Musa Bigiev (sometimes known as Luther of Islam) (1870
[Azade-Ayşe Rorlich: ''The Volga Tatars'', Stanford 1986; pp. 59–61.]/75
[Charles Kurzman: ''Modernist Islam, 1840–1940. A Sourcebook'', New York 2002, p. 254.] in
Novocherkassk
Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...
,
[Elmira Akhmetova: ''Musa Jerullah Bigiev (1875–1949). Political Thought of a Tatar Muslim Scholar'', Intellectual Discourse (2008, Vol.1), pp. 49–71.] Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
– 28 October 1949 in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, Egypt) was a
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...
Maturidi
Māturīdī theology or Māturīdism ( ar, الماتريدية: ''al-Māturīdiyyah'') is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Persian Muslim scholar, Ḥanafī jurist, reformer (''Mujaddid''), and scholastic th ...
scholar, theologian philosopher, publicist and one of the leaders of the
Jadid movement
The Jadids were Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms ''Taraqqiparvarlar'' ('progressives'), ''Ziyalilar'' ('intellectuals') or simpl ...
. After receiving his education in
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
,
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
,
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, he became a political activist for the
Ittifaq, the political organisation of the Muslims of Russia. He also taught in
Orenburg
Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...
, wrote journalistic texts and translated classic works into
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different . After emigrating from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, he travelled Europe and the Middle and Far East while writing and publishing.
Naming variations
In
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different , Bigievs name was written as Муса Җаруллаһ Бигеев (موسى جارالله بيكييف). He had various names in Arabic; for example, ''Musa Jarullah ibn Fatima at-Turkistani
al-Qazani at-Tatari ar-Rostofdoni ar-Rusi'' (موسى جار الله ابن فاطمة التركستاني القازانى التاتارى الروستوفدونى الروسى), ''ibn Fatima at-Turkistani ar-Rostofdoni ar-Rusi'' (موسى جار الله، ابن فاطمة، التركستاني الروستوفدوني الروسي), ''ibn Fatima ar-Rusi'' (ابن فاطمة الروسي), ''ibn Fatima at-Turkistani al-Qazani ar-Rusi'' (موسى بن جار الله التركستاني القازاني الروسي), ''at-Turkistani al-Qazani ar-Rusi'' (موسى بن جار الله التركستاني القازاني الروسي), or ''Musa Effendi Jarullah ar-Rusi'' (موسى أفندي جار الله الروسي).
There is no standardized English transliteration of Bigievs name; versions include Bigi or Bigeev. His pen name his also variously given as Musa Jarullah, which is the name most contemporary Muslims knew him under,
or as Musa Carullah, which is the name mostly used in modern Turkish literature.
Life
Early life and education
Both the date and the place of Musa Bigievs birth are disputed. Opinions for the date include 1870,
1875
or 1873.
[''Tagirdzhanova A. N.'' A Book about Musa-effendi, His time and Contemporaries (in Russian) — Kazan, 2010 — ;] The place is either the village of Mishar or the city of
Novocherkassk
Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as t ...
.
He was born into a middle-class family as the younger of two brothers. After his father was appointed as
Akhoond
Akhund (akhoond, akhwand, akhand or akondo) ( fa, آخوند) is a Persian title or surname for Islamic scholars, common in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan. Other names for similar Muslim Scholar include sheik ...
, the family moved to
Rostov-on-Don
Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...
. After the father's early death in 1881, Bigiev's mother, Fatima Hanim Bigiyeva, provided for the education of him and his elder brother
Muhammad Zahir Bigiev.
[Ahmet Kanlidere: ''Reform within Islam. The Tajdid and Jadid Movement among the Kazan Tatars (1809–1917)'', Istanbul 1997; pp. 52–56.]
![The publishers of Ülfät newspaper](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/The_publishers_of_%C3%9Clf%C3%A4t_newspaper.jpg)
Bigiev spent most of his youth studying at
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
s in
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
,
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
,
Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
,
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
,
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
,
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
(where he attended the
Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah
Egypt's Dar al-Ifta ( ar, دار الإفتاء المصرية ) is an Egyptian Islamic advisory, justiciary and governmental body established as a centre for Islam and Islamic legal research in Egypt in 1313 AH / 1895 CE. It offers Muslims r ...
and was educated by
Shayk Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i
Irina Valeryevna Shaykhlislamova (russian: Ирина Валерьевна Шайхлисламова; born 6 January 1986), known professionally as Irina Shayk (; russian: Ирина Шейк), is a Russian model and television personality who ...
