Back to the future? The place of the religious ‘other’ in Ismail Gasprinsky’s Islamic utopia

ABSTRACT

In 1906, Ismail Gasprinsky (1851–1914), a Crimean Tatar intellectual with ties to the Russian and the Ottoman intelligentsia published his novel The Muslims of the Land of Serenity [Darürrahat Müslümanları], one of the earliest utopian texts in a Turkic language. The narrative uncovers a secret land beyond the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia where some Muslims, having fled after the fall of Grenada in 1492, set up the ideal Muslim state preserving the memory of Islamic Spain over the centuries. This paper discusses factors in the Ottoman literary context that influenced the broad reception of the novel beyond Muslim communities and highlights influences on Gasprinsky from the Ukraine and Russia. After examining the complexities surrounding the religious ‘other’ and its relationship with the external world in Gasprinsky’s utopia, the paper concludes with reflections on the religious ‘other’ contributing to discussions on religious pluralism and freedom within utopian societies.

KEYWORDS:

• Ismail Gasprinsky (1851–1914)
• Islamic Spain in literature
• Crimean Tatar literature
• religious alterity
• Islamic utopianism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and the editors of the special issue for their initiative.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 As Gasprinsky strove to use a language that bridged the differences between Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and Azerbaijani, I have transcribed, for matters of convenience, the titles of his books and articles as well as some terms he uses according to the orthography of Modern Standard Turkish as defined by the Türk Dil Kurumu (Turkish Language Institute).

2 There is extensive literature on Gasprinsky and his political views. Much of the biographical information is heavily indebted to Kırımer (1996 [1934]) and Lazzerini (1973). Works such as Kırımlı (1996) and Meyer (2014) look at the place of Gasprinsky within Islamic and Turkic activism in the Russian empire and beyond. Newer scholarship, however, brings to the fore the need to look more at Gasprinsky’s Russian-language works and to situate him also within Russian thought (Tikhonova and Ryzhenkov 2022; Sibgatullina 2022).

3 On the complex publication history of Darürrahat Müslümanları, see Akpınar (2003, 64–67).

4 In this article I have made use of Yavuz Akpınar’s critical edition of the 1906 edition of the novel (Gaspıralı 2003). An extensive English-language summary of the novel can be found in Alexeev, Ksenia, and Lahuti (2021).

5 The publishing dates for the articles are indicated in the Julian calendar which was used by the newspaper beside the Islamic hijri calendar. At the time, as it is today, the Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.

6 Significant is the fact that the novel was also published in Russian translation with the title Tainstvennaya Strana (The Mysterious Land). Hence it represents an important addition to the Russian-language utopian literary tradition. That Gasprinsky gave importance to this narrative is shown by his intended serialization of an Arabic translation of the novel in the short-lived newspaper titled al-Nahdah (The Renaissance) that he published in Cairo in 1908. See Kuttner (1975).

7 Yavuz Akpınar notes that the linguistic differences between the various versions of the novels are significantly different and would require a detailed study (Akpınar 2003, 67).

8 In a piece he published on 20 November 1884 on the state of Ottoman Turkish literature, he noted that the aim of the literary critic was not to write praises, but to write critical appraisals. He was conscious that he was a pioneer: ‘Yes, in Istanbul criticism [kritika] has not been born yet and while literature is still in the age of eulogy, how can a son of the Crimea start to criticise. It has never been easy to start something new’ (Gaspıralı 2008, 203).

9 Surnames taken by authors after the adoption of the Surname Law in Turkey in 1934 are given in square brackets.

10 The Andalusian motive in nineteenth century Ottoman Turkish literature has attracted much scholarly attention, see inter alia, Ayvazoğlu (1996), Enginün (2000, 32–41) and Uğurcan (2004).

11 On the topic, see, inter alia, Cohen (2014) and Díaz-Mas (2000).

12 There is extensive literature available on this famous episode of late nineteenth century Ottoman Turkish literature. Beside the memoirs of several of the protagonists, Beşir Ayvazoğlu’s biography of Tevfik Fikret (2019, 222–229) provides a good overview. See also Öztürk (2010).

13 As shown by Tikhonova and Ryzhenkov, Akçura’s views, later republished in book form, and Cafer Seydahmet Kırımer’s biography of Gasprinsky were to deeply influence the reception of the latter’s life and work in Turkey and beyond (Tikhonova and Ryzhenkov, 230–242).

14 Alexeev, Kulikova and Lahuti also point to the existence of ‘cross-cultural traditions of utopian writing’ and the existence of early Russia utopias (2021, 185).

15 On the representation of women in Chto Delat, see Andrew (1988, 155–180).

16 This very much surprises Molla Abbas: ‘What a strange situation! No one knows about you and yet you are knowledgeable about our world’ (Gaspıralı 2003, 205). The reason for this is that wise men are regularly sent out to the outside world in order to report about the state of the world. One of them was actually asked to report on the reliability and the reputation of the traveller. There is a newspaper with the name İstikbal (The Future) that reports about the outside world. Here too the narrator can only express his awe: ‘There is nothing that these strange Muslims I have fallen among do not know, but nobody has heard of them’ (Gaspıralı 2003, 230).

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Laurent Mignon

Laurent Mignon is Professor of Turkish literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Antony’s College. His research focuses on the minor literatures of Ottoman and republican Turkey, in particular Jewish literatures, as well as on the literary engagement with non-Abrahamic religions, alternative spiritualities and esotericism in Turkey. He is the author of, among others, Hüzünlü Özgürlük: Yahudi Edebiyatı ve Düşüncesi Üzerine Yazılar [A Sad State of Freedom: Writings on Jewish Literature and Thought] (Istanbul, 2014), Uncoupling Language and Religion: An Exploration into the Margins of Turkish Literature (Boston, 2021). With Alberto Ambrosio, he co-edited the volume Penser l’islam en Europe: Perspectives du Luxembourg et d’ailleurs (Paris, 2021).