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Islamic Central Asia This Page Intentionally Left Blank an Islamic Anthology Central of Historical Asia Sources Edited by Scott C Islamic Central Asia This page intentionally left blank An Islamic Anthology Central of Historical Asia Sources Edited by Scott C. Levi and Ron Sela Indiana University Press bloomington & indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA www.iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] Every reasonable effort has been made to trace ownership of copyright materials. The publisher would welcome any information that would enable us to correct any copyright references in future printings. © 2010 by Indiana University Press All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. manufactured in the united states of america Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Islamic Central Asia : an anthology of historical sources / edited by Scott C. Levi and Ron Sela. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35385-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253- 22140-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Asia, Central—History—Sources. 2. Asia, Central—Civilization—Islamic influences—Sources. 3. Islam—Asia, Central—History—Sources. I. Levi, Scott Cameron. II. Sela, Ron. DS327.3.I75 2009 958—dc22 2009024093 1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10 Contents Acknowledgments ix Note on Translation and Transliteration xv Map xvi Introduction 1 Part 1 | Central Asia in the Early Islamic Period, Seventh to Tenth Centuries Introduction 7 A. Central Asia and the Arab Conquests 11 1. Baladhuri: The Arab Conquests of Central Asia 11 2. Tabari: Another Look at the Arab Conquests 16 B. Central Asia under the Samanids 23 3. Narshakhi: The Rise of the House of Saman 23 4. Hudud al-῾Alam: The Frontiers of the Muslim World in the Tenth Century 28 C. The Age of Learning 35 5. Ibn Sina: Biographical Notes 35 6. al-Biruni: On the Importance of the Sciences 39 Part 2 | Encounter with the Turks Introduction 47 A. Turkic Peoples of the Steppe 51 7. The Orkhon Inscriptions: The Early Turks 51 8. al-Jahiz: The Peculiarities of the Turks 55 9. Gardizi: The Turks in Early Muslim Traditions 59 10. Ibn Fadlan: Journey to the Northern Lands 65 B. Qarakhanids: The First Turkic Muslim State in Central Asia 69 11. al-Kashghari: On the Linguistic Distribution of the Turks 69 12. Jamal Qarshi: The Conversion to Islam of Satuq Bughra Khan 73 13. Yusuf Hass Hajib: Advice to the Qarakhanid Rulers 76 vi Contents C. Central Asia in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries 83 14. al-῾Utbi: The Alliance of the Ghaznavids and Qarakhanids 83 15. Ibn Khallikan: Biography of the Vizier Nizam al-Mulk 89 16. Nizam al-Mulk: A Mirror for Princes 92 17. Qabus-nama: A Different Mirror for Princes 95 18. Liao Shih: Nomadic Khitan State and Society 100 Part 3 | The Mongol Empire Introduction 111 A. Temujin and the Rise of the Mongol Empire 115 19. Secret History of the Mongols: Temujin’s Origins 115 20. Hayton: Temujin and the Rise of the Mongol Empire 120 21. Nasawi: The Khorezmshah’s Downfall 125 22. Chang Chun: A Daoist Monk in Central Asia 130 23. Juzjani: Chaghatay the Accursed! 135 B. Islamic Central Asia under Mongol Rule 139 24. Rashid al-Din: In Defense of Chaghatay Khan 139 25. Juvaini: The Il-Khan Hülegü Captures the Castles of the Heretics 142 26. Mirza Haydar Dughlat: The Conversion to Islam of Tughluq Timur Khan 149 27. Ibn Battuta: Travels in Western Central Asia in the Fourteenth Century 153 Part 4 | Timur and the Timurids Introduction 161 A. Timur’s Rise and Rule 165 28. Ibn ῾Arabshah: Timur and His Steppe Campaigns 165 29. Ibn Khaldun: Personal Narrative of a Meeting with Timur 171 30. Ruy González de Clavijo: A Spanish Embassy to Timur’s Capital 175 B. Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century 181 31. Khwandamir: Timur’s Heirs: Shahrukh and Ulughbeg 181 32. Nava’i: A Comparison between Persian and Turkic 184 33. Khoja Ahrar: Letters 188 34. Five Readings on Sufi Orders in Central Asia: Competition, Practice, Politics 190 Part 5 | Central Asia in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries Introduction 199 A. The Shïbanids and Central Asian Society in the Sixteenth Century 203 Contents vii 35. Zubdat al-athar: The Beginnings of the Shïbanid State 203 36. Babur: Description of the Farghana Valley and Babur’s Ejection from Samarqand 208 37. Anthony Jenkinson: An English Merchant in Central Asia 215 38. Juybari Archives: A Sixteenth-Century Bukharan Deed of Sale 221 39. Akbar, Emperor of India: A Letter to ῾Abdallah Khan Uzbek, King of Turan 222 B. Central Asia in the Seventeenth Century 227 40. Abu’l-Ghazi: Reasons for Writing the Genealogies of the Turks and Turkmens 227 41. Ivan Khokhlov: A Russian Envoy to Central Asia 230 42. Sayyeda-ye Nasafi: A Visit to the Shrine of Baha’ al-Din Naqshband 233 43. Churas: Erke Bek, a Turkestani in the Service of the Oirats 237 Part 6 | Central Asia in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Introduction 243 A. The Age of Transition 247 44. Timur’s Legendary Biographies 247 45. Thompson and Hogg: British Trade East of the Caspian 255 46. ῾Abd al-Karim Kashmiri: Nadir Shah’s Campaign in Central Asia 260 B. The Uzbek Tribal Dynasties 265 47. Tuhfat al-khani: The Inauguration of Muhammad Rahim Khan Manghït 265 48. Majma῾ al-arqam: An Administrative Manual from Bukhara 270 49. A Collection of Royal Decrees from Khiva 272 50. Muntakhab al-tavarikh: On the Relations between Qoqand and Kashghar 274 C. The “Great Game” to Russian Rule 281 51. Alexander Burnes