On the question of the role of sufism among tatars of the late XIX-early XX: Zainullah Rasulev’s “Fawaid Al-Muhimma”

Abstract

© BEIESP. The study of Tatar Muslim literature is an important part of studying the specifics of Islam in Russia. One of the books related to Islam and published in large numbers is “Fawaid al-muhimma” written by Zainullah Rasulev. This book, published in two editions, is a detailed description of the daily spiritual practices of the Sufi from Naqshbandiya-Khalidiya tariqah. The necessity of publishing a book twice in a large circulation allows us to assume certain features of the spread of Sufism in the Volga-Ural region in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Analysis of the contents of the book allows us to suggest the following: Sheikh Zainullah Rasulev’s work “Al-fawaid al-muhimma li-l-muridin al-nakshbandiya wa avrad al-lisaniya wa al-salawat al-ma’asura” is a kind of educational and methodical guide for Muslims who entered the path of tariqa. The book contains detailed information about the daily spiritual practices of Sufi, and, perhaps, could act as a “virtual” murshid, allowing the salik (Muslim who entered the sufi path) to be outside the community of their sheikh and perform all the necessary sufi practices after personal initiation. Perhaps because of the increased popularity of Zainullah ishan there was a great demand for this kind of book, and therefore “Al-fawaid al-muhimma” became the first book published by Rasulev in print and large circulation.