Abai (Ibrahim) Kunanbaiuly (August 10, 1845 — June 23, 1904) was a Kazakh poet, philosopher, composer, educator, thinker, public figure, founder of Kazakh written literature and its first classic, cultural reformer in the spirit of rapprochement with Russian and European culture on the basis of enlightened liberal Islam.

His real name is Ibrahim (Ibrahim is the Arabic name, an analogue of the name of the prophet Abraham), but the name Abai (In Kazakh, the word “Abai” means “attentive”, “careful”), given by his grandmother Zere, stuck with him for life. Also, Abai’s nephew is the famous Kazakh poet Shakarim Kudaiberdiuly.

Abai Kunanbaiuly was born in the Chingiz intermountain of the Semei district of the West Siberian Governor-General (since 1845, Semei region, according to the current administrative division in the Abai district of the East Kazakhstan region) in the family of a large bai (rich man) Kunanbai Uskenbayev (Uskenbayev) of the Tobykty family from the Kazakh Argyn tribe. Abai’s family belonged to the local nobility; his grandfather (Oskenbai) and great-grandfather (Irgizbai) dominated their family as the rulers and biys (the judges, who dealt with disputes under Kazakh customary law).

The home schooling that had started in his childhood by the mullah was continued at the madrasah of Akhmet-Riza mullah in Semei, where the Arabic, Persian and other oriental languages were taught as well. At the same time, he attended the Russian school. By the end of his five-year studies, he began to write the poetry, first attributing his authorship to his friend Kokpai Dzhantassov. Since the age of 13, Kunanbai’s father had begun to teach Abai for the activities of the head of the family. At the age of 28, Abai stepped away from this position, completely involving himself in self-education, but only by the age of 40, he had created his first adult poems. A significant event for Abai was his communication with the political Russian exiles E. P. Michaelis, N. Dolgopolov, S. Gross.

The formation of Abai’s worldview was influenced by the poets and scientists of the East who adhered the humanistic ideas (Firdawsi, Alisher Navoi, Nizami, Fuzuli, Ibn Sina and others), as well as the works of Russian classics, and he learned the European literature through them. He translated the works of Krylov, Lermontov, Pushkin, Goethe and Byron.

A story of the poem “Karangy tunde tau kalgyp” (The mountains slumber in the dark night), which became a folk song, is characteristic. Goethe wrote “Wanderers Nachtlied” (The Night Song of the Wanderer), Lermontov translated it into Russian (A mountain peaks sleep in the darkness of the night...), and half a century later, Abai Kunanbaiuly transmitted its contents into Kazakh language. He contributed for the spread of Russian and European culture among the Kazakhs. Subsequently, Turar Ryskulov followed his example.

For some time, Abai had worked as an administrator of small administrative district.

According to the literary critics, Abai ridiculed some of the customs of the ancestral village, spoke out “against the servile position of women” and “against the social evil and ignorance”.

Abai Kunanbaiuly was an innovator of Kazakh poetry; the poems dedicated to the seasons are progressive: “Spring” (1890), “Summer” (1886), “Autumn” (1889), “Winter” (1888), and there are poems about the purpose of poetry (to teach the good and condemn the bad). The plots of the poems “Masgud” (1887) and “The Legend of Azim” are based on the motifs of oriental classical literature. In the “Iskander” poem, a reason in the personality of Aristotle and the greed of the conqueror in the personality of Alexander the Great are contrasted as well.

In the history of Kazakh literature, Abai took an honorable place, enriching the Kazakh versification with the new sizes and rhymes. He introduced the new poetic forms, such as octagons, hexagons and others.

Besides that, Abai created about 170 poems and 56 translations, wrote the poems and famous ones are “Words of Wisdom” (“Kara Sozder”).

Abai Kunanbaiuly had a great influence on the Kazakh national intelligentsia of the late 19th − early 20th centuries. Thus, the leaders of the Alash-Orda movement perceived Abai as the spiritual leader of the revival of the Kazakh nation. Alikhan Bukeikhanov became the first biographer of Abai. His famous article “Abai (Ibrahim) Kunanbayev” — an obituary of the Kazakh national poet was published in the “Semipalatinsk Leaflet” newspaper in 1905. Then, with a portrait of Abai, it was published in the “Notes of the Semipalatinsk sub-department of the West Siberian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society” journal in 1907.

In 1914, the turkologist V.V.Gordlevsky selected Abai Kunanbaiuly and Mirzhakyp Dulatov as the prominent representatives of Kazakh literature to publish their texts in the “Oriental Collection”, issued in honor of the 70th anniversary of the famous orientalist and academician N. I. Veselovsky.

It bears noting that Abai Kunanbaiuly is the pride of the country and a great Kazakh world-class thinker.