Abstract

Pilgrims departing for the hajj from Central Asia, particularly, from the Khwārazm region under the Qongrat dynasty (1770–1920), made use of tekkes located in major cities of the Ottoman Empire as temporary lodging. These tekkes typically functioned as Sufi institutions where the head of a Sufi order (shaykh), his disciples, and adherents gathered for ritual practices and religious instruction.

Among such institutions, the Uzbek tekke of Sultantepe in Istanbul and the zāwiya known as “Uzbekiyya,” established in Jerusalem, primarily served travelers from Central Asia. Notably, archival registers associated with these tekkes have survived to the present day, enabling the reconstruction of their socio-cultural and everyday functioning. These records also contain references to pilgrims arriving from Khwārazm.

Throughout the nineteenth century, pilgrims from Khwārazm benefited from various privileges as members of a broader Islamic polity. However, by the early twentieth century, the Russian Empire introduced a passport system in order to regulate and control the hajj pilgrimage of its Muslim subjects. At the same time, it sought to systematize this process through its consular network operating within the Ottoman Empire.

As a result, these developments significantly affected the legal status of Central Asian pilgrims, including those from Khwārazm, within the Ottoman domains. In particular, they were gradually deprived of a number of previously enjoyed privileges. The factors underlying these transformations are analyzed in this study on the basis of archival materials preserved in the collections of Uzbekistan and Turkey.