Science in Europe and the enlighteners of Turkistan

Enlightenment (marifat) means raising people’s knowledge and understanding through teaching and upbringing. People devoted to this are called enlighteners. In Turkistan the Jadid movement arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; “jadid” is Arabic for “new”. Turkistan was then a colony of the Russian Empire, and the Jadids, worried that their land lagged behind in science, wanted to see it free and prosperous. First they opened “usuli jadid” (new method) schools, where besides religion they taught arithmetic, geography and natural sciences. They wrote textbooks, published newspapers and magazines, set up theatre, and sent talented young people abroad to study. Mahmudkhoja Behbudi (born 1875 in Samarkand) opened a new-method school, wrote the play “Padarkush” (1911) and published the newspaper “Samarqand” and the magazine “Oyna”. Abdulla Avloni (born 1878 in Tashkent) wrote books such as “Turkiy Gulistan yoxud Akhlaq” and formed the “Turon” theatre troupe. Munavvar Qori Abdurashidkhanov (born 1878 in Tashkent) opened a new-method school in 1901 and wrote textbooks. In the Soviet period the Jadids were persecuted; Munavvar Qori was shot in 1931. After independence their good names were restored, and in Tashkent the “Shahidlar xotirasi” (Memory of the Martyrs) complex and the museum of the “Victims of Repression” were built.