Images of Islam and Empire(s) in the Kazan shamail from the late nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth centuries

In recent decades, discussions about the phenomenon of shamail have become relevant again in connection with the development of the discourse of "national Tatar art" and local "Islamic culture".1 Shamail are religious panels depicting religious or ethno-religious motifs. They can be handmade or printed. Muftiyats and various cultural centres speak of a direct link between shamayil and Tatar folk art. The Russian Islamic Institute holds exhibitions devoted to "Tatar" calligraphy2. There is now an active popularisation of shamayil in the context of the formation of a multicultural discourse in Russia. Originally, the term "shamail" had a different meaning, characteristic of the classical Islamic book tradition. Initially, the term had an abstract meaning and was a set of positive human qualities from the Islamic point of view.