ISBN : 975865893X
Edited By : Zaybike Yilmaz
Translated by : Arif Arslan
Publisher : Karakutu Yayincilik
Published : Istanbul , May 2005
Pages : 103
(A Note from the Russian Perspective)
There are many wonderful books published by Karakutu Yayincilik, Turkey. Among those books introduced on the site of that publishing house one is of special interest. The Turkish title is, Hz. Muhammed: Gizlenen Kitap, Author… Tolstoy. My friends from Turkey asked me, could the book on the Prophet of Islam be written by Leo Tolstoy? Count Tolstoy, one of the most famous Russian writers? Or, perhaps, it was some other Tolstoy?
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Author : Tolstoy ISBN : 975865893X Edited By : Zaybike Yilmaz Translated by : Arif Arslan Publisher : Karakutu Yayincilik Published : Istanbul , May 2005 Pages : 103 |
The first website I visited in May, 2006,
tulumba.com, said:
yes, the very same Leo (or Lev) Tolstoy.
The other website,
kitap.antoloji.com,
was more definite. They provided the visitor with the full name of the “author”:
Lev Nikolayevic Tolstoy. Accordingly to the titles, the other books advertised on the website,
no doubt, were written by Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina, Hadji-Murat, The Death of Ivan Ilyich...
And that mysterious “Hz.Muhammed” was among those books!
Being puzzled by that story, I asked my friends to translate the short annotation to the Book, signed “Prof. Dr. Telman Aliyev.” Soon, I got the following reply:
In 1908 the famous Russian writer L. N. Tolstoy read the book, "The Hadiths of Prophet Muhammed" by Adbullah El-Suhreverdi (printed in India). He then made a composition of some of the hadiths that he had read into a booklet that he had published by a Russian publisher called "Posrednik."
The Russian people and especially Russian intellectuals (who loved L. N. Tolstoy for his spiritual strength) knew that if Russian society heard that Tolstoy had accepted Islam, this would start a strong movement to Islam. Therefore secret Russian agents (like the KGB) tried to keep secret (and cause to be forgotten and not to be published) Tolstoy's booklet, "Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammed." In this booklet, Tolstoy acquaints Russian readers with the hadiths of the prophet Muhammed. Most of the hadiths he chose (to put in the booklet) were on the topics of poverty and equality, with the special purpose that it would be a lesson to the Russian people, and to those who were deceiving them.With these hadiths (that he had formed into a booklet), Tolstoy tried to emphasize that the place of true justice and equality and true brotherhood (comradeship) was in Islam, indeed that Islam was the place for respect for mankind, love and much more.
Professor Dr. Telman Hursidoglu ALIYEV
(Quoted from: http://kitap.antoloji.com/kitap.asp?kitap=40976 For the original text, see the Turkish version on that page.)
Well, that was what the annotation on the Turkish website said. Thus, Professor Aliyev claimed, that the book “Hz.Muhammed: Gizlenen Kitap” (The Hadiths of Prophet Muhammed) was written or created by Count Leo Tolstoy. The purpose of the declaration is evident: to make the Turkish reader to believe that the famous Russian writer valued Islam so much that he compiled the stories on the founder of that religion into a special booklet. First of all, I was shocked: how could it happen that the stories on Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, needed such an additional promotion within a country with a more or less Islamic culture? Personally, as a native Russian, I was very pleased to see the books by Leo Tolstoy so popular in Turkey. But to see Tolstoy MORE POPULAR than the Prophet of Islam himself? And where! In Turkey, not in Russia or Ukraine. Yes, Tolstoy was one of the most favorite authors for many people: from the world-class star Marilyn Monroe to the unknown librarian living next to our house. But to see him as the number one authority for the Turks! Surely, that was a new experience to me.
The readers in Turkey have a full range of the books by Leo Tolstoy at their disposal. Today they can easily get his writings, and read them in their native language. Isn't it wonderful? Yet, they probably are not common with some facts from the life of the Russian writer, teacher and philosopher.
