Johannes Avetaranian (born Muhammad Shukri Effendi) (30 June 1861-11 December 1919) was a Turkish descendent of Muhammad who later became a Christian missionary. While a mullah in Turkey, he converted to Christianity, and later became a missionary to Eastern Turkestan (present day Xinjiang, China. He translated the New Testament into the Uyghur language

Avataranian was born in Erzurum, in 1861, to a Muslim family. His mother was deaf, blind, and mute, and died when Avatarian was only two years old, his father was a dervish.

He took the Armenian name of John Avetaranian (Avetaranian means 'son of the Gospel') and was baptised in Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi, Georgia) on 28 February 1885.

In his biography "A Muslim Who Became a Christian", Aveteranian claimed to have been unaware of his descent from the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, until his trip to Erzurum. During the trip, Aveteranian and his father had put on the Green turbans, to which only the Sayyids or descendants of Muhammad are entitled. Prior to this, he had only worn this once in his childhood. The Green turban had been a gift which was presented to him by his maternal aunt. A local Mullah was astonished to see the green turban, and inquired as to from where he had obtained it. Then he requested Aveteranian to ask whether his aunt was aware that only Sayyids were entitled to wear green turbans. He did so, and the next day, his aunt went to the Mullah and clarified the Mullah's doubts as to their descent when she revealed her father's name. After this incident, Aveteranian gained respect from the Mullah, who would always defer to him, while in Aveteranian's presence.

He was the first person from the Mission Union of Sweden to stay in Kashgar (in 1892).

He left Kashgar in 1897, thinking that he would soon return, but that did not work out. Instead he worked with the German Orient Mission in Bulgaria, where he started a Christian newspaper, Gunesh, in Turkish. The newspaper was circulated in Turkey proper.

Gustaf Raquette came to Filippopel, now Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he worked with Avetaranian on revision of the Bible translation.

External links

• Aveteranian Homepage
• Avetaranian Timeline

References

• Avateranian, Johannes & Bechard, John (tr); A Muslim Who Became A Christian (Hertford: Authors Online Ltd.)