Johannes Avetaranian (
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010.
The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...
,
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, 30 June 1861 –
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, 11 December 1919), born Muhammad Shukri ( tr, Mehmet Şükri), was, according to his autobiography, a Turkish descendant of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
. Avetaranian was originally a
mullah in Turkey who converted from
Islam to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, and later became a missionary for the
Swedish Mission Covenant
The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Missionskyrkan), founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the national church, the Church of Sweden. In 2011, ...
Church in Southern
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
(1892–1938). He translated the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
into the
Uyghur language
The Uyghur or Uighur language (; , , , or , , , , CTA: Uyğurçä; formerly known as Eastern Turki), is a Turkic language written in a Uyghur Perso-Arabic script with 8-11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xi ...
. He preached
Christianity in Xinjiang and
at a Swedish Protestant mission. He died in 1919, aged 58, in Wiesbaden.
Biography
Avetaranian was born in
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010.
The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...
, in 1861, to a
Muslim family. His mother was deaf, blind, and mute, and died when Avetaranian was only two years old. His father was a
dervish
Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage i ...
.
He took the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
name of Johannes (John) Avetaranian (Avetaran means 'Gospel') and was baptised in Tiflis, Russia (modern-day
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
) on 28 February 1885.
[John Avetaranian and Richard Schafer''. A Muslim Who Became a Christian: An Autobiography.'' Translated from German by John Bechard. (New Generational Publishing, 2018). p. 54.]
He was the first person from the
Mission Union of Sweden to stay in
Kashgar (in 1892).
He left Kashgar in 1897, thinking that he would soon return, but that did not work out. Instead he worked with the
German Orient Mission (DOM) in Bulgaria, where he started a Christian newspaper, ''Gunesh'', in Turkish. The newspaper was circulated in Turkey proper.
Gösta Raquette came to Philipopol, now
Plovdiv,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, where he worked with Avetaranian on revision of the Bible translation.
Muslim origins
In his biography ''"A Muslim Who Became a Christian"'', Aveteranian states to have been unaware of his descent from Muhammad, until a trip with his father to Erzurum. During the trip, Aveteranian and his father had put on the Green turbans, to which only the ''
Sayyid
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamma ...
s'' or descendants of Muhammad are entitled. Prior to this, he had only worn this once in his childhood. The Green turban had been a gift which was presented to him by his maternal aunt. A local mullah was astonished to see the green turban, and inquired as to from where he had obtained it. Then he requested Aveteranian to ask whether his aunt was aware that only Sayyids were entitled to wear green turbans. He did so, and the next day, his aunt went to the mullah and clarified the mullah's doubts as to their descent when she revealed her father's name. After this incident, Aveteranian gained respect from the mullah, who would always defer to him, while in Avetaranian's presence.
[Johannes Avetaranian, Richard Schafer , John Bechard, ''A Muslim Who Became a Christian'', Authors On Line Ltd, 2003,]
Google Print, p. 4
References
*Avateranian, Johannes & Bechard, John (tr); ''A Muslim Who Became A Christian'' (Hertford: Authors Online Ltd.)
External links
''A Muslim who became a Christian'' by John Bechard (English translation).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avetaranian, Johannes
Converts to Protestantism from Islam
Lutheran missionaries in China
Protestant missionaries in Bulgaria
People from Erzurum
Translators of the Bible into Uyghur
Christian missionaries in Central Asia
1861 births
1919 deaths
Turkish Lutheran missionaries
Turkish former Muslims
Hashemite people
19th-century translators
Lutheran missionaries in Asia
Lutheran missionaries in Europe
Protestant missionaries in the Ottoman Empire
Turkish people of Arab descent
Arabs from the Ottoman Empire
19th-century Lutherans
Missionary linguists