Reşid Rahmeti Arat, originally named Gabdurraşid Rachmatullin, was born on 15 May 1900, the son of Gabdurraşid İsmetullin and Mahpeyker, in the village of Eski Ücüm, which lies approximately 50 km northwest of Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. Between 1906 and 1910 he attended primary school in Eski Ücüm, and then went to secondary school in Kızılyar (Petropavlovsk) from 1910–3. He took Russian lessons privately in 1913–4, attended a business school in 1914–5, and went to high schoo…