Fact #1. Leo Tolstoy (that's how he wrote his first name in Latin characters: Leo, never Lev) was an unusually accurate and conscientious man. I mean, unusually for a Russian. Sloppiness is one of our “outstanding” features. He used to jot down EVERY event of his life — and he was maintaining his diary DAILY since 1847 till the very end in 1910. He did it even when he was sick, or when he was “in a bad humor.” That means, every event of his life had been reflected in his diary.
Fact #2. Leo Tolstoy was an unusually brave man. Accordingly to his will, EVERYTHING he wrote during his life, including his private letters and notes, should be used after his death — and all those documents were published. The great Russian edition of all his works included his diary. It took 30 years to complete that publishing project: from 1928 to 1958. Plus, that multivolume edition included the notes of other people on Tolstoy: his friends, acquaintances, visitors or mere neighbors.
See, for any Russian the only answer on the question, could Count Tolstoy have written something in 1908-1910, which the researchers of his life are not common with, is negative: NO, he couldn't. In spite of our traditional Russian sloppiness, there is no hope to get anything “new” or “hidden” about his life — whether we like it or not. We can easily trace Tolstoy's year of 1908 day by day to say definitely: Count Tolstoy had not read the “book by Abdulla Suhreverdi.” That is either a mistake of Prof. Aliyev, or a deliberate lie. I would believe in his possible mistake, if not the following sentence from his annotation above:
The Russian people and especially Russian intellectuals (who loved L. N. Tolstoy for his spiritual strength) knew that if Russian society heard that Tolstoy had accepted Islam, this would start a strong movement to Islam. Therefore secret Russian agents (like the KGB) tried to keep secret (and cause to be forgotten and not to be published) Tolstoy's booklet, "Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammed."
As far as I see, that Prof. Aliyev comes from the Azerbaijani background. Being an ex-Soviet, he should be well-aquainted with the Soviet mentality. Even more, he should be common with the way of thinking of the ethnic Russians that suppressed the ethnic minorities in the Soviet Union. Russia is not Turkey, nor any other Islamic country. And Aliyev unavoidably should know more about Leo Tolstoy than any Turkish reader. Even if it had been a fact that “Leo Tolstoy accepted Islam”, this simply could not “start a strong movement to Islam” in Russia. Religion for the Russians is a matter of ethnic belonging. And “Islam” is not a value for any ethnic Russian. Of course, Islam is a value for the Turks or the Saudis. But, whether Prof. Aliyev likes it or not, it is not a value for the Russians.
Actually, that is no different for Turkey. In the general Turkish perception, to be a Turk is to be a Muslim. If any of the more famous Turkish writers should compile a book with a selection of gospel passages or would even publically declare his conversion to Christianity, that would certainly be discussed (and some hot-headed Islamic cleric may even put out a fatwa against him), but it would definitely not lead to “a strong movement to Christianity” among Turks. To assume so would be more than naïve. Any such claim would only expose that the person knows very little of Turkish culture.
The authorities in Russia, whether the old Tsarist Government, or the Soviets, or even the new “democratic” authorities, hated (and still hate) Count Tolstoy for his anti-war and anti-state teaching. And they always had a lot of headache with his followers. No doubt that the idea that he “embraced Islam” would have been used by the Russian Government. Not in order to propagate Islam, but to show that “the old pal went mad completely” — that always was their way to deal with the dissidents. Throughout the entire year of 1908 the activity of the old writer was focused on the issue of the death-penalty. Also, he was busy trying to make the final improvements in the Compilation, Translation and Research of the Four Gospels, which previous version was reprinted in St Petersbourg in October of 1907. The complete edition was supposed to be confiscated, yet before the confiscation many books were sold through the local book stores. In June of 1908 the second and the third volumes of the Compilation was published in Moscow by Posrednik Publishers: and, naturally, it was the famous Tolstoy's “Compilation” of the Christian Gospels, transliterated from Greek. After long litigation the project was banned again, and the final edition of that book was published only after Tolstoy's death and after the Russian Revolution: in 1918 (Moscow), then in 1923 (Berlin, Germany).
