2025. no 4. Gulnara Seitvanieva
About I. Gasprinsky’s work “Faith and Reason” / ”Din ve Dünya, Aqıl ve Nâqil”
Gulnara Seitvanieva
Istanbul University;
Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences
Abstract. This article presents the results of textual analysis and literary criticism of I. Gasprinsky’s little-known work “Faith and Reason”. “This is apparently good, but what does our Sharia say?” / “Din ve Dünya, Aqıl ve Nâqil. Bu iş pek güzel, ama şer’i şerif ne diyor,” published in 1905 in issues 45 and 48 of the Terciman newspaper under the pseudonym Molla Abbas Francovi. The texts were published in Russian and Turkic versions simultaneously, with some minor differences. “Faith and Reason” / “Din ve Dünya, Aqıl ve Nâqil” is a philosophical work that addresses the theological problem of the relationship between faith and reason, which troubled Turkic-Muslim society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author defines the work’s genre as “conversation,” while the narrative is structured as a “monologue.” The subtitle of the text, “This is apparently good, but what does our Sharia say?”/“Bu iş pek güzel, ama şer’i şerif ne diyor?”, expresses the author’s evaluative judgment, the interrogative part of which contains an answer about the factor holding back societal development. The answers to this question are form the main idea of the work. The text consists of an introduction and two parts. The theme of the education of the Turkic-Muslim peoples lies at the core of this work. I. Gasprinsky converses with his reader about morality, ethics, and the human mind. The monologue concentrates the author’s thoughts, feelings, and will. These, in turn, are based on the importance of the development, civilization, and education of the Turkic-Muslim peoples, their evolution.
Keywords: I. Gasprinsky, faith and reason, aqıl ve naqil, conversation, Turkic-Muslim peoples, theological problem, education
For citation: Seitvanieva G.Yu. About I. Gasprinsky’s work “Faith and Reason” / ”Din ve Dünya, Aqıl ve Nâqil”. Krymskoe istoricheskoe obozrenie=Crimean Historical Review. 2025, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 150–168. DOI: 10.22378/kio.2025.4.150-168 (In Russian / In Turkic)
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About the author: Gulnara Yu. Seitvanieva – Postgraduate student of the doctoral program, Faculty of Literature, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Istanbul University (Balabanağa Neighborhood, Ordu Street, no:6, Laleli – Fatih, Istanbul 34134, Turkey); Freelance employee of the Crimean Scientific Center, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (7, Baturin Str., Kazan 420111, Russian Federation); seitnargul@gmail.com
Received 08.09.2025
Accepted 30.09.2025
