Interdisciplinary research on the concept of “Yajuj-Majuj” by Musa Bigiev

The article introduces the content of one of the little-known lifetime published works of an outstanding Tatar religious thinker Musa Jarullah Bigiev (1875-1949), which is devoted, in particular, to the study and disclosure of the meaning of the Quranic concept of Yajuj-Majuj. The facts from the biography of the scientist introduced into the scientific circulation provide a full disclosure of particular reasons for the appearance of the work under consideration. The research by M. Bigiev is based on a deep source study, on the results of comparative linguistics and cultural-historical analysis including religious books of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The author considers the inadmissibility of introducing the pre-Islamic ideas about the concept of Yajuj-Majuj into Islamic exegetics, and a number of other concepts that are accepted to be among the common heritage of Abrahamic religions; the paper emphasizes extreme importance of free thought; it draws attention to the role of Turks in the world history in its past, present and future; it makes a number of interesting inferences into the hidden meaning of a Quranic story about Yajuj-Majuj.

Musa Bigiev, Yajuj-Majuj, Gog-Magog, Torah, The Old Testament, The New Testament, Islam, Quran, Tafsir, exegetics, taklid, Turks

1. Carullah M. Şiğiliğin Hakiki Çehresi [The true face of Shiism]. Selâmet [The Welfare]. 1948; 65:14-16. (In Turkish)

2. Khəiretdinov A.G. Musa Bigiev tormyshynyn songy ellary. IaponiiaҺindystan-Torkiia-Misyr [The Last Years of Musa Bigiev: Japan, India, Turkey, Egypt]. В: Nauchnoe nasledie i obshchestvennaia deiatel’nost’ brat’ev Maksudi. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, priurochennoi k 150-letiiu A. Maksudi i 140-letiiu S.Maksudi, 7 dekabria 2018 g. [Scientific heritage and social activities of Maksudi brothers. Materials of an International scientific conference dedicated to the 150th anniversary of A. Maksudi and the 140th anniversary of

3. Maksudi, December 7, 2018]. Kazan: Institut istorii im. Sh. Mardzhani AN RT publ.; 2019. P. 376-403. (In Tatar)

4. Uralgiray Y. Musa Carullah Bigi. Önsöz [Musa Carullah Bigi. Preface]. In: Carullah M.B. Uzun Günlerde Oruç. [Fasting on long days]. Hazırlayan Y. Uralgiray. Ankara, 1975. P. XI-XXVI. (In Turkish)

5. Jarullakh M. Al-Vashi’a fi nakd ‘aka’id ash-shi’a [Shuttle for spinning the yarn of Shiite beliefs]. Lakhor: Manba‘a al-Kilany publ.; 1983. 316 p. (In Arabic)

6. Jarullakһ M. Kor’әn kәrim aiәt kәrimәlәre nurlary khozurynda khatyn [A woman in the light of the Holy Verses of the Precious Quran]. Berlin, 1933. 122 p. (In Tatar-Osmanic)

7. Baibulat M. Tampereen Islamilainen Seurakunta: juuret ja historia / Tampere İslam Mahallesı: Nıgızı ve Tarıhı / The Tampere Islamic Congregation: the Roots and History. Tampere, 2004. 283 p. (In Finnish/Tatar/English)

8. Tarikhnyң onytylmysh sәkhifәlәre [Forgotten pages of history]. Basmaga әzerlәүche: Musa Jarullaһ [Under the editorship of Musa Carullah]. Berlin, 1933. 18 p. (In Tatar-Osmanic)

9. Khairutdinov A.G. Pis’mennoe nasledie Musy Dzharullakha Bigieva [Musa Carullah Bigiev’s written legacy]. Kazan: Institut istorii im. Sh. Mardzhani AN RT publ.; 2019. 188 p. (In Russian)

10. Jarullakһ M. Korәn kәrim aiәt kәrimәlәreneң mogjiz ifadәlәrenә kurә yajuj [Yajuj according To the wonderful expressions of the precious Quran]. Berlin, 1933. 38 p. (In Tatar-Osmanıc)

11. Tatar telenen anlatmaly suzlege [Explanatory Dictionary of the Tatar Language]. In 3 volumes. Vol. III. Kazan: Tatarstan Kitap Nәshriiaty press; 1981. 832 p. (In Tatar)