Bigi as Marjani’s Follower

Abstract

The paper deals with two aspects of continuity of religious and philosophical views of the Tatar thinkers Sh. Marjani and M. Bigi. The fi rst is about the universality of divine grace. Marjani, in his “Book on Mature Wisdom that Helps to Explain the Hanafi Creed», gave arguments according to which the decision on this issue remains with the Almighty. Bigi in the “Proofs of Divine Mercy” asserted the inevitability of salvation for all the peoples of the world. The second aspect is about ‘aqida, kalam and ij - tihad. Despite the more than fi fty-year diff erence in the time of the publication of their views by two Tatar thinkers, they are basically identical: for the progress of the Tatar nation, Islam requires the “purifi cation” of ‘aqida from Kalam layers, in Muslim education — the replacement of Kalam with secular sciences and the adoption of ij tihad based on primary sources — the Qur’an, Sunnah and ij ma‘.