1. Hybrid Subjectivity in a Translation of the Qur’an

This chapter elucidates the fate of a surviving manuscript containing the complete Turkic Qur’an translation by the Tatar Muslim scholar Muḥammad Murād al-Ramzī (1855–1935). Al-Ramzī, renowned for his historical works on Muslim scholars in his region and his Arabic translation of Aḥmad Sirhindī’s (1564–1624) Maktūbāt, found refuge in Chuguchak (West China, presently part of Xinjiang) after the Bolshevik revolution, where he penned his Qur’an translation. This manuscript was finally recently found in Russia, where it is currently being prepared for publication. This study provides a nuanced portrayal of al-Ramzī’s hybrid subjectivity, which diverges notably from his Sufi background, a facet downplayed by al-Ramzī himself in the Qur’an translation and described by Bustanov as a ‘farewell to Sufism’. The chapter not only offers insights into the manuscript but also situates al-Ramzī within the contemporary Tatarstani debates surrounding his persona, in which his text and persona are subject to reappropriation within the discourse of the post-secular Sufi revival. The emigration of al-Ramzī’s family from modern China to Russia, fleeing ongoing repression, and the subsequent discovery of the manuscript, signify another layer of mobility which is related to the histories of exile.