Akmulla Miftakhetdin shigyrzary is a famous poet enlightener, thinker and philosopher of the Bashkir people, who left a deep mark not only in national literature, but also in the educational and cultural life of neighboring peoples - Kazakhs and Tatars. In addition, his work is respected and popular among other representatives of Turkic nationality, for example, Turkmen.
What is the biography of this outstanding, talented person? What is remarkable for his life and literary work? Let's find out.
Little-known childhood
The biography of Miftakhetdin Akmulla originates in the small village of Tuxanbaevo, located on the banks of the Dema River in the Republic of Bashkortostan (formerly the Orenburg province). The birth of the poet happened back in 1831, in the month of December.
The origin of Akmullah's parents is still unknown. There are several versions of his family tree. According to one, the poet's parents were Bashkirs, patrimonies, his father even served as an imam. From other sources, it follows that Miftakhetdin's parent was Kazakh. There is another version of the writer's birth, according to which his mother was from Kazan.
Many sources of information say that the poet lived with his parents for a long time. By the way, Akmullah’s father had two wives, and the family did not live in a separate house, but together with other brothers and their families. They lived in heaps, poorly, poorly.
You can learn more about this and other unknown facts from the biography of Miftakhetdin Akmulla (in the Bashkir language) by visiting the museum, opened in honor of the poet in his small homeland.
Youth and youth
Akmullah Miftakhetdin studied (in Bashkir, his real name sounds like Kamaletdinov Miftakhetdin Kamaletdin ula) well, from an early age he felt a craving for science and knowledge, especially literature, writing and history. He received his primary education in his native village, then he studied at a madrasah - a generally accepted educational institution for Muslims, which serves as a secondary school and theological seminary.
In the village of Sterlibashevo, Akmulla Miftakhetdin was lucky enough to learn from Shamsetdin Yarmukhametovich Zaki himself, the famous Bashkir poet who adheres to Sufism (a type of esoteric movement in Islam) and preaches asceticism and increased spirituality.
Perhaps it was then that, having come in so close contact with other people's poetic creativity, Akmullah wanted to write poems on his own, in order to convey his emotions with them and share his conclusions and opinions with others.
In search of truth
The further fate of the poet Akmullah Miftakhetdin also looks arrogant and little known. It is known for certain that the man traveled a lot around southern Bashkortostan, then he visited the Trans-Urals - the western part of Eastern Siberia. He visited local villages and auls of Kazakhstan, led a nomadic life, engaged in educational activities and promoting humanistic ideas. This will be discussed below.
How did Akmullah Miftakhetdin earn his living? Poems of the poet did not bring him enough income. Traveling from village to village, he was engaged in crafts, for example, worked in the carpentry, or taught children reading, writing and simple sciences. The man always carried work tools, as well as books and some of his manuscripts, with him in special sections of his cart.
Literary wanderer
However, the main occupation of Akmullah Miftakhetdin was poetry. He loved the people, the poor and destitute people, and tried to make life easier for them with the help of his bright, original creativity. The main theme of the poet's poetry was the life of these unfortunate creatures. He urged them to fight social prejudices, with the barges and landowners, who were rich in the needs and misfortunes of the common people.
Akmulla Miftakhetdin rarely wrote down his compositions on sheets of paper. He considered his works to be the property of the people, so he kept them deep in his memory. The writer went down in history as a talented improviser poet. He could compose deep, moving poems on the go, beautifully reciting them to the assembled people.
Passing by various villages and auls, Akmulla not only recited his lyrical creations, but also competed in wisdom and eloquence with famous folk storytellers (sesens) who performed Bashkir songs, takmaks, bait, kubars with recitative.
Detractors
The more the popularity of young Miftakhetdin grew and the army of admirers and followers increased, the more significant and nobler became his enemies and opponents.
Among the most basic, Kazakh Bai Batuch Isyangildin was especially distinguished, who wrote a denunciation on the famous poet-wanderer, who allegedly avoids the tsarist military service, posing as a Kazakh son. In fact, it was. Akmullah could not imagine himself in the ranks or leading a sedentary, subordinate lifestyle. A rebel by nature, he was a rebel in spirit, who wanted to change people's lives for the better, to achieve any reforms and corrections.
