Abai Kunanbayev (1845–1904)

Islamic, Kaazakh philosopher. Nicknamed 'Careful" (Abai or Abay) Translated into Kazakh the works of Russian and European authors, including Lemoontov, Goethe, Byron, Krylov Puskin. Abay's major work is The Book of Words (Kazakh: қара сөздері, Qara sözderi), a philosophic treatise and collection of poems where he encourages his fellow Kazakhs to embrace education, literacy, and good moral character in order to escape poverty, enslavement and corruption. In Word Twenty Five, he show more discusses the importance of Russian culture, as a way for Kazakhs to be exposed to the world's cultural treasures.
Abai became famous on May 9, 2012, following two days of protests in Moscow following Vladimir Putin's inauguration as President of the Russian Federation for the third term, protesters set up camp near the monument to Abai Qunanbaiuli on the Chistoprudny Boulevard in central Moscow, close to the embassy of Kazakhstan. The statue quickly became a reference point for the protest's participants.[1] OccupyAbai was among the top ranking hash-tags in Twitter for several days thanks to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny who set up a meeting with his followers next to Abai Kunanbayev’s monument in Moscow that he called "a monument to some unknown Kazakh". This spurred a wave of indignation among ethnic Kazakhs who highly esteem Abai. This also brought Abai's poetry into the top 10 AppStore. He was also a cultural reformer toward European and Russian cultures on the basis of enlightened Islam. show less