Jadid

rdf:langString Jadid

rdf:langString The Jadids were Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms Taraqqiparvarlar ('progressives'), Ziyalilar ('intellectuals') or simply Yäşlär/Yoshlar ('youth'). Jadid movement advocated for an Islamic social and cultural reformation through the revival of pristine Islamic teachings; while simultaneously engaging with modernity. Jadids maintained that Turks in the Russian Empire had entered a period of decay that could only be rectified by the acquisition of a new kind of knowledge and modernist, European-modeled cultural reform. Modern technologies of communication and transportation such as telegraph, printing press, postal system, railway as well as the spread religious literature through periodicals, journals, newspapers, etc. played a major role in dissemination of Jadid ideals. Although there were substantial ideological differences within the movement, Jadids were marked by their widespread use of print media in promoting their messages and advocacy of the usul ul-jadid or "new method" of teaching in the maktabs of the empire, from which the term Jadidism is derived. As per their Usul-i Jadid system of education, the Jadids established an enterprising institutions of schools that taught a standardised, disciplined curriculum to all Muslims across Central Asia. The new curriculum comprised both religious education and material sciences that would be resourceful for the community in tackling the modern-day challenges. A leading figure in the efforts to reform education was the Ismail Gasprinski. Intellectuals such as Mahmud Khoja Behbudiy (author of the famous play The Patricide and founder of one of Turkestan's first Jadid schools) carried Gaspirali's ideas back to Central Asia. Anti-colonial discourse constituted a major aspect of the Jadid movement. Leaders like Gasprinskii promoted anti-Russian activism. Following the defeat of Ottoman empire in the First World War, the Jadids extended their anti-colonial critiques against the Allied colonial powers like the British and other Western European empires. Jadid members were recognized and honored in Uzbekistan after the fall of the USSR.