The Views and Thoughts of Islamist Intellectuals on the Education of Russian Muslims during the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918)
Authors: AKTARAN Nesrin 
Published: November 2022

The Islamism movement, which became prominent as a political ideology during the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1918), was free from the thought of Muslims as separate nations and emphasized they should be in unity based on religion. The Islamist intellectuals as the representatives of this movement, prioritized the idea of the Islamic Union; they deliberated on Muslim Turks living in various parts of the world through the Sırat-ı Müstakim and Sebilü’r-Reşad magazines they published. Among the subjects in question were Russian Muslims, who were assimilated by the Russian regime and its rulers, and who struggled to survive in religious, political and cultural terms with the repression policies. Islamist intellectuals gave various information on Muslims living in Russia through the press; they shared articles and news articles about their origin, language, population and socio-political situations. In the most general sense, they are Turks who belong to the Turkish race, and their language is composed of different dialects of Turkish. Regarding the population, the intellectuals stated that the statistics the Russian State gave were biased; they mentioned the existence of an Islamic nation with a population of twenty-five to thirty million under Russian rule. In addition, Islamist intellectuals emphasized the importance that Russian Muslims attached to education; in their writings, they expressed their belief that the old educational methods should be abandoned and new educational methods should be adopted. In this sense, they supported the Russian Muslims who wanted to reform all educational institutions by transforming them into a new style of education; they made explanations about the number of educational institutions in the country, their economic situation, whether there was state support or not, textbooks differing according to regions etc. The Islamist intellectuals also noted that Russian Muslims worked hard on the new method of education and made efforts, but they were opposed by the supporters of usul-i kadim (traditional education method), who defended traditionalism. They stated that these people did not care about the welfare and well-being of the Muslim population and aimed to continue education in the old way. After clarifying all these, the Islamist intellectuals reiterated in their writings that the distinction between Jadid and kadim should end as soon as possible and that schools and madrasas shoul be the hearts of civilization; they had no other purpose than this. The issue also received support from Muslim students studying in Russia, who expressed the need to dispel the negative atmosphere in educational institutions as soon as possible. They also stated that madrasas should be reformed, and that the sects such as Kadimist, Jadidists etc. should be put an end to. Because the Russian State pursued a policy of Russification of Muslims through education. In addition, the Russian state did not allow them to open schools or madrasas, and did not allow madrasas to be turned into schools; it tried to destroy these intitutians bye inflicting pressure. Furthermore, in addition in order to ensure that Muslim children were educated Russian schools, Christian religious education was paid for bye the state, while Muslims were required to pay for Islamic religious education. In short, Islamist intellectuals followed the Muslim people in Russia through Sırat-ı Müstakim and Sebilü’r-Reşad magazines during the Second Constitutional Monarchy Period and were closely interested in issues related to education and training. In this sense, they endeavored to reconcile the Jadidists and Kadimists who adopted new and old educational methods, on a common ground. They also discussed the assimilation they faced by the Russian regime and its rulers in their journals, as well as the oppressive policies regarding education and the struggle of Muslims against them.