The Role of the Russian and Inorodcy Languages in the Muslim Question of the 19th and 20th Centuries

The divergent positions of Nikolai Ivanovich Ilminsky (1822-1891) and Ismail Bey Gasprinskii (1851-1914) on education, provide the starting point for a reflection on the complex linguistic question in reference to the non-Russian communities of the Empire that took place at the end of the 19th century. Through the content of the social and literary activity of Ismail Bey Gasprinskii, I intend to deepen the point of view of the Crimean Tatar enlightener on the importance of the language of instruction in the inorodcy's (aliens) school, a tool necessary to counteract cultural and political isolation of Russian Muslims, to encourage the sblizhenie (rapprochement) between the Russians and Tatars. The socio-political implications of the linguistic question allow us to go beyond its borders, to reflect on the vopros ob inorodcach (question about aliens) and the current samobytnos (self-being) in connection with the issue of identities in multicultural Russia.