),
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
,
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
and
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
in India, where he studied
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
. While he attended many famous universities, he preferred studying on his own while benefitting from the mentorship of different scholars.
In 1904, he returned to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, where he married Asma Aliye Khanim, daughter of a merchant and madrasah teacher from
Chistopol
Chistopol (russian: Чи́стополь; tt-Cyrl, Чистай, ''Çistay''; cv, Чистай, ''Çistay'') is a town in Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River. As of the 2010 Census, its p ...
. Afterwards, he moved to St. Petersburg and attended lectures at the Law faculty of
St. Petersburg Imperial University as an auditor, in order to be able to compare Islamic and Western legal systems. He also became good friends with
Abdurreshid Ibrahim
Abdurresid Ibrahim ( tt-Cyrl, Габдрәшит Ибраһимов, Siberian Tatar. ''Әптрәшит Ипрағимов'' 1857 in Tara, Tobolsk Governorate (in today's Omsk oblast) – 1944) was a Russia-born Tatar Muslim Alim (singular of ...
, the editor of the newspaper ''
Ülfät'',
in which he published several times.
Political activist
During the
Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, Bigiev became actively involved in the founding of the Muslim political organization, and later party,
Ittifaq al-Muslimin
The Union of the Muslims of Russia (Ittifaq, short for tt-Cyrl, Иттифак әл-мөслимин, ''Ittifaq âl-Möslimin'' and , ''Ittifaq al-Muslimin'') was a political organisation and party of Muslims in the late Russian Empire. The organi ...
, starting with the first Congress of the Muslims of Russia, which was held in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
in August. He also participated in the second and third congresses of 1905 and 1906, where he was elected as a member of the central committee of the parliamentary group in the
Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.
The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
. Bigiev was responsible for providing the protocols of the Ittifaq meetings.
After the end of the Revolution, he also worked in publishing (in 1908 editing and publishing his deceased brother's book "A trip to Mesopotamia") and from 1910 onwards as a teacher at the Husayniya madrasah in
Orenburg
Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the Kazakhstan-Russia bor ...
. He also held lectures at the city's philanthropic association (''Orenburg Jäm'iyät-i Khayriyäsi'') and became secretary of the fourth Muslim congress in 1914. In 1915, he published ''Islahat Asaslare'' ("The Fundamentals of Reform"), a catalogue of social and political change among the Muslims of Russia between 1904 and 1915.
After his publications in
Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddins journal ''
Shura
Shura ( ar, شُورَىٰ, translit=shūrā, lit=consultation) can for example take the form of a council or a referendum. The Quran encourages Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with each other.
Shura is mentioned as a praisewort ...
'' drew immense criticism from the local Ulama, he left Orenburg.
Under the Soviets
Bigiev welcomed the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
, claiming that "slavery is gone, and will never come back".
Even after the takeover by the
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in th ...
, he saw the new regime as a potential ally against what he perceived to be the primary enemy of the Muslims of the world – the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
. During the course of the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
, Bigiev toured the Volga region together with
Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah
Mohamed Barakatullah Bhopali, known with his honorific as Maulana Barkatullah (7 July 1854 – 20 September 1927), was an Indian revolutionary with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohal ...
in order to mobilize the Muslim population for military service against the British. He also held close contact with other
anti-British Indian activists and arranged for them to live in the Soviet Union.
