Ahmethadi Maksudi

Ahmethadi Nizamutdinovich Maksudi (1868-1941), the politician, journalist, publisher, teacher, and linguist, was born in the village of Tashsu, in the Kazan district (the present area of Vysokogorsky in the RT).

Initially he received his education from his father. In 1881, his father sent him to continue his studies at Apanaev Madressa in Kazan, the best and most prestigious Muslim school of the provincial center. Here, as a young student for ten years, he mastered the religious sciences, and then started to teach pupils of elementary grades himself. As a teacher, Maksudi decided to develop effective training techniques and to write a number of textbooks which would allow pupils to receive a maximum volume of knowledge in a short time. He also aimed to get rid of any useless out-of-date medieval treatises. He made a fact-finding trip to Turkey where he studied at advanced educational institutions, met prominent representatives of Turkish intelligency, and discussed with them the prospect of cultural progress for the Muslim people. However, having returned in 1896 to Kazan, he was not met with an especially hearty welcome. Many years of wandering amongst various educational institutions in Kazan began for him. In spite of all the difficulties and public misunderstanding, Maksudi continued to be engaged in self-education and to create new textbooks concerning various branches of knowledge. From 1896 to 1899, he passed examinations at the Tatar Teacher's School, and from 1903 to 1905, he was a student at Kazan University. A very important event took place in his life in 1899, when he married Zainabbanu Suleimanovna Mishkina. The successful marriage brought Maksudi into the circle of the top representatives of the commercial and industrial elite in Muslim Kazan. In 1906, while taking a temporary break from teaching activity, Maksudi released a weekly in Kazan, and then the daily Newspaper, “Yoldyz,” (Star), which became the most popular Tatar periodical press of the pre-revolutionary period. In the same year, Ahmethadi Maksudi, for the first time in history, opened the public Tatar Library (Islamic Library). After the October Revolution, he taught the Arabian language at the Kazan Pedagogical Institute, communicated with students, and was engaged in scientific activity. In 1933, he was arrested on the charge that he had organized the All-Union Social Fascist Party and he was sent to Vyatka. In 1937, he came back to Kazan, but was almost at once again arrested. Only a fatal illness allowed him to escape prison. Maksudi died on June 28, 1941, and was buried at the Tatar Cemetery of Kazan. He was pardoned posthumously.

Last updated: 9 February 2021, 20:16