a specifically female practice. The place of pilgrimage in principle attracts very diverse groups of people of different generations, believers and non-believers, city dwellers and immigrants from rural areas, ultra muassir insanlar-ultramodern people-and housewives who traditionally cover their heads with a headscarf.

Mir Movsum Agha and political power in Baku

Analyzing the structures of the underlying myths and folk narratives that play an important role in the formation and maintenance of faith in the abilities of a Boneless saint, it is important to emphasize the performative nature of miracles. It is also interesting that in the structure of these narratives, relations with the state are of great importance, especially during the Great Patriotic War.

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Most of the basic narratives about Mir Movsum Aga's family relate to interactions with KGB agents, government officials, or local city officials. The main motive is the strange impotence of power and respect for the saint on the part of the state.

In the 1930s, black clouds gathered over Sayyid. The Soviet government saw him as an ideological threat: those who had experienced a miraculous healing thanks to Mir Movsum Aga began to doubt that there was no God in the world. This gave the party a lot of trouble. So, at a party meeting, it was decided to arrest Seyid. In order to capture the cripple, a lot of cars were sent to the Old City. But on the way to Icheri Sheher, a miracle happened: suddenly all the cars could not move...30

The supernatural power of the Boneless saint is also noted in a well-known story that Dr. Nariman Gasimoglu heard and told.31
The local Soviet authorities once sent a truck to Mir Movsum Aga's house to confiscate his property on the pretext that he did not pay taxes on the alms that people gave him. They loaded everything he had into a truck. But the driver could not turn on the ignition of the truck, which was in excellent condition. Overcome with incredible fear, visitors accompanying the driver were forced to return all the property back. And as soon as they did, the truck earned 32.

Another well-known story, which is reproduced in the tourist description of the Icheri Sheher area by Mark Eliot (2006), shows that during the war and famine in 1944, Mir Movsum Agha made unexpectedly large monetary donations. The amount of 300,000 rubles was sent to the governor-

30. Alekperov, Y. Peygamber neslinin yadigary, p. 82.

31. Dr. Nariman Gasimoglu, an Azerbaijani scientist, has been working in the research department of the Baku Multiculturalism Center since 2013. His modern, liberal translation of the Qur'an from Arabic into Azerbaijani sparked a lively discussion about the correct understanding of Islam in Azerbaijan, and as a result, it was sharply condemned by religious "fundamentalists".

32. Gasimoglu, N. Problems of Muslim Beliefs in Azerbaijan: Historical and Modern Realities, p. 4.

page 218
state fund for the production of tanks and weapons. Here you can clearly see how the mysterious power of the holy judd is connected to the logic of collective events and the correlation of political forces. In an informal conversation, a Baku intellectual mentioned that Al-Agha and his "guardians" were first intimidated by party workers, and then turned into objects of manipulation to achieve their own goals due to the traditional belief in the miraculous qualities of saints. The chronological certainty in the narratives of miraculous events is remarkable: they do not merge with any narratives of earlier times, such as those of Arab missionaries, the Caucasian wars of resistance, or the anti-religious Bolshevik campaigns of the 1920s.33
There are various traditions about Mir Movsum Agha. His relatives can confirm the degree of truth of such stories. So, during the war, one mother brought her one-and-a-half-year-old son, suffering from problems with his chair. The aga offered to give the child some water from the yard. Two days later, the child recovered. At the same time, a twenty-year-old student of the Medical Faculty of Baku University fell ill with rabies. Her parents brought her to the Aga, as her daughter had not eaten or drunk for two weeks, and her brain was inflamed. Agha told his parents that the girl should sleep in his house. Five minutes later, the girl fell asleep, and when she woke up, she asked for water. Parents cried with happiness 34.

It is important to note an interesting element in the statement of the saint's authority: the obvious connection of his biography with the history of the war and victory over fascism, as well as with representatives of the state. These connections greatly strengthened his authority. Indeed, local holy sites feasts and images of saints have become part of the moral order not only at the local but also at the national level. When reading the first page of the booklet dedicated to the Mir Movsum Aga sanctuary in Shuvelyan, published in 2014 on the eve of the European Olympic Games, the patriotic connection between Mir Movsum Aga and the authorities is striking.

33. For comparison, see the article by V. O. Bobrovnikov, who studied the question of faith in saints in Southern Dagestan: Bobrovnikov V. O. Hybrid religiosity in the cults of saints among the Muslims of southern Dagestan // Oriental studies in the post-Soviet space. Moscow: MSU Publishing House, 2014, pp. 122-135.

34. Zapletin G. Ya Etaga chaddi! Life-legend of Agha Seyid Ali. p. 127.

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Judging by the stories of pilgrims and information from hagiographic literature, the popularity of judd, a Boneless saint, increased dramatically in 1943.

One of my clearest memories of Aga is closely related to my memories of the war years. In those days, I could repeatedly observe how men going to the front came to Aga for a blessing. To receive his blessing, they took off their shirts and left them at his house. At the same time, they used to say: if we survive the Patriotic War, we will return here, take our shirts and leave you nazir. I think of the piles of shirts piled up in his apartment in 1943. So great was the belief in the power of Seyid 35.

The traditional ritual element is evident here: just as the villagers in Meshchaninov's memoirs in 1929 tied pieces of colorful cloth to the holy tree, so the soldiers with the same hope left their shirts at the newly founded feast in Icheri Sheher.