![View of the building of the Muslim Religious Administration in Ufa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/View_of_the_building_of_the_Muslim_Religious_Administration_in_Ufa.jpg)
In 1920, Bigiev could be found in Ufa, where he presented a program for social reform with the title of "Appeal to the Islamic Nations" to the members of the Muslim religious administration; this included the allegiance of the Russian Muslims to the caliphate above the Soviet State. The program formed the basis for his book ''Islam Milletlerine'' ("To Muslim Nations"; or ''Islamning Elifbasi'', "The Alphabet of Islam", as response to
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Буха́рин) ( – 15 March 1938) was a Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet politician, Marxist philosopher and economist and prolific author on revolutionary theory. ...
s "Alphabet of Communism") of which 5,000 copies were printed in Berlin in 1923. Following this publication, he was arrested in Moscow while on his way from Petrograd to a conference in India. The Soviets had begun to suppress all forms of religious expression, including "Pan-Turkists" and "Pan-Islamists".
His arrest provoked a storm of indignation; for example, the
Tatars of Finland requested the assistance of the Turkish government, which at that time was on friendly terms with the new Soviet regime. The leading newspapers of Istanbul and Ankara published telegrams with pleas to set Bigiev free again. The campaign finally succeeded; Bigiev was freed on the condition that he was to live in Moscow under state surveillance for two years.
Several years later, in May 1926, Bigiev was included in delegations of Soviet Muslims to the Pan-Islamic Congresses in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and Cairo. On the return trip, he attended several sessions of the Turkish parliament and met the Turkish prime minister
İsmet İnönü
Mustafa İsmet İnönü (; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman of Kurdish descent, who served as the second President of Turkey from 11 November 1938 to 22 May 1950, and its Prime Minister three tim ...
. After his return, he was also elected by the Leningrad Tatars to become their delegate at a congress of Muslim clergy in Ufa.
He returned to Leningrad again in 1927. The political climate had worsened harshly; Bigiev witnessed the
League of Militant Atheists
The League of Militant Atheists (), also Society of the Godless () or Union of the Godless (), was an atheistic and antireligious organization of workers and intelligentsia that developed in Soviet Russia under influence of the ideological and c ...
and was personally forbidden to leave the country. He was also out of work; he continuously applied to the scholar
Ignaty Krachkovsky
Ignaty Yulianovich Krachkovsky (Russian: ''Игна́тий Юлиа́нович Крачко́вский'' (4 (16) March 1883, Vilnius — 24 January 1951, Leningrad) was a Russian and Soviet Arabist, academician of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...
as a teacher of Arabic, Persian and Turkic languages at Leningrad University, and in 1929 even applied to the government of Afghanistan for a job. His wife and four of his children were temporarily arrested. In 1930, after he, his family and other clergymen where deprived of food coupons, he finally decided to secretly leave the country.
Exile
![Musa Bigiev with M](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Musa_Bigiev_with_M._Kurbangaliev.jpg)
He first crossed the border into
Chinese Turkestan
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autono ...
, where he tried to settle down in
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
; however, the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...
prohibited him from doing so. He then travelled on horseback to Afghanistan, where its ruler
Nadir Shah
Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian h ...
provided him with an international passport. This allowed him to go to India, where he met some of his friends he had made in earlier years.
However, he did not stay in India for long, instead starting a period of worldwide travelling. In 1931, he held a speech at the
World Islamic Congress
The World Islamic Congress was convened in Jerusalem in December 1931 at the behest of Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and Maulana Shaukat Ali, leader of the Indian Caliphate Committee. Ostensibly the Congress was called to ...
in Jerusalem, where he praised Finland for its friendly attitude towards Muslim émigrés from Russia. He also visited Ankara, Berlin (where he founded an Islamic publishing house), Finland and Iran and Iraq, where he studied
Shia Islam
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, m ...
.
He resumed his tour in 1937, again visiting India, more specifically
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and
Benares
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tr ...
. He was then invited by
Abdurreshid Ibrahim
Abdurresid Ibrahim ( tt-Cyrl, Габдрәшит Ибраһимов, Siberian Tatar. ''Әптрәшит Ипрағимов'' 1857 in Tara, Tobolsk Governorate (in today's Omsk oblast) – 1944) was a Russia-born Tatar Muslim Alim (singular of ...
to Japan; the two travelled together to China,
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and Singapore.
