Musa Bigiev

Musa Jarullah Bigiev (; 25 December 1873 – 28 October 1949) was a Tatar Muslim scholar, theologian, philosopher, and publicist. He was one of the leaders of the Jadid movement, an Islamic modernist movement in the Russian Empire. As a controversial reformist thinker, Bigi received the nickname "Luther of Islam" from the scholar, Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam Mustafa Sabri.

After receiving his education in Kazan, Bukhara, Istanbul, and Cairo, he became a political activist for the Ittifaq, the political organisation of the Muslims of Russia. He also taught in Orenburg, wrote journalistic texts and translated classic works into Tatar. After emigrating from the Soviet Union, he travelled Europe and the Near and Far East while writing and publishing.

Naming variations In modern Tatar, Bigiev's name is written as Бигиев Муса Җарулла, Bigiev Musa Carulla, or Муса Ярулла улы Бигиев, Musa Jarulla ulı Bigiev. 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 Bigiev's 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 The place is either the village of Mishar or the city of Novocherkassk.

Bigiev spent most of his youth studying at madrasas in Kazan, Bukhara, Samarkand, Mecca, Medina, Cairo (where he attended the Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah and was educated by Shayk Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i), Damascus, Istanbul and Uttar Pradesh in India, where he studied Sanskrit and the Mahabharata. While he attended many famous universities, he preferred studying on his own while benefitting from the mentorship of different scholars. his work and even his name are largely forgotten today. 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 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 at Leningrad State University,

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. Sabri coined the epithet "Luther of Islam" for Bigiev .

Bigiev has also been described as one of "the most notorious Sunnite polemicists against Shiism in the 20th century", along with such figures as Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib and Ihsan Ilahi Zahir. This is the result of him penning several well-known anti-Shia books, including Al-Washi'ah fi Naqd 'Aqa'id al-Shi'ah. In these works, Bigiev claims that during his travels in Iraq and Iran he had not met even one Shia individual who knew the Quran 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 and Hafez' Diwan into Tatar 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 Büyük mevzularda ufak fikirler ("Small thoughts on big issues") – Critique of the work of the Ulama Ziyauddin Kamali, shows Bigievs high opinion of mysticism and Sufism 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: 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.