Rizaitdin Fakhretdinovich Fakhretdinov

Rizaitdin Fakhretdinovich Fakhretdinov was a scholar-educator, theologian, historian, and a religious and public figure. He was born in the village of Kichuchatovo in the Samara Governorate. After graduating from the madrasa in the village of Nizhnie Chershily, he taught and in 1887 became an imam. From 1889 to 1891 he served as imam-khatib in the village of Ilbyakovo.

In 1891 Fakhretdin was elected qadi of the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly. He organized the assembly's archive, began its archaeographic processing and the publication of valuable documents. During this period he wrote the biobibliographical work 'Asar', devoted to outstanding personalities from Volga Bulgaria to the early 20th century. In 1906 he moved to Orenburg, worked for the newspaper 'Vakit', and from 1908 to 1918 was editor-in-chief of the journal 'Shura' and headed the 'Husainiya' madrasa.

In 1918 Fakhretdin moved to Ufa. From 1922 he was mufti of the Central Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Russia and Siberia. At his initiative in 1923 the publication of the journal 'Islam majallyase' began. In 1926 he led the Soviet delegation to the World Congress of Muslims in Mecca and was elected vice-president of the congress. Rizaitdin Fakhretdinovich Fakhretdinov died on April 11, 1936 in Ufa.