Habiburrahman Shakir

Habiburrahman Shakir al-Bulgari (10 December 1903 – 18 April 1975) was a Tatar imam, theologian and publisher.

Shakir was born in current day Tatarstan and became a part of the Finnish Tatar community when he arrived in Tampere during late 1940s. Shakir was known as a respected theologian in the Islamic world. Invited by the king of Saudi Arabia, Shakir made a pilgrimage to Mecca with his wife in 1972. Before his time in Finland, Shakir worked as a teacher in India, where one of his students was the later-president of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Shakir was in correspondence with Kurdish theologian Said Nursi. He has been described as being among the "first European Nur students". Shakir was also in contact with Algerian nationalist Ahmed Tewfik El Madani.

Biography Habiburrahman Shakir (al-Bulgari) was born in village Danış awılı, now located in modern Tatarstan, Kamsko-Ustyinsky District. During his younger years, Shakir studied theology for ten years at Bukhara, among other places. During the Russian Revolution, Shakir escaped to Kabul, where he met his future wife, Bibireyhana Veliulla.

In 1947, as recommended by Musa Bigiev, Shakir moved to Tampere, Finland, where he became the local Tatar community's imam. Before this, he operated as imam in Peshawar and in 1942, Shakir moved to work in Bombay, where one of his students was the future president of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. From there, he arrived to Finland.

Bibireyhana Shakir was also a devoted Muslim. She helped especially the women of the Tatar community with religious matters. Bibireyhana was the daughter of a known imam, Shamsulla Veliulla, who during his life published 30 or so religious works in Kazan. Daughter Hamide (Çaydam) is a Tatar language teacher.

Some publications Spelling varies greatly. (Originally in Arabic script). Finlandiyä İslām Mäğälläse (1949-; Shakir / Fatih Arat) Törek ïruģlarï (1950; Shakir / Zuhur Tahir) Din derésleré ve Islam tarihçesé (1962; Shakir / Semiulla Wafin) Šarä'it al-īmān (1966; Shakir / Hadice Arifulla)