Şihabetdin Märcani (,

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

: , ; 1818–1889) was a

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

Maturidi Maturidism () is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu Mansur al-Maturidi. It is one of the three creeds of Sunni Islam alongside Ash'arism and Atharism, and prevails in the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. Al-Maturidi codified a ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. He studied in

madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. ...

s of Tashkichu (near

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

and

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

. Beginning in 1850 he served as the

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of the First Cathedral Mosque. Later, in 1867, he became a

muhtasib A muḥtasib (, from the root ''ḥisbah'', or "accountability"Sami Zubaida (2005), Law and Power in the Islamic World, , pages 58-60) was "a holder of the office of al-hisbah in classical Islamic administrations", according to Oxford Islamic St ...

. At the same time, in 1876-1884 he lectured on religion in the Tatar Teachers' School. Märcani became the first Muslim member of ''The Society for Archaeology, History and Ethnography'' at

Kazan State University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

. In his papers he illustrated his ideas about the renovation and the perfection of the Tatar educational system. As a historian, he was the first Tatar scholar to employ a synthesis of European methodology with the traditions of the Oriental scholars. He was the author of more than 30 volumes about Tatar history.

Works

Märcani wrote several works in various Islamic disciplines in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, including the following: # ''al-Ḥikmah al-Bālighah al-Janiyyah fī Sharḥ al-‘Aqā’id al-Ḥanafiyyah'' (), a commentary on Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Nasafi's al-'Aqa'id al-Nasafiyyah written in refutation of the more popular commentary written by Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani. # ''al-‘Adhb al-Furāt wa-al-Mā’ al-Zulāl al-Nāfi‘ li-Ghullat Ruwwām al-Ibrāz al-Asrār Sharḥ al-Jalāl'' (), a marginalia on Jalal al-Din al-Dawwani's commentary on '

Adud al-Din al-Iji Abū al-Faḍl Aḍud al-Din 'Abd al-Raḥman b. Aḥmad b. Abd al-Ghaffar al-Ījī, better known as Aḍud al-Din al-Ījī () was an Islamic scholar from the Ilkhanate period. He was an influential judge, Shafi'i jurist, legal theoretician, li ...

's Aqā'id''. # ''Ghurfat al-Ḥawāqīn li-Ma‘rifat al-Khawāqīn'' () # ''Ghilālat al-Zamān fī Tārīkh Bulghār wa-Qazān'' () # ''Wafiyyat al-Aslāf wa-Naḥiyyat al-Akhlāf'' (), a seven-volume

biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people o ...

of Islamic history. The first volume is titled al-Muqaddimah, a reference to the inspiration the author drew from

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...

Muqaddimah The ''Muqaddimah'' ( "Introduction"), also known as the ''Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun'' () or ''Ibn Khaldun's Introduction (writing), Prolegomena'' (), is a book written by the historian Ibn Khaldun in 1377 which presents a view of Universal histo ...

. # ''Muntakhab al-Wafiyyah'' (), a collection of excerpts from the aforementioned ''Wafiyyat al-Aslaf''. # ''Tanbīh Abnā’ al-‘Aṣr ‘alá Tanzīh Abnā’ Abī al-Naṣr'' (), a treatise on the differences of opinion between the "Qadimist" scholars of

and the

Jadidist The Jadid movement or Jadidism was an Turco-Islamic modernist political, religious, and cultural movement in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Tatar terms ''Taraqqiparvarlar ...

Ghabdennasir Qursawi Ğäbdennasír İbrahim ulı Qursawí (, ), sometimes spelled ''Kursavi'' or ''Koursavi'' (1776–1812) was a Tatar educator, Hanafi Maturidi theologian, and prominent Jadidist. He was a brother of Ğäbdelxaliq Qursawí. He studied at Machkara ( M ...

