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 nonRussian 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.