Abai Qunanbaiuly

Abai (Ibrahim) Qunanbaiuly (Kazakh: Абай Құнанбайұлы;  – ), was a Kazakh poet, educator, philosopher, musician, and political figure for the development of the Kazakh language as a recognized written language.

 Biography 

 Early life and education 
Abai was born on August 10, 1845, in Abay District, East Kazakhstan. He was named Ibrahim, but was soon given the nickname Abai (meaning "wise"), which he carried throughout his life for his cleverness.

After years of studying at a madrasah under the mullah Ahmed Riza, he attended a Russian school in his youth, partly because of his father's economic status. Abai encountered the works of Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin at the Semipalatinsk school.

References

Category:1845 births
Category:1904 deaths