During my time as neighbors with Seyid, I saw a lot of things. I will never forget one episode from my life. This happened in 1943. Once in the house number 3, which belonged to Aga, there were Russian sailors. But how did these sailors get into the house? They crawled all the way from the monolithic house on Communists Street to its door in Icheri Sheher. The warship on which they served was blown up by a bomb explosion. At the same time, the entire ship's crew was killed, with the exception of these three sailors. Jumping into the water, they repeatedly repeated the name of Et-Agi and asked him for help. They swore that if they survived, they would crawl to Aga 36's house.

The authority of the power of saints in written and oral narratives is based not only on the origin of the saint, on his genealogical connection with the pious family of the Seyids, but also on his patriotic position in relation to the official authorities. First of all, this point is confirmed by studies devoted to the relationship between the state and religion in the Soviet Union.-

35. Zapletin G. Ya Etaga chaddi! Life-legend of Agha Seyid Ali. p. 28.

36. Ibid., p. 51.

page 220
the company. Various authors point out that certain symbols, religious beliefs, and rituals were often transformed into national cultural assets. 37
Last but not least, the fact of the "invisible" presence of State power is important here. We can talk about a certain kind of "spiritual kinship" associated with the names of the main party functionaries, such as Mir-Jaffar Bagirov or Heydar Aliyev. These two names represent an important element of modern hagiographic literature, where they appear as secret worshippers of Et-Aga. As patrons, they helped legitimize the pilgrimage site of Icheri Sheher.

In the memoirs of Heydar Aliyev, there is a story about his appeal to Seyid. In 1943, his mother sent 20-year-old Heydar Aliyev from Nakhichevan to Baku to pay his respects to Seyid and ask him to help his family. At that time, national leader Heydar Aliyev worked in the military enlistment office in Nakhichevan. Seyid's private home in Icheri Sheher was taken under the party's surveillance. Despite the danger of being seen by the NKVD, Heydar Aliyev visited Seyid's house, and as a result, his request was heard by Allah.39
In another story, Mir-Jaffar Bagirov, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, found himself in the middle of a miraculous event.

According to Zia Buniyatov (President of the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences), Mir Jaffar Bagirov had great respect for Seyid. It cannot be said that Bagirov cared about the Boneless saint. However, the powerful and awe-inspiring master of the republic himself feared and respected Seyid, an exceptional man in Baku.40
37. Hann, C. (ed.) (2008) The Postsocialist Religious Question. Faith and Power in Central Asia and East-Central Europe. Munster: LIT; Kehl-Bodrogi, K. (2006) "Who Owns the Shrine? Competing Meanings and Authorities at a Pilgrimage Site in Khorezm", Central Asian Survey 25(3): 1-16; Louw, M. (2006) "Pursuing 'Muslimness': Shrines as Sites of Moralities in the Making in Post-Soviet Bukhara", Central Asian Survey 25(3): 319-339; Rasayanagam, J. (2011) Islam in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan. The Morality of Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

38. First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1933-1953

39. Suleiman-ogli N., Asif-gizi K. With the worship of Allah. Scientific and religious research. Baku. Ozan, 2006, p. 23.

40. Ibid., p. 26.

page 221
The role of Communist party functionaries in shaping the image of the saint in Baku can be interpreted in different ways.41 On the one hand, the stories about the cautious attitude to popular beliefs coincide with the assessments of Jorg Baberovsky: in his research, he emphasizes 42 that the Bolsheviks in the Caucasus were cautious about religion and popular beliefs. However, it is also necessary to emphasize the desire of the political authorities to manipulate religion and popular faith. The year 1943 has a special place in the history of Soviet anti-religious policy: before the Tehran Conference, the state eased the persecution and took care to reopen many mosques and churches for a while.43 Such temporary measures have served to preserve and further modify the traditional practice of the cult of Shiite saints in Azerbaijan. Related to this is the fact that fifty years after the death of Mir Movsum Aga (1950), Baku residents enthusiastically took up the public narrativization of their memories, publishing memoirs and visiting new urban shrines.

Concluding remarks

This article focused on the changing nature of the local cult of saints in the city amid political and economic changes. It was also important to understand the role of the state in the sacred communication between the miraculous healer and believers - in the context of traditional worship of Shiite saints, in socialist and post-socialist Baku. An analysis of popular narratives dedicated to the Boneless Saint from Baku shows that the pilgrimage can have, among other things, a political dimension. We tried to show how the "cautious" and manipulative approach develops-

41. Some of the interviewees pointed out the existence of a" sacred " relationship between Al-Agha and Mir Jaffar Bagirov, since both of them came from the pious family of Sayyids. See also: Ismailov E. Vlast ' i narod [Power and people]. Post-war Stalinism in Azerbaijan. 1945-1953. Baku; Adiloglu. 2003.

42. Baberowki, J. (2003) Der Feind ist uberall. Stalinismus im Kaukasus, p. 441. Munchen: Deutsche Verlags Anstalt.

43. Then, in 1944, three new institutions of Muslim governance were established in the Caucasus and Central Asia: the Spiritual Directorate of Central Asian and Kazakh Muslims was located in Tashkent, another representative office of Sunni Muslims in Buinaksk (Makhachkala), and finally a representative office of Shiite Muslims in Baku.

page 222
the aggressive policy of the Azerbaijani state in relation to people's "holy places", such as feasts and ziyarats.

The political and economic transformations of the 20th century, the processes of radical secularization and modernization contributed to functional and semantic shifts in the tradition of veneration of saints in Azerbaijan. It can be argued, based on the research of K. Calhoun 44 and X. The Casanovas believe that the sacred and the secular should not be viewed as two opposing worlds, but as overlapping "social and political spheres". This probably explains the" viability " of holy sites in Azerbaijan.

Translated from the German by Maria Khramova

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