Karamat (miracle) as a basis for veneration of mullahs possessing jinns (yinli molla) and of saints (sheikh) in the Nogai steppe

Abstract

The article discusses the role of the concept of miracle (karamat) in the worship of two categories of religious authorities of the Nogai steppe: mullahs with genies (jinn) and saints. An analysis of the veneration of mullahs possessing jinn allows us to assert that it was based on their ability to perform miracles. The reputation of a miracle worker accompanied such a mullah throughout his life. However, this miraculous work was not associated with holiness, but, on the contrary, with the frowned upon orthodoxy connection with the jinn spirits. Accordingly, these mullahs could not be worshiped after their death. A completely different example of miracle workers in the Nogai steppe was provided by Muslim saints. They deserved the right to work miracles with their righteous life and religious practices. After the death of the saints (Sheikhs), their graves become an object of pilgrimage for the purpose of miraculous healing. Thus, in the Nogai steppe there were two institutions associated with miracles: mullahs who possessed jinn, and saints. The mullahs lost their ability to work miracles after death, while the saints acquired it with death.