Life before Finland Murtasin (Murtazin, Mortaza) was born in
Turkestan region to a wealthy family. He left his birthplace to study in a
madrasa in
Sarapul, Russia. Due to its innovative teaching methods, Sarapul was considered one of the best madrasas in Russia. However, the conservative groups thought that the teaching methods were too radical and the
Russians had a fear that the qualitatively high level of education could increase the position of the
Muslims too much. They also accused the teachers of
anti-Russian activities. The state ended up closing the madrasa in 1912. Murtasin continued his studies at the Teachers College in
Kazan and graduated in four years. Murtasin was summoned to the Russian army during
World War I. He was then transferred to
Ufa, to train other draftees. During the war, Murtasin was ordered to the Baltic front. At one point, when he was in the middle of a difficult battle, he and his unit were blockaded. He was taken as a prisoner and sent to
Denmark.
Alimcan Idris, a spiritual guide for the Muslim prisoners at a war camp close to Berlin, transferred Murtasin and other prisoners to his location. Idris assisted them by arranging work for them during their time of imprisonment. Murtasin worked in a composing room of a printing house where
The Quran was being printed in Arabic. In the 1930s, Murtasin worked as a teacher in a Turkic mother tongue school in Tampere. In 1941, he moved to
Helsinki to teach Islam to children there. In 1947, he married Halime Abdrahim. == Literature ==