diff --git a/src/config.cpp b/src/config.cpp
index f1a476ae68cb821e001aa661f95d14049349e1b6..7df60defa0de9d2cc79239adad349d27659468b1 100644
--- a/src/config.cpp
+++ b/src/config.cpp
@@ -316,6 +316,7 @@ void Config::updateBackendConfig(const std::string &backendConfig) {
 		("features.receipts", value<bool>()->default_value(false), "")
 		("features.muc", value<bool>()->default_value(false), "")
 		("features.rawxml", value<bool>()->default_value(false), "")
+		("features.disable_jid_escaping", value<bool>()->default_value(false), "")
 	;
 
 	std::stringstream ifs(backendConfig);
@@ -325,6 +326,12 @@ void Config::updateBackendConfig(const std::string &backendConfig) {
 	notify(m_backendConfig);
 
 	onBackendConfigUpdated();
+
+	if (CONFIG_BOOL_DEFAULTED(this, "features.disable_jid_escaping", false)) {
+		Variables::iterator it(m_variables.find("service.jid_escaping"));
+		boost::program_options::variable_value& vx(it->second);
+		vx.value() = false;
+	}
 }
 
 Config *Config::createFromArgs(int argc, char **argv, std::string &error, std::string &host, int &port) {