‘MA’IDA’: THE LITTLE-KNOWN THEOLOGICAL AND LEGAL TREATISE OF MUSA BIGEEV

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description and introduction of the translation into Russian of one of the little-known theological and juridical works ‘Ma’ida’ (‘The Meal’) which was written by the prominent Tatar religious thinker Musa Jarullah Bigeev. The book published in 1914 is devoted to the identifi cation, analysis and solution of the Shari‘a problems in determining, what is permitted and what is forbidden in the Muslim diet. The work of the Tatar theologian is a good example of evolution of the Islamic fi qh and the actualization of Shari‘a in the conditions of Russian society on the eve of the great upheavals. It was written as a review on a number of social processes that took place in 1913–1914. In particular, the work is a response of Islamic traditional scientist to the legislative initiative of right-wing parties regarding the ritual slaughtering, submitted to the Duma in November 1913, which indicated a strong activity of M. Bigeev in the integration of the mechanisms of Islamic law in state institutions of the Russian Empire.