After the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1939, Bigiev tried to reach Afghanistan again, but was arrested by British authorities in
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
without any charge. The ruler of
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
,
Hamidullah Khan
Hajji Nawab Hafiz Sir Hamidullah Khan (9 September 1894 – 4 February 1960) was the last ruling Nawab of the princely salute state of Bhopal. He ruled from 1926 when his mother, Begum Kaikhusrau Jahan Begum, abdicated in his favor, until 19 ...
, petitioned for his release, but Bigiev was kept under house arrest until 1945. In these years, he wrote ten of his major works.
After his release, Bigiev suffered from illness which forced him to undergo several surgeries. In 1948, he travelled to Turkey and from there to Cairo, where he died on 28. October 1949. He was buried at the
Royal Cemetery of the Khedives of Egypt.
Legacy
While Bigiev left "a deep imprint on the history of the reformed
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
s and the Muslim press of Russia in the 1910s",
his work and even his name are largely forgotten today.
This can mostly be attributed to the Soviet Union under Stalin, where his name was
purged
In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
from documents and bibliographies and the study of his works forbidden.
Rediscovery
He was officially rehabilitated by the
High Court of the Russian Federation in February 1997. Still, only a small amount of research on his life and work has taken place and the amount of literature available in English is very limited.
However, a movement towards rediscovery seems to be taking place; one of Kazans streets is now named after Bigiev. In 2007, as a part of the project ''Ijma' – Concord'', the
Kunstkamera (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography) of the Russian Academy of Sciences sponsored the documentary ''The manuscript and the Fate'' about Bigievs life, with a script written by the Orientalist
Jefim A. Rezvan. A year later, in 2008, the documentary ''
And the moon has split'', directed by B. Baishev, was awarded a special prize "for the contribution to Islamic Enlightenment" at the fourth
Golden Minbar International Film Festival.
Bigievs Quran translation was reprinted in 2010 from copies saved by descendants. For the 140th anniversary of his birth, a number of activities were held in the
Penza Oblast
Penza Oblast (russian: Пе́нзенская о́бласть, ''Penzenskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Penza. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,386,186.
Geogr ...
of Russia; on June 23, a plaque was dedicated in the city of Kikino, one of Bigievs supposed birth places, and a maktab and a garden near the mosque of the town were renamed in Bigievs honor.
Family
Bigievs wife Asma died in Ufa in 1979; of their eight children, two died young.
His son-in-law Abdurahman Tagirovich Tagirdzhanov became a professor of
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
at
Leningrad State University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
,
while his cousin
Abrashit Museevich Bigiev (1917–2010) became professor for
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
at
Magnitogorsk State Technical University
Magnitogorsk State Technical University is located in Magnitogorsk, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, w ...
.
Today, descendants of Bigiev live in Russia (in Ufa, Moscow and St. Petersburg) and in Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk).
Views
While he was one of the leading members of
Jadidism, Bigievs provocative nature led to opposition not only from the
Kadimists (nearly all issues of the Qadimist journal ''
Din vä Ma'ishät'' include one or more articles written directly against him), but also from fellow reformers.
In his 97-page essay ''Rahmet-i Ilahiye Burhanlari'' ("The storms of God's clemency"), published in Orenburg in 1910, Bigiev argued that God would also include unbelievers in his mercy and forgiveness. This elicited criticism from many Ulama, including
Ismail Gaspirali
Ismail bey Gasprinsky (also written as Gaspirali and Gasprinski: crh, İsmail Gaspıralı, russian: Исмаи́л Гаспри́нский ''Ismail Gasprinskii''; – ) was a Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher and Pan-Turkist pol ...
.
The influence of Bigiev was felt beyond the Russian Empire, for example in Istanbul, where the scholar
Mustafa Sabri Efendi criticized Bigiev for his "dangerous and heretical" (''küfriyati muhtevi'') ideas and was responsible for the ban of three of his works in the
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) ...
.
However, Sabri defended Bigievs qualification to discuss theological matters. Sabri coined the epithet "Luther of Islam" for Bigiev.
