Abai Ibrahim Qunanbaiuly (Kazakh: Абай (Ибраһим) Құнанбайұлы, Abai Qunanbaiuly; Russian: Абай Ибрагим Кунанбаев) (10 August 1845 – 6 July 1904) was a Kazakh Turkic poet, composer, and philosopher.
He was a reformer who, taking liberal Islam as a basis, aimed to bring Kazakh–Turkic civilization closer to European and Russian civilizations. In his poems he generally addressed the social and moral problems of the Kazakh people.
Life
Abai was born on 10 August 1845 as a son of the couple Kunanbay and Uljan, in the Argın clan on Mount Şıngıs (Chingiz) in the East Kazakhstan Province. His birth name was Ibrahim, but he was later given the nickname Abai, which means "careful" in Kazakh. He began his education at a Russian school, then attended a madrasa. While studying in the city of Semey he read the works of Mikhail Lermontov and Alexander Pushkin. He began writing his poems by imitating the works of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish literature.
He abandoned his studies because he had to take over the administration of the tribe in place of his father, who was going on the hajj. He dealt with administrative affairs and politics and wrote poems under a pen name. When he reached the age of forty he devoted himself to literature. He used his own name for the first time in the poem titled "Summer," which he wrote in 1886. He produced works out of a desire to change his society, which had fallen behind the age. By the 1890s he had already become an admired poet whose ideas the people trusted. He educated those who came to him to benefit from him. He died on 6 July 1904 in Semey.
Contributions
Abai's main contributions to Kazakh Turkic culture and folklore were made through his poems, which nurtured a great sense of nationalism and enabled the development of Kazakh folk culture. Before him, most Kazakh poets had produced oral works reflecting the nomadic habits of the people living on the Kazakh steppes. During Abai's lifetime a series of important socio-political and socio-economic changes took place. As developing Kazakhstan was exposed to the influence of the life philosophies of several cultures such as the Russian, Western, and Asian, educational opportunities were directly affected by this. Abai Kunanbay himself gained knowledge about the philosophical history and culture of this newly opening geography. With this work, effort, and feeling, Abai's creative poetry influenced the philosophical thought of educated Kazakhs.
He made efforts for the people to be educated by the new method. Just as he wrote poetry, Abai also made translations from famous Russian poets, wishing to introduce Russian poets and men of letters to his people. His poems remained under the influence of folk poetry in terms of form and content. His generally didactic poems were published after his death in 1906, and after the Russian Revolution they were also printed twice, in 1921 and 1922.
Legacy
The leaders of the Alash Orda movement, which worked for Kazakh independence, regarded him as their source of inspiration and their spiritual leader.
The contemporary Kazakh figure of Abai is usually depicted entirely in traditional clothing and holding the dombra, the Kazakh Turkic national instrument, in his hand. Today, Kazakhs revere Abai as one of the first folk heroes to imbue the people with national consciousness. The Kazakh State University in Almaty, one of the city's main boulevards, and Abai Square take their names from Qunanbaiuly.
Among Abai's students was his nephew Shakarim Kudaiberdiuly (1858–1931), a historian, philosopher, thinker, and poet.
Statues of him stand in many cities of Kazakhstan and in Moscow, the capital of Russia.
A film about his life was made in 1983 under the title Abai by Kazakhfilm. Abai was also the subject of a novel by the famous Kazakh storyteller Mukhtar Auezov.
On the occasion of the 175th anniversary of his birth, the year 2020 was declared the Year of Abai Kunanbaiuly by the International Organization of Turkic Culture.
A street in Kavaklıdere in Ankara has been named after him.
Works
Abai translated into Kazakh the works of Russian and European writers, most of them for the first time.
Abai Kunanbaiuly, Book of Words, Aikyn, David & McKane, Richard (translator) Almaty: El Bureau, (1995) (Qara Sözder)
Abay: Eki Tomdiq Shigharmalar Jinaghi, Almati: Jazushi Baspasi, 1986
Duniede, sira, sendey mağan jar joq, Almati: "Jaylyn", 1990
Ata Aqyly, Almati, Balausi, 1994
Sources
- Turkish Wikipedia: tr.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org