Semiulla Wafin (also Vafa; ; February 2, 1909 – December 18, 1983) was a

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

shopkeeper, leader, publisher and a teacher in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

, where for decades he operated a successful fabric shop his father had established in early 1900s. He moved from Russia to Finland as a child. Wafin was interested in

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

and taught it to the children of the community. During

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrie ...

, he took a part in

Operation Stella Polaris Operation Stella Polaris was the cover name for an operation in which Finnish signals intelligence records, equipment and personnel were transported into Sweden in late September 1944 after the end of combat on the Finnish-Soviet front in the ...

. The current (2023) chairman of the Tampere Tatar Congregation, Vahit Wafin, is his grandson. Jewelry designer Ildar Wafin (b. 1995) is the son of Vahit. The Wafin's operate a carpet shop ''Mattocenter'' in Helsinki.

Life

Wafin was born in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

Nizhny Novgorod Governorate The Nizhny Novgorod Governorate (Pre-reformed rus, Нижегородская губернія, r=Nizhegorodskaya guberniya, p=nʲɪʐɨɡɐˈrotskəjə ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə), was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empi ...

- a Mishar village named ''

Aktuk Aktuk ( Russian: Актуково, aka Yañapar) is a Mishar Tatar village in Krasnooktyabrsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Most ancestors of Finnish Tatars were from Aktuk or neighboring villages.Сенюткин С. Б. Актуково (� ...

''. As a child, he moved to Terijoki with his parents and eventually to

, where they settled. Wafin went to work at his father Zinnetulla’s fabric shop "S. Wafin" in 1925. Semiulla took over the shop after his father passed and operated it from 1941 to 1982. It was located in Aleksis Kiven katu. Wafin was a founding member and a member of the board of The Tampere Islamic Congregation. He was the chairman from 1951 until his death in 1983. Wafin was also involved in the founding of

The Tampere Turkish Society The Tampere Turkish Society (''Tampere Türkler Birligi'', Finnish: ''Tampereen Turkkilainen Yhdistys'') was an association of Tatars in Tampere, Finland, which focused mainly on arranging religious occasions and cultural gatherings, such as the ...

, and for many years operated at the board. Among the local Tatar community, Semiulla Wafin was known as a determined cultural worker, who with his actions tried his best to develop and conserve the Tatar culture in Finland. He published books, such as in 1962, with imam Habiburrahman Shakir a booklet named "''Din derésleré ve Islam tarihçese''", and with local artist

Aisa Hakimcan Aisja Hakimsan (né Hakimsanoff, Russian: Айся Хакимджанов: ''Aisya Khakimdzhanov,'' Literary Tatar: Ğəysə Xəkimcanov, Mishar Dialect: Aysə; 13 March 1896 - 5 November 1972), better known as Aisa Hakimcan, was a Tatar artist ...

a reprint of a 1908 book released originally in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

named "''Islām dīne ḥaqq dīnder''". Wafin was married to Mahrusa Allayarı (1911-1984), who he met during his economic studies in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Mahrusa was originally from

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

. (See: ''

Chinese Tatars Chinese Tatars ( zh, s=塔塔尔族, t=塔塔爾族, p=Tǎtǎ'ěrzú; tt-Cyrl, Кытай татарлары, translit=Qıtay tatarları) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The number of ...

''). Among the Finnish Tatar community she, like her husband took an active role in the cultural life of the community and for example served at the board of the Tampere Turkish Society and wrote for Ayaz Ishaki's magazine ''Yaña Milli Yul'' as "M. Wafa". In Berlin, Mahrusa graduated as a dentist and before this she had studied in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Father of Mahrusa was a wealthy landowner Zakircan Allayarı (né Aldargarov), who with his brother Siddik founded libraries. Semiulla Wafin was interested in

and taught it for the children of his community. He was in extensive correspondence with Turkic people abroad and wrote to them about the lives of Tatars in Tampere. During the

, Wafin served as a corporal and was awarded afterwards. He took part in

. He and his wife are buried at Vatiala Cemetery, located in

Kangasala Kangasala is a city in Finland which is situated about 16 kilometres East of Tampere. The city was founded in 1865 and had a population of people as of . Kangasala covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finnish ...

. The Wafin's had children Batu, Urhan and Fuat. Father-Zinnetulla had arrived to Finland the first time in 1900 to visit his uncle Mustafa Ismail. He established his successful shop in 1910. In his memorial letter, A. Hakimcan described Möshfika, the mother of Semiulla as "the mother of the people".

Versions of name

Semiulla Wafin / Vafa. Literary Tatar: Сәмигулла Вафин; Sämiğulla Wafin. (''Wafa / Вафа'' without Russian suffix). For the Mishars, they do not pronounce the letter ğ. (=''Sämiulla''). Given name means "He who listens to Allah".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wafin, Semiulla Finnish Tatars Finnish publishers (people) 1909 births 1983 deaths