Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin ( Kiçüçat,

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

, 12 January 1858 1936) was a Bashkir and

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 ...

scholar and publicist who lived in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. His numerous works on religious, political and pedagogical subjects were a part of the

Jadid 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 ...

ist movement, and the journal '' Shura (magazine)'' (), which he created and published, was an important way of political discussion for Muslims in the late Empire.

Life

Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin was born as son of a

mullah Mullah () is an honorific title for Islam, Muslim clergy and mosque Imam, leaders. The term is widely used in Iran and Afghanistan and is also used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia, sharia law. The title h ...

in the village of Kiçüçat in the gouvernement

. He studied at the

kuttab A kuttab ( ''kuttāb'', plural: ''kataatiib'', ) or maktab () is a type of elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the ''kuttab'' was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, and Islamic studies, such as memorizing ...

in his village, which his father led, and then at the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

in the near village of Chelsheli. At the age of 30, he became mullah and leader of the madrasa in the village of Ilbek. In 1891, he was elected

qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term '' was in use from ...

, meaning he became a member of the Russian religious administration for Muslims (()); he therefore moved to its seat in Ufa, where he administrated the extensive archive of the agency.Mahmud Tahir: ''Rizaeddin Fahreddin'', in: Central Asian Survey (1989, Volume 8), p. 111-115. View of the building of the Muslim Religious Administration in Ufa

View of the building of the Muslim Religious Administration in Ufa

During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

, he submitted an extensive reform program to the muftis of the ''Sobranye''. This program, among other things, included the extension of the responsibility of the agency over the Kazakh Muslims. The Russian government refused the program due to the expected gain in power this centralization would have brought for the Muslims.Azade-Ayşe Rorlich: ''The Volga Tatars'', Stanford 1986; p. 53-58. In 1906, Fakhreddin retired from his religious office and became editor of the

Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...

newspaper ''Waqt''. During this period, he also became a close friend of

Musa Bigiev Musa Jarullah Bigiev (born – 28 October 1949), sometimes known as Luther of Islam, was Tatars, Tatar Hanafi Maturidi scholar, theologian philosopher, publicist and one of the leaders of the Jadid, Jadid movement. After receiving his education ...

. Two years later, he started publishing ''Shura'', which became the longest-lived of Tatar publication in the

. In 1921, after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, he again took on a religious office and was mufti of

European Russia European Russia is the western and most populated part of the Russia, Russian Federation. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the country's sparsely populated and vastly larger eastern part, Siberia, which is situated in Asia ...

until he died in 1936. He avoided cooperating with the Soviets as much as possible.

Work

As it was a part of Jadidism, Fakhreddin's work was influenced by many other Jadids. For example, he studied at Märcani Mosque for some time and later met the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

-born political activist

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (Pashto/), also known as Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī () and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1838/1839 – 9 March 1897), was an Iranian political activist and Islamic ideologist who travelled throughout the Mus ...

during a journey in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The Egyptian scholar

Muhammad Abduh Muḥammad ʿAbduh (also spelled Mohammed Abduh; ; 1849 – 11 July 1905) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar, judge, and Grand Mufti of Egypt. He was a central figure of the Arab Nahḍa and Islamic Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

was another influence. Fakhreddin spoke Arabic, Persian, Turkic and Russian. He used the neo-Turkic common language that had been proclaimed by

Ismail Gasprinsky Ismail bey Gasprinsky (also written as Gaspirali and Gasprinski; , ; ''Ismail Gasprinskii''; – ) was a Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher and Pan-Turkist politician who inspired the Jadidist movement in Central Asia. He was one o ...

as a common language for all

Turkic peoples Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members ...

but kept Tatar linguistic peculiarities. Marjani Madrasah in Kazan

Fakhreddin was an extremely productive author, who wrote more than sixty books during his life. His most important work is a two-volume edition of biographies of Central Asian Scholars (''Asar'' and ''Meshhur Irler''), which he wrote while he was at the archive of the Muslim religious administration. On some of the depicted individuals (which include Ibn Rushd (Averroes),

ibn Arabi Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian 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 com ...

al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...

and

ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyya (; 22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328)Ibn Taymiyya, Taqi al-Din Ahmad, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-959 was a Sunni Muslim schola ...

) his work remains the best source. He also published journalistic texts, books and essays on the general situation of Muslims in Russia, pedagogical works or on social debates (for example on women's education and family politics). His essay, ''Rusya Muslimanlarining ihtiyachlari ve anlar haqinda intiqad'', published in 1906, is a critique against the reform demands of the

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

against the Russian rulers, which Fakhreddin regarded as too vague. According to Azade-Ayşe Rorlich, the importance of education for the overcoming of poverty and the possibility of a reconciliation of Islam and science were central parts of Fakhreddin's world view. He saw the rise and fall of nations as directly connected to their belief systems and therefore believed that a renunciation of superstition and a return to the beginnings of Islam would be necessary for a Muslim renaissance. He also criticized the historical work of

ibn Khallikan Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān (; 22 September 1211 – 30 October 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a renowned Islamic historian of Kurdish origin who compiled the celebrated biographical encyclopedi ...

due to his concentration on the doings of rulers and tried to honor the deeds of "normal" Muslims in his books and writings.

Works (selection)

He has been described as a "prolific writer who published more than sixty books and left many unpublished manuscripts in a wide range of disciplines including history, politics, law, and education."John L. Esposito, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Islam'', The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2004), p. 79 *''Asar'' *''Meshhur Irler'' ("Famous People") *''Meshhur Khatunlar'' ("Famous women") *''Munasib Diniye'' ("On Religion") *''Islamlar haqinda kükümet tedbirleri'' ("The actions of the government concerning Muslims") *''Rusya Muslimanlarining ihtiyachlari ve anlar haqinda intiqad'' ("The needs of the Russian Muslims and a critique of them")

Literature

* Ahmet Kanlidere: ''Reform within Islam. The Tajdid and Jadid Movement among the Kazan Tatars (1809–1917)'', Istanbul 1997; p. 50-52. * Azade-Ayşe Rorlich: ''The Volga Tatars'', Stanford 1986; p. 53-58. *

Charles Kurzman Charles Kurzman (born 1963) 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 com ...

: ''Modernist Islam, 1840–1940. A Sourcebook'', New York 2002, p. 33. * Ismail Türkoğlu: ''Rusya Türkleri Arasindaki Yenileşme Hareketinin Öncülerinden Rizaeddin Fahreddin (1858–1936) (Rizaeddin Fahreddin, A Pioneer of the Renewal Movement of the Turks of Russia)'', Istanbul 2000. * Mahmud Tahir: ''Rizaeddin Fahreddin'', in: Central Asian Survey (1989, Volume 8), S. 111–115. * Ömer Hakan Özalp: ''Rizaeddin bin Fahreddin'', Istanbul 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fakhreddin, Rizaeddin bin Bashkir writers Jadids Tatar journalists Journalists from the Russian Empire Soviet journalists Publishers (people) from the Russian Empire Soviet publishers (people) Tatar writers Writers from the Russian Empire Soviet writers 1858 births 1936 deaths Soviet muftis