This article summaries the results of research on the scientific activity of Husain Faizkhanov (1823–1866), especially taking into account the studies conducted during the passing year 2023. The expansion of the range of materials involved has led to the acquisition of new facts, as well as made it possible to revise some ideas about the general chronology of H. Faizkhanov’s life and rethink his direct contribution to various fields of oriental studies. The article shows that the arrival of H. Faizkhanov in Saint Petersburg, which took place at least in 1853, had already led him to close interaction with the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences and he was involved in the transcription of manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Turkic languages, consistently engaged in this work for many years. Faizkhanov was engaged by B. A. Dorn to compile the catalogue of Oriental manuscripts of the Imperial Public Library. Besides, it was with Faizkhanov that the first catalogue of Arabic manuscripts of the Asiatic Museum was started, which was only later completed by V. R. Rosen. The article also considers some circumstances of the initial period Faizkhanov’s life and, in this connection, the factors that influenced the formation of his personality.

This publication continues the critical study (started in the fourth issue of the journal for 2019) of the dominant thesis in traditional Islamic political and legal theology about Jizya as a tribute from Non-Muslims, allegedly established by the Prophet Muhammad. In the first part of the publication presented in this issue, the traditions about the descent of verses 9: 28–29 (especially 9: 29, later known as the “Jizya verse”) as the reason for the Prophet’s establishment of the Tabuk expedition are subjected to a formal (hadithological) and substantive analysis. The exploration is conducted in line with the Reformist Modernist discourse, focusing on the disclosure of the truly humanistic spirit of prophetic Islam and the pacifist pluralistic attitude of the Qur’anic message.

This article concludes a series of publications of the commented translation into Russian of the interpretation to the Surah “al-Fatiha” (No. 1) by the founder of classical Muslim exegesis Muḥammad ibn Jarīr aṭ-Ṭabari (839–923) from the book “Jāmi‘ al-bayān fī ta’wīl al-Qur’ān” (The Comprehensive Exposition of the interpretation of the Qur’ān). This part contains sections devoted to ayats 6–7 of this surah. Based on examples of pre- and early Islamic literature grammatical questions about the case of the word ghayr and the need for the use of the particle lā in these ayats are analyzed here in detail. The Tafsir to this verses also treats the theological problems related to the nature of God’s benefactions and His wrath, continues the controversy with the Qadarites regarding determinism and free will. There are also given here traditions ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad and the “ancient fathers of the Ummah” on the interpretation of these ayats. The conclusion speaks about the inimitability of the Qur’ān on the example of the surah “al-Fatiha”.

The article is devoted to the views of Husain Faizkhanov on the realities of Modern times, which were reflected primarily in his correspondence in 1855–1866. We investigate how Husain- Hazrat reflects the geopolitical situation, that is, the Crimean War (1853–1856) and the subsequent expansion of Russian borders in Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the 1850s and the half of the 1860s. In the conditions of competition between Russia and the West, H. Faizkhanov analyzes the system of organization of European science, its connection with reality. We examined his reflection of the Great Reforms of the 1860s and to the opportunities that opened up as it’s result for Muslim Tatars. At the same time, we considered his attitude to similar modernization reforms in the Muslim world, primarily in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt.

The article provides external and internal criticism of the documents of Mufti Rizaetdin bin Fakhretdin deposited in the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan about the WMC in Mecca in 1926, which introduce new understanding of the formation of the foreign policy of the young Soviet republic in the East, the reasons for the participation of the spiritual leaders of the Russian ummah, the conditions for the functioning of Islam and its institutions in the USSR. For the first time, the published report of the head of the Soviet delegation on a significant forum acquaints the reader with the background of its convocation, characterizes the decisions made at it, reveals the positions of the envoys of the USSR regarding the initiatives of the future founder of the state of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Sa‘ud, to strengthen the Muslim unity.

The article provides an overview of the history of the study of Muslim reformism, known in the scientific literature as Jadidism, in the works of Soviet and Russian researchers. At first, it included only the reform of Islamic education, and later it began to be understood as a broader movement of “Muslim enlightenment” aimed at reforming the entire Muslim society. The study of the history of Jadidism in Russia began in the 1920s. Soviet scientists through the prism of the Marxist theory of the development of socio- economic formations. In the post-war years, Soviet historians and social scientists wrote critically about Jadidism. During the years of Khrushchev’s “thaw”, scholars tried to reconsider the essence of Jadidism in the socialist context of historical research through the reinterpretation of Islam as a specific Tatar national cultural heritage, called “mirasism”. A new stage of Russian historiography in matters of Jadidism began in the post- Soviet period, when Jadidism began to be seen as a social movement of Russian Muslims aimed at forming a nation of the European type. In general, it can be said that studies in Russian and Soviet historiography on the history of Jadidism in the Crimea, the Volga-Ural region, Central Asia and the Caucasus are distinguished by different methodologies and conceptual approaches, while works on the history of the Jadid movement in the Volga-Ural region are more complete. Despite the fact that there is no common understanding of the phenomenon of Jadidism in the Volga-Ural region, nevertheless, scientists of different directions (historians, philologists, Islamic scholars) have done a lot of work in studying this issue. In this regard, the history of Muslim reformism in the North Caucasus, in particular in Dagestan, is practically not studied. As well as there is no special work on this region.

Nowadays, the culture and cultural identity of the Pamir peoples are largely determined by the widespread and predominance of Ismailism, the largest movement within Shiite Islam, in this region. Local folklore narratives associate the key role in the spread of the Ismaili madhhab with the name of the poet, philosopher and preacher (da‘i) Nasir-i Khusraw (11th century). Yet the available now written sources do not provide sufficient grounds to ascertain definitely the real character of Nasir-i Khusraw activities in Badakhshan and the subsequent history of the Ismaili da‘wa in the Pamirs. This article examines a range of issues and problems dealing with the morphology of the religious space of Badakhshan, forms, ways and methods of interaction between Ismailis and Sufi tariqas, the influence of Sufi doctrines on intellectual history and local Ismaili religious practices.