DIRECTIVE OF V. I. LENIN AND I. V. STALIN ON THE TRANSFER OF THE QURAN OF UTHMAN TO THE MUSLIMS
6 (19) December 1917

Issue immediately.

People's Commissar I. Dzhugashvili-Stalin
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

[Appeal of the Congress of Muslims on which the directive is written:]
To the People's Commissar for Nationalities Affairs

At present, the State Public Library holds a sacred treasure, the patrimony of the entire Muslim world — the Quran of Uthman.
Sacred relics of Muslims must be in the hands of Muslims themselves — all Muslims of Russia wish this.
In fulfillment of the aspirations of all Russian Muslims, the regional Muslim congress of the Petrograd National District unanimously resolved:
1) The patrimony of all Muslims — the sacred Quran of Uthman must immediately pass into the possession of the Muslims.
2) The sacred Quran of Uthman must be presented by the regional congress to the national parliament of Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia, currently sitting in the city of Ufa.
3) The execution of this resolution is entrusted to the chairman of the congress.

[The directive was written in the hand of I. V. Stalin and signed by V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin on the published appeal of the Congress of Muslims. On 9 (22) December 1917, under the signature of the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars V. Ulyanov (Lenin), an instruction was sent to the People's Commissar for Enlightenment A. V. Lunacharsky regarding the immediate release of the Quran from the State Public Library.]