I. Pankov

Al-Maqam foundation for development of humanities and cultural projects, St. Petersburg, Russia

E-mail: pankov@almaqam.ru

 

A. Bustanov

European University at St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia;

University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

E-mail: abustanov@eu.spb.ru

 

TRANSREGIONAL HISTORY OF A MUSLIM FAMILY: ORAL AND WRITTEN TESTIMONIES ON THE DESCENDANTS OF MUHAMMAD SHARIF AL-BULGHARI

 

Abstract.The main argument of this article is that familial history of migrants can shed a new life on the dynamics of religious politics on the remote areas of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union. On the basis of manuscript sources (Sufihagiographies, genealogies, travel accounts) and interviews with our contemporaries — members of the family of migrants from Central Russia to Khwarazm and northern Iran, we demonstrate how the idea of pious resettlement proved to be crucial in the identity of a migrant community, which played a central role in the local religious developments. Our article helps to debunk the prevailing national narratives that underline the ethnic borders and self-denominations, while for our informants religious identity and belonging to a respected sacred family has been much more important.

 

Keywords:migrations, Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya, Urgench, Khwarazm, Tatarstan, Tatar Sufis, hagiographies

 

DOI:10.31250/1238-5018-2018-24-1-20-25

 

Acknowledgement. This article is written in the framework of the NWO research program “The Russian Language of Islam” (project No. 360-70-490) and with support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) (project no. 17-81-01042 a(ts)).

 

References

 

  • Algar, H. (1983), “Abu Ya‘qub Hamadani”, Encyclopædia Iranica, vol. 1/4, pp. 395—396.
  • Al-Ramzi, M.-M. (1423/2002), Talfiq al-akhbar wa talqih al-athar fi waqa’i‘ Qazan wa Bulghar wa muluk al-Tatar[Collection of Stories and Verification of Sources in the History of Kazan, Bulghar, and the Tatar States], ed. by I. Shams al-Din, Beirut: Dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyya, fol. 2.
  • Amin, M. (Aminbay)(2018), Family Stories[interview], interviewed by I. Pankov, Urgench.
  • Bustanov, A. & Korusenko, S.(2010), “Genealogies of the Siberian Bukharans: the Im’iaminov clan”, Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia,vol. 38/2, pp. 97—105.
  • Bustanov, A. & Korusenko, S. (2014), “Genealogies of the Siberian Bukharans: the Shikhovs”, Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia,vol. 42/4, pp. 136—145.
  • Bustanov, A. (2016),“The Bulghar Regionas a ‘Land of Ignorance’: anti-colonial discourse in Khvarazmian connectivity”, Journal of Persianate Studies,vol. 9/2, pp. 183—204.
  • Frank, A. J. (2012), Bukhara and the Muslims of Russia: Sufism, Education, and the Paradox of Islamic Prestige, Leiden, Boston: Brill.
  • Maghfuri, A. (2018), Walking Along Bukhara[interview], interviewed by I. Pankov, April, Urgench.
  • Meyer, J. H. (2014), Turks Across Empires. Marketing Muslim Identity in the Russian-Ottoman Borderlands, 1856—1914,Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Received by the Editorial Board:07.12.2017

 


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