This article is devoted to problematizing the research focus of academic literature on Islamic reformers in the Russian empire. Studies of the late imperial period typically devote the most of their attention to modernization. Jadidists-reformers are considered as key protagonists and engines of history. A typical narrative about Jadidists includes several elements: political activity, reforms in education, the flourishing of journalism, the renewal of religion and the "female question." In this article we consider Jadidism as a narrative about backwardness and progress, which is uncritically reproduced in academic literature. Relying on recollections of Gabdulla Bubi, we offer a reconsideration of the framework that is generally used to describe the intellectual history of Muslims in Russia. We classify Bubi's narrative as a language-ideology and place it within the framework of our own "imperial project". We do so to offer an alternative to Jadidim as an explanatory model. Keywords: Islam in Russia, Islamic modernism, Jadidism, imperial project. This work was supported by the RFBR grant 17-81-01042 a (c) "Politicization of the language of religion and sacralization of the language of politics during the Civil War". This article is written in the framework of the NWO research program "The Russian Language of Islam" (project no. 360-70-490). The authors are grateful to I. V. Starodubrovskaya, A. S. Agadzhanyan, V. O. Bobrovnikov and anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and comments on this article. Bustanov A., Dorodnykh D. Jadidizm kak paradigma v izuchenii islama v Rossiiskoi imperii [Jadidism as a paradigm in the study of Islam in the Russian Empire]. 2017. N 3. pp. 112-133. Bustanov, Alfrid, Dorodnykh, Daria (2017) "Jadidism as a Paradigm for Studying Islam in the Russian Empire", Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkou' v Rossii i za rubezhom 35(3): 112-133. page 112Introduction By the BEGINNING OF the 20th century, the multi-million Muslim population lived une ... Читать далее