Bigiev has also been described as one of "the most notorious
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
te polemicists against Shiism in the 20th century", along with such figures as
Muhibb-ud-Deen Al-Khatib
Muhibb ud-Din al-Khateeb (or Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib) (died 1969) was a Syrian Salafi writer. He was the maternal uncle of Ali al-Tantawi and was the author of the "hate filled" anti-Shia pamphlet entitled ''al-Khutoot al-‘Areedah'' (The broad l ...
and
Ehsan Elahi Zaheer
Ehsan Elahi Zaheer ( ur, احسان الہی ظہیر) (31 May 1945 – 30 March 1987) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar. He was the founder of Jamiat Ahle Hadith. He died from an assassin's bomb blast in 1987. He was taken to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ...
. This is the result of him penning several well-known
anti-Shia
Anti-Shi'ism is hatred of, prejudice against, discrimination against, persecution of, and violence against Shia Muslims because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first used by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, ...
books, including ''Al-Washi'ah fi naqd 'aqa'id al-shi'ah''. In these works, Bigiev notes that during his travels in Iraq and Iran he had not met even one Shia individual who knew the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
to a satisfactory level.
Works (selection)
Bigiev wrote extensively; for example, he published 64 books
and more than 120 essays and articles on theology. Included here are some of his most notable works.
* Translations of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
and
Hafez
Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمسالدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...
' ''
Diwan'' into
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different
* ''Tarihu'l Qur'an ve'l-Masahif'' ("A history of the Quran and the Quranic texts") – Published after Bigiev discovered editorial changes by Mullahs in a Quran edition
* 1913: ''Rahmet-i Ilahiye Burhanlari'' ("The storms of God's clemency")
* 1913: ''Insannarning Aqidah Ilahiyatlarena Ber Nazar'' ("A Glimpse of the People's Belief in God")
* 1913: ''Ozin Konnarda Ruza. Itjihad Kitabi'' ("Fasting during Long Days. A Book of Itjihad")
* ''Sherhu'l Luzumiyat'' ("Commentaries on Al-Luzumiyat") – Critical commentary on the work of
Al-Maʿarri
Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī ( ar, أبو العلاء المعري, full name , also known under his Latin name Abulola Moarrensis; December 973 – May 1057) was an Arab philosopher, poet, and writer. Despite holding a controversially irreli ...
* ''Büyük mevzularda ufak fikirler'' ("Small thoughts on big issues") – Critique of the work of the
Ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
Ziyauddin Kamali, shows Bigievs high opinion of
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
and
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
* ''Qavaid-i Fiqhiyyä'' ("The principles of Islamic jurisprudence")
* 1915: ''Islahat Asaslare'' ("The Fundamentals of Reform")
Literature
* Ahmet Kanlidere: ''Reform within Islam. The Tajdid and Jadid Movement among the Kazan Tatars (1809–1917)'', Istanbul 1997; p. 52-56.
* Ahmet Kanlidere: ''Rusya Türklinderinden Musa Carullah Bigi (1875–1949)'', Istanbul 1988.
* Azade-Ayşe Rorlich: ''The Volga Tatars'', Stanford 1986; p. 59-61.
*
Charles Kurzman Charles Kurzman is a Professor of Sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who specializes in Middle East and Islamic studies.
Education and employment
After completing his B.A. at Harvard University in 1986, he completed his M.A. ...
: ''Modernist Islam, 1840–1940. A Sourcebook'', New York 2002, p. 254.
* Elmira Akhmetova: ''Musa Jerullah Bigiev (1875–1949). Political Thought of a Tatar Muslim Scholar'', Intellectual Discourse (2008, Vol.1), p. 49-71.
* Aydar Khairetdinov: ''The Last Tatar Theologian. The Life and Heritage of Musa Jarullah Bigiev'', 1999.
* Dimitri Spikav and Nayla Tabbara: ''Christianity and Islam in the Context of Contemporary Culture. Perspectives of Interfaith Dialogue from Russia and the Middle East'', St. Petersburg / Beirut 2009; p. 45-47.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigiev, Musa
1870s births
1949 deaths
Jadids
Islam in Russia
Quran translators
Tatar people from the Russian Empire
Expatriates from the Russian Empire in India
Expatriates from the Russian Empire in the Ottoman Empire
Translators to Tatar
20th-century Muslim theologians
Critics of Shia Islam
Hanafis
Maturidis
Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Egypt