The Fundamental Principles of Ahl al-Sunna: The Views of the Jadidist Shākirjān Hamīdī

This study explores the theological boundaries and sectarian identity of the Jadīdism (Djadīdism) movement in the Idil-Ural region during the period of modernization through the lens of Shākirjān b. Asad Allāh Ḥamīdī (1878–1922 ?), one of its preeminent figures. While the scholarship on Jadīdism has predominantly focused on its educational and socio-political dimensions, this article addresses a significant lacuna by examining the preservation of Sunnī dogmatic identity within the movement. The research specifically analyzes Ḥamīdī’s seminal works, Iʿtiḳād wa-Iḳtiʿād and Sedjenjel al-Fiḳh, to delineate the theological limits set by the reformers. In terms of methodology, this research employs qualitative inquiry, utilizing text analysis and historical comparison. Centering on primary sources authored in the "New Tatar" Turkic vernacular, the study identifies and evaluates twenty fundamental principles (uṣūl) of Ahl al-Sunna as formulated by Ḥamīdī. These principles are systematically compared with classical Kalām literature and the intellectual legacy of Shihāb al- Dīn al-Mardjānī (d. 1889), the progenitor of religious reform in the region. Furthermore, the study elucidates the process of identity construction within the Jadīdī-Ḳadīmī dialectic, where Ḥamīdī defines the Sunnī self through a descriptive exclusion of "the Other," particularly the Muʿtazila and the Shīʿa.