Gabdi

Gabdi was born in the first quarter of 1679 (history has not preserved the exact documentary data on his date of birth). He was popularly called "mullah" (theologian, preacher) and "Mesken Gabdi" (Unhappy Gabdi). According to Gabdi's own words, he started to write in 1709, when he was 30 years old. On this basis, we can assume that he was born in 1679. He named Kazan as a place of his art. Many manuscripts with his works have survived to this day, which indicates his great popularity in his time among the Tatar population. Gabdi wrote small, mostly eight-line poems. As a rule, they are devoted to morals, separate pictures of everyday life. Gabdi, as a Sufi poet, wrote his works at a difficult time in the history of the Tatars and other indigenous peoples of the Volga and Urals region. Those times were characterized by the persecution of Islam and the resulting mass migration of Muslims from their native lands. There were many revolts of Tatars, Bashkirs, and other peoples of the Volga-Urals region against this tyranny. These circumstances could not help but affect the mood of the author, but despite this, he urged people to be patient. The poet gave his assessment of things and events based on the attitudes of religion and Shariah. Gabdi was a very religious man. He saw generosity as the greatest virtue of man, and it is this that opens the direct path to paradise. In Gabdi's poetry, generosity and hospitality stand very close together. When it is mentioned, the poet himself becomes jubilant, as if his soul is filled with joy, and he hurries to share this pleasant feeling with others.