The "image" of islam in the works of orthodox authors of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries
The article is devoted to the problem of forming the image of Islam at the turn of the 19th- 20th centuries among a number of Russian authors. The study of the sources of Muslim dogma by Russian researchers led to the formation of two images of Islam: as one of the religions of Russian subjects and as a false and hostile to Orthodoxy doctrine. Recognizing the legislatively approved primacy of Orthodoxy over all other confessions in the Russian Empire, state power granted a number of non-Orthodox confessions, including Islam, the right to freely exercise their faith and rituals. At the same time, the freedom granted did not allow the possibility of conducting missionary activities with the population on the part of non-Orthodox confessions. Possessing the exclusive right to persuade non-Christians, some missionaries could describe other denominations, including Islam, as false dogmas.