(1825-1902), born in the village of Yukari̊ S̲h̲i̊rdani̊ in the canton of Sviazsk in the government of Ḳāzān, was one of the first and greatest modernist reformers amongst the Tatars of the Volga. After studying at the madrasa of Ḳāzān, where he learnt Arabic, Persian and Russian, Nāṣirī founded at Ḳāzān his own school where, for the first time, such secular subjects as history, arithmetic, geography and Russian language were taught—these being at this time novelties and innovations which bordered on heresy.

Ḳayyūm Nāṣirī wrote over 50 works in Tatar, Turkish, Arabic and Per…