During the following Soviet era the Book was published only once, as a part of all the works by Leo Tolstoy.
In order to clear our question out, I asked my friends from Turkey to translate some information on Prof. Aliyev, located on the Publisher's website. The following passage helped me a lot:
Professor Aliyev mentions the memoirs of Valeriya Porohova, a Russian woman who married an Arab and converted to Islam.
Porohova, who has been living with her husband in Saudi Arabia for 11 years, has translated the Quran into Russian. She claims that the famous writer Tolstoy converted to Islam before he died, and that he was buried as a Muslim (using Islamic funeral traditions). Porohova, who claims that Tolstoy was buried according to Islamic traditions, also states that the common Christian symbol, the cross, was not added to Tolstoy's tombstone. Prof. Aliyev claims that the Soviet government tried for years to hide this fact, because they were afraid that if these facts were known a movement toward Islam among the Russian people would start.
I am among those [few] ethnic Russians who are common with the Qur'an by Valeria Porohova. I would rather call her work a poetic transliteration, but not a translation. Unfortunately, the Qur'an is still not available in the Russian language in any consistent form. The only reliable version would be the work of Academician Krachkovsky, yet he died and left his translation unfinished. The version published after his death is far from perfect. It is not sufficient for any serious research of the text. Alas, I have to repeat: the Russians are generally not interested in Islam. Not only the Hadiths, but the Qur'an itself still cannot be studied in our native language. As for Madame Porohova, I should call her an “Arab” in Russian. Formerly Russian, she should understand what that means. The word Arab has two meanings in Russian: an Arab, and a “liar” (or “fraud”) — both meanings are applicable to M. Porohova. While the native Arabs can be offended by my linguistic trick, it would be helpful for them to think, why other people used the name of their nation as such a negative sample. Could it be somehow deserved? The Russian saying warns: “If you lie once, no one trusts you forever.” How can I read the Porohova's Qur'an, when I know that it was transliterated by a liar?
The word Russian among the Islamic minorities on the Northern Caucasus means “wild” or “impolite” man. I have to admit, that this definition was deserved by my compatriots. Worst of all, the Russians continue to act like “wild” animals in many areas. Mutual intolerance lead different nations to envy, and when the authorities consider war profitable, at last, by their own understanding, it is unavoidable. The authorities are not going to die; they have other people under their command to kill and to be killed. There is another funny word in the Russian language with the double meaning: a “Turk.” While the second meaning of “Arab” describes a liar, another meaning of the Russian Turk (“toorok”) signifies a fool, a “Hill Billy,” like the American criminals said. A victim for a fraud.
In Russian, the phrase “Hey, Turk(s), don't listen to that Arab!” would mean: “Don't be so naïve to listen that fraud.” I suppose this sentence is up to our case. Accordingly to Prof. Aliyev, M. Porohova claims “that the famous writer Tolstoy converted to Islam before he died, and that he was buried as a Muslim (using Islamic funeral traditions).” First of all, to be “famous” doesn't mean being accepted. On the contrary, the events in Russia at the beginning of the previous century proved that Count Tolstoy was rejected by the society, which failed to share his values — the values of the Good News of Jesus Christ. In October of 1910 the 82 year old writer left his home; he was going to join a group of Christian believers in Bulgaria, but got sick on the way and died on a railway station. As he fought the official religion to the end, Tolstoy rejected the Orthodox priests, and died without the traditional Christian “repentance.” (Principally, the English-reading people interested in the details are welcome to read The Life of Tolstoy by A. Maude, London, 1930.) In 1910, shortly before his death, Tolstoy visited two monasteries: in Optina Pustin and in Shamordino. That was the final pilgrimage of the great man.