. # ''Ḥaqq al-Ma‘rifah wa-Ḥusn al-Idrāk bi-Mā Yalzamu fī Wujūb al-Fiṭr wa-al-Imsāk'' () # ''Nāẓūrat al-Ḥaqq fī Farḍiyyat al-‘Ishā’ wa-In Lam Yaghib al-Shafaq'' (), a legal work verifying the

position on performing the

Isha prayer Isha (), alternatively also transliterated as Isha'a, and also known as Khoftan or Khooftaan, is one of the mandatory five daily Islamic prayers, and contains four cycles. Ahadith mentioning virtues Uthman reported that he heard Muhammad say ...

at higher latitudes where the sun does not set. # ''al-Fawā’id al-Muhimmah'' () # ''al-Barq al-Wamīḍ fī al-Radd ‘alá al-Baghīḍ al-Musammá bi-al-Naqīḍ'' () # ''Kashf al-Ghiṭā’ ‘an al-Abṣār bi-Aghlāṭ Tawārīkh Bulghār wa-Akādhībiha al-Ṣarīḥah li-Dhawī al-I‘tibār'' () # ''Mustafād al-Akhbār fī Aḥwāl Qazān wa-Bulghār'' () # ''al-Ṭarīqah al-Muthlá wa-al-‘Aqīdah al-Ḥusná'' () # ''al-Naṣā’iḥ'' (), a work on Islamic

animal ethics Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, an ...

. # ''Khizāmat al-Ḥawāshī li-Izālat al-Ghawāshī'' (), a marginalia on Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar's autocommentary ''al-Tawdih' on the ''al-Tanqih'' which proposes a synthesis between the two dominant persuasions of

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

legal epistemology Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

. # ''al-Mathal al-A‘lá'' () # ''Sharḥ Muqaddimat al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah fī-al-Manṭiq'' (), a commentary on the Najm al-Din al-Katibi's introduction to his ''al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah'' which concerns the quiddity and subject matter of Arabic logic. # ''Taḥārīr Mufradah'' () # ''Jawāmi‘ al-Ḥikam Dharā’i‘ al-Ni‘am min Maqālāt ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib'' () # ''Tadhkirat al-Munīb bi-‘Adam Tazkiyat Ahl al-Ṣalīb'' (), a work on Islamic dietary jurisprudence, specifically the impermissibility of eating meat slaughtered by Christians. # ''Mukhtaṣar al-Nujūm al-Zāhirah fī Aḥwāl Miṣr wa-al-Qāhirah'' (), an abridgement of

Ibn Taghribirdi Jamal al-Din Yusuf bin al-Amir Sayf al-Din Taghribirdi (), or Abū al-Maḥāsin Yūsuf ibn Taghrī-Birdī, or Ibn Taghribirdi (2 February 1411— 5 June 1470; 813–874 Islamic calendar, Hijri) was an Islamic historian born in the 15th century i ...

's chronicle of Egyptian history. # ''Ḥaqq al-Bayān wa-al-Taṣwīr fī Mas’alat Ḥudūth ‘Ālam al-Amr wa-al-Taqdīr'' (), a treatise on the Islamic creedal doctrine of

creatio ex nihilo (Latin, 'creation out of nothing') is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe came to exist. It is in contrast to ''creatio ex mate ...

. # ''al-Ḥaqq al-Mubīn fī Maḥāsin Awḍā‘ Al-Dīn'' (), a work on the role of Qur'anic miracles in confirming the prophethood of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. # ''I‘lām Abnā’ al-Dahr bi-Aḥwāl Ahl Mā Warā’ al-Nahr'' () # ''Risālah fī Masā’il al-Naḥw'' () # ''Risālah Turkiyyah fī Manāsik al-Ḥajj'' () # ''Risālah Turkiyyah'' () # ''Mashāri‘ al-Uṣūl wa-Mashārib al-Fuṣūl'' () # ''al-Riḥlah'' ()

Notes

References

* 1818 births 1889 deaths 19th-century Muslim theologians Hanafis 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire Jadids Male writers from the Russian Empire Maturidis Muslim reformers Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Tatar writers {{russia-historian-stub

Works

See also

Notes

References