Шигабутдин Марджани

Şihabetdin Märcani was a Tatar Hanafi-Maturidi theologian and historian. Märcani has been noted for "laying the basis for the theory of a Tatar territorial nation by establishing historical continuity between Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde, the Khanate of Kazan and the Tatars of his time". Märcani advocated for the use of the ethnonym "Tatar", in spite of the negative connotation it had during the Russian Empire. Märcani was part of the Naqshbandi Sufi order.