Abstract
<jats:p>Abstract. The review examines the monograph by Danielle Ross "Tatar Empire: Kazan's Muslims and the Making of Imperial Russia" (Bloomington, 2020), which is key to understanding the pre-revolutionary religious life of Muslim Tatars. After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate and the subsequent transformation of Kazan into the principal town of the province, the most active of the Tatars occupied an Islamic niche in the expansionist foreign policy of the Russian state. Tatar ruling class consisting of merchants and religious scholars who dominated the social and public sphere was formed. A kind of corporate organization, a guild, was created, personifying the public face of the Islamic religion. Today, such a representative role of prominent Muslim entrepreneurs and the "team" of muftis still constitute the "official" Islam, embodying tradition and traditionalism. At the end of his review, the author provides an overview of previous reviews and defines his own position.</jats:p>