Influential officials, fearing the influence of the poet and his work on ordinary people, took advantage of the hypocritical denunciation and imprisoned the poet in prison, where he spent four long years.
Life in custody was hard and unbearable. The oppressive for Miftakhetdin was not only prison humiliation and deprivation, but also loneliness, isolation, forced retreat. As an active and purposeful person, creative and emotional, Akmullah could not put up with inaction and isolation, he found an outlet in creativity.
It was in prison that a man composed a lot. He wrote about freedom and happiness, about the struggle against the oppressors and about a happy future. He described the jokes and bullying of the jailers, difficult unbearable conditions and his love for independence and for his native land.
The faithful admirer Gabibul Zigangirov, who appealed to Alexander II with a written petition for the poet and paid a bail equal to two thousand rubles, saved him from a prolonged imprisonment of the poet.
After release
Having gained the long-awaited freedom, Akmullah Miftakhetdin went to his native village. He was forty years old, he had already been married twice and wanted to find rest in his own country. However, the father, this backward and canned man, could not understand the freedom-loving progressive son. After frequent quarrels and misunderstandings, father and son were forced to leave.
Akmullah went to travel and educate people.
Again and again, he instilled in his compatriots a sense of dignity, an awareness of personal independence and the ability to stand up for himself. He instilled in the minds of ordinary and clogged people a desire for enlightenment, a desire for knowledge and broadening his horizons.
How was this reflected in the work of the poet?
"Bashkirs, we all need enlightenment!"
This poem is also called "My Bashkirs!" Despite the fact that the work is written in Tatar, each line breathes with love and tenderness not only to the native people, but also to the native language, to the native land.
The main idea of the poem is a call to enlightenment and to knowledge that will be useful in the life and work of ordinary people. The poem is rich in comparisons and hyperbolas, it breathes passion, confidence and kindness.
"My place is in zindan"
This work is filled with the oppressive longing that the poet experienced while being imprisoned for four years. But, despite the fact that he turned yellow and lost weight (according to the author), nevertheless he directs all thoughts to his oppressed compatriots, whom he worries about and cares about in his forced imprisonment.
Works about the world
These poems (for example, “Fire” and “Water”), which vividly describe natural elements, truthfully and philosophically honestly show the transience of being, the shortness of human life and human dreams. No matter how rich and noble a person may be, "everything in the world is subject to fire." Only knowledge and wisdom are eternal.
The work of Akmulla Miftakhetdin “Autumn” sounds sensually gentle and psychologically complex (the translation of the poem into Russian is quite common, but does not convey the proportion of those rushing feelings and unsaid emotions).
Describing the natural world, the poet does not paint a picture of peace and tranquility, but a storm of sensations and changes, active movement, a variety of colors, sounds, impressions.
Fighting class inequality
This has become one of the main goals of Akmullah's work. In the poems “Our World” and “Curse and Supplication”, the poet exposes rich cruel people whose desires and feelings are concentrated only on gain and enslavement of their kind.
Miftakhetdin believed that as long as class inequality flourishes, life in his native Bashkiria will not work out, and poor people will remain persecuted and unhappy.
Death of poet
Naturally, such bold and progressive views could not go unnoticed by rich people. Many Bai and cult leaders secretly hated Akmullah Miftakhetdin, as he called on the people not only to rise against the obese rich, but also to get rid of religious backwardness, fanaticism and superstition.
According to some sources, the death of the poet was custom-made - he was killed on the night of the twenty-sixth to the twenty-seventh of October 1895 (according to the new style) by order of Bai Isyangildin. The body was found in a river near a railway station in the southern Urals.
The memory of the poet-thinker
In honor of the great Bashkir writer was named a street in the city of Almetyevsk, as well as Bashkir Pedagogical University.
The monument to Miftakhetdin Akmulla was unveiled on October 8, 2008, on the anniversary of the death of the great Bashkir poet, in the city of Ufa, opposite the square, also named after the freedom-loving philosopher.
The statue depicts a tired traveler-enlightener surrounded by two children who are listening carefully to his instructions.
This composition vividly and accurately describes the creative activity of the Bashkir thinker.