This article deals with Khusain Faizkhanov (1823–1866) as an Islamic theologian. This aspect of his thought was rarely studied in numerous publications about his work — his orientalist or pedagogical heritage invariably came to the fore, in isolation from its religious roots. This is not accidental, since the thinker did not leave behind explicit theological works. Nevertheless, the complexity of the problem does not relieve us of the need to solve it. As will be shown below, without understanding the theological dimension of Faizkhanov’s thought, essential aspects of his educational activities are also missed. The thinker proposed a kind of theological legitimation of secular knowledge, which was important for him both on a personal level and in the context of social pragmatics. The social consequence of this legitimization, refl ected primarily in the project of reform of religious education, was to be the formation of an educated Muslim elite of the modern type.