Authors

Discussion

The article tells about the heads and activities of Turk-Tatar Muslim emigrant communities in Manchuria and on the Far East in 1930-40s.  There were two political trends in immigrant movement: national-religious (based on idea of sovereignty of the Volga-Ural region proposed by Gayaz Iskhaki)  and pan-islamic (proposed by Abdurashid Ibragim and G.Kurbangali). Turk-Tatar emigrant communities were able to build own Mosques in Japan (Kobe, Nagoya and Tokyo), in Korea (Seoul), in Manchuria (Harbin, Hailar, Hunhuldi, Mukden) and supported them by religious publications. Despite their involvement in the Japanese State Muslim policy, the emigrants were able to preserve their religious and national identity thanks to the creation of the governing body for the religious life of the Volga-Ural Turkic Tatars in the Far East - the Religious Commission, which performs the functions of the Muftiate. It was the Commission that registrated all the community members, unified school national and religious education, and engaged in missionary activities in a foreign cultural environment. A great role in this was played by the spiritual leaders who headed this commission in different years, whose names must be preserved in national history. Author pays attention to the leaders of the Commission :  Modiyar Shamguni (headed until 1939), Gabdurakhman Karim (until 1941), Munir Hasbiullah (1941), Gabdelkarim Rahim (1941-1945), who proposed the national position in the religious life of Muslim Turk-Tatar emigrants. Their articles were published in the newspaper Milli Bayrak, which is the main source of information about the activities of the commission.