Mujahit Akhmetzyanov

Mujahit Zahit uly Akhmetzyanov (in Russian sources Muzagit Zagitovich Akhmetzyanov) was born on 15 December 1950 into a peasant family in the village of Türeş, known in Russian as Tyuryushevo, in the Muslyumovo district of the Tatar ASSR. His father, Mirzahit, lived from 1918 to 1996; his mother was named Cüwäyrä, and he had a brother, Kamil, and a sister, Älfiyä.

He received his primary education in Türeş and finished secondary school in the neighbouring village of Kübäk. While still in the fifth and sixth classes he began corresponding with the children's newspaper Yash Leninchy, now Sabantuy, and the magazine Yalkyn, and he wrote regularly for the district newspaper about the lives of his fellow villagers. The fact that Türeş was the home village of the poet Kharras Ayupov and the Kamal Theatre actor Nail Ayupov gave him further inspiration.

From 1968 to 1973 he studied at the history and philology faculty of Kazan State University, qualifying as a teacher of Tatar language and literature.

From 1973 to 1975 Akhmetzyanov served in the Soviet Army in the Far East as a platoon commander. On returning home he became deputy director of the secondary school in Urazmet, where he also taught basic military training, and was then elected second secretary of the Muslyumovo district Komsomol committee. He spent six to seven years in Komsomol and Communist Party posts in the district.

In 1982 he became director of Muslyumovo secondary school, a post he held until 1995. Under his leadership a new building for Muslyumovo secondary school No. 1, which later became the Muslyumovo lyceum, was built and opened in 1987. After stepping down as director he stayed at the school as a teacher of Tatar language and literature until 2011. He was recognised as an Excellent Worker of Public Education and, in 2001, as an Honoured Teacher of the Republic of Tatarstan.

His literary work was devoted mainly to children. His first book, Min sanarga öyränäm (I Am Learning to Count), was published by the Tatar Book Publishing House in 1993, and he became a member of the Writers' Union of Tatarstan in 1995. Over the following three decades he published more than forty books, including Ochty, ochty (2000) and Akyllyga süz äyttem (2003), both of which took second place in the republic's Book of the Year contest, Äniyem kanatlary (My Mother's Wings, 2005), Batyr bulasym kilä (I Want to Be Brave, 2010) and Tapkyrlar tapmyi kalmas (2018). In 2007 he was a prize winner among professional writers in the Gift to Children contest held by the Rukhiyat fund. The July 2011 issue of the children's magazine Küchtänäch was devoted to his work.

Alongside his verse he wrote teaching books for learners of the old Tatar alphabet based on Arabic script, among them Küñel nury (1994) and a guide to old Tatar writing (2001), and a series of local history works: a historical sketch of Türeş, a biographical guide to writers from the Muslyumovo region, books on the district's folk ensembles and on the history of the mosques, madrasas and schools of Muslyumovo. He also transcribed older Tatar texts from Arabic script for modern readers.

His work brought him the Abdulla Alish Prize in 2010, the Sajida Suleymanova Prize in 2012 and the Shawkat Galiev Prize in 2021, as well as the medal For Great Services to the Tatar Nation in 2007. In 2021 he was named an Honoured Art Worker of the Republic of Tatarstan for his contribution to Tatar literature, and he was an honorary citizen of Muslyumovo district. In December 2025, at a celebration of his 75th birthday at the Muslyumovo House of Culture, he received the badge For Achievements in Literature.

Akhmetzyanov was married to Baniya, a teacher. They had three sons: Almaz; Azat, who became head of the staff of the Muslyumovo district council; and Aydar, a bayan player in Aydar Fayzrakhmanov's state folk music ensemble. He had six grandchildren.

Beyond writing and teaching he played several musical instruments and was a keen photographer, film and video maker and beekeeper. He kept a personal website, muzagit.ru, where he collected news and information about notable people from Muslyumovo district. At his 75th birthday celebration the writer Ravil Sabyr described him as a writer, historian, teacher, musician, photographer, beekeeper, father and grandfather, and above all a very modest man.

Mujahit Akhmetzyanov died on 17 October 2026, aged 75. Tatar media described him as being in his 76th year. His death was announced on the same day by the Almetyevsk branch of the Writers' Union of Tatarstan and reported by the Tatar-inform news agency, Matbugat.ru and Vatanym Tatarstan. The cause and place of death were not made public.

He was buried on 18 October 2026 in the cemetery of his native village of Türeş in Muslyumovo district.

Akhmetzyanov is remembered in Tatarstan as a children's poet who carried on the tradition of Tatar verse for the young. The People's Poet of Tatarstan Robert Minnullin wrote that his poems rang with school life, as if the boys and girls of Muslyumovo were smiling from the pages.

His primers for the Arabic script Tatar alphabet and his books on the history, writers and folk culture of Muslyumovo district preserved a great deal of local memory. In a letter of thanks for his 75th birthday, Rkail Zaidulla, chairman of the Writers' Union of Tatarstan, said his books gave young readers not only a love of reading but a whole world of magic and adventure. Muslyumovo district head Albert Khuzin called his life a fine example of service to his people.