It is difficult for me to explain the teaching of Leo Tolstoy in two words. He wrote several books especially to explain his personal beliefs. As he himself wrote on the Gospel, “The sense of any given detail is in the whole Book; and who fails to understand the sense of the separate place accordingly to the whole spirit of the Gospel, could not be convinced.” If you wish to understand Tolstoy, you need to read his books. Yet, anyway, it would not be possible to understand his books without the understanding of the culture in which he was raised. And that is a Christian culture, not Islamic. For the millions of ethnic Russians Islam is merely exotic: something strange, something “Non-Russian.” Leo Tolstoy for us is not a stranger. His truth is painful, his values look unbearable for the larger part of our society — and that is why the Russian people went from one nightmare into another, causing neighboring nations to suffer too. By the horrible irony, the Optina Pustin Monastery that Tolstoy visited before his death was transformed into the Concentration Camp for the Polish intellectual elite at the end of 1939. All the prisoners, except one person, were executed in 1940, sharing the destiny of their compatriots from two other camps. The victims played the role of “Turks” for the crafty Russian “Arabs.” The place of Tolstoy's hope turned into the symbol of death and destruction.
Leo Tolstoy left all his materials in absolutely perfect order. The continual crisis in his personal life caused him to care on everything he wrote, literally on every sheet of paper. Also, he defined the “final book of his life” — Hadji-Murat. This book is famous in Russia as “the spiritual last will of Tolstoy.”
Count Tolstoy never tried to collect Islamic Hadiths, nor did he write about the Prophet of Islam Muhammad — whether a novel or an article — which is known in Russia. As far as I can understand, the abbreviation "Hz." stands for "Hazrat." Another strong association for the people common with the history of Caucasus is "Hazi." Yet Leo Tolstoy never wrote on Hazrat Muhammad/Mahomet, neither he wrote on the first Imam of Dagestan Hazi Muhammed (Hazi Mahomet) either. Historically, Hazi Mahomet (1795-1832) was the predecessor of Shamil (1834-1859), the leader of the East-Caucasian nations in the war against the Russian Empire. The only novel close to the subject can be Hadji-Murat, it was written by Count Tolstoy in 1896-1904 and it was published posthumously. That novel is a fiction, though it was based on a real war accident. Working on the book, Tolstoy collected the stories and legends about one of the heroes of the Caucasian War. The novel was completed long before he died.
The last writings of Leo Tolstoy, which, according to his own wish, were published posthumously, should be considered as containing the last will of the author. These were: After the Ball and some other stories (published in 1911), Father Sergiy, and Hadji-Murat (published in 1912). And, accordingly to the last will of Leo Tolstoy, his novel Hadji-Murat should be treated as containing and reflecting the opinion of the author regarding many important issues, which he did not wish to discuss publicly during the last years of his life. Therefore, the only valuable evidence to prove or disapprove the opinions of different people about Leo Tolstoy is the text of the book, most valued by him: Hadji-Murat.
Reading this book, anyone should see clearly that Leo Tolstoy supported neither the idea of the Russian Imperialism, nor the war for liberation and justice. In his understanding, justice and peace could not be achieved by violence: the sinful human nature cannot be improved by force. The reality of the danger to destroy our fragile world cries out from the very first page of the book. Completing the circle, the author came back to that idea on the last page. And we see only destruction, nothing else.
Hadji-Murat is an anti-war masterpiece: a warning directed both towards oppressive governments and hot-blooded rebels trying to overthrow them. Naturally, either side would wish to use the name of the writer, whose contemporaries called him “The Conscience of Russia.” His answer sounded as the Final Judgment: “...What war? You are butchers, and that's all!” (Hadji-Murat, the end of Chapter XXIV.)
The man, who wished his Hadji-Murat to be published posthumously, simply could not write any material promoting Islam (or Islamism.)
Leonid Maharinsky
maharinsky(at)yandex.ru
The paperback of the book Haci Murat is available in Turkish:
http://kitap.antoloji.com/kitap.asp?kitap=26974
(There is one mistake on that page: Leo Tolstoy died in 1910, not in 1920.)
Other Books by Tolstoy in Turkish: http://kitap.antoloji.com/kisi.asp?CAS=127525
All the books mentioned are real, except that Hz. Muhammed: Gizlenen Kitap.
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