Zinnetullah Ahsen Böre

Zinnetullah Ahsen Böre (Tatar: Зиннәтулла Әхсән Бүре - né Imadutdinoff, Имадутдинов; March 20, 1886 - November 9, 1945) was a publisher, businessman, and imam among the Tatar community in Finland. Ahsen Böre is known as the publisher of the first Finnish translation of the Quran. He had his own successful shop in Tampere, which sold fabrics and furs. Ahsen Böre was a tenacious spokesperson of a "Turkish identity" for the Tatars. He eventually acquired Turkish citizenship. His four sons were all hockey players, most notably Feyzi Ahsen-Böre.

Biography Zinnätulla Imadutdinoff (later Ahsen Böre) was born on March 20, 1886, in a Mishar Tatar village called Aktuk, which was located in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, Russian Empire. His parents were father Imadütdin (İmadetdin; 1849-1906) and mother Merhaba (Märxabä; 1855-1941). The father of Ahsen Böre was, according to him, a peasant who was illiterate, but a faithful man who never missed his daily duty of Salah. Ahsen Böre learned trading from him and in 1903, went to Saint Petersburg the first time as a merchant himself. While his father did always remind him of the importance of righteousness, Ahsen Böre credits the local imam of his village, a man named Abdulvahap for his religious upbringing. In his memoirs, he remembers the imam as someone who could bring great clarity into difficult questions he might have had regarding the subject.

In 1906, Ahsen Böre moved to Viipuri (Vyborg). In there, he continued his profession as a merchant and also operated as an imam to a small local Muslim community. In 1910 he moved to Terijoki (Zelenogorsk), where he and his younger brothers set up a shop that sold fabrics and furs. In 1916, Ahsen Böre graduated as an imam from Ufa.

Ahsen Böre is known to have used the following versions of his name:

Zinnätulla, Zinetullah, Zinnetullah Ahsän Böre, Ahsen Böre Imadütdin, Imadutdinoff, Aimadetdinoff, Imadütdinoglu Original surname of Ahsen Böre (Imadutdinoff) was his patronym. Ahsen was the name of his grandfather. Böre (Büre: wolf ) on the other hand a nickname that over the years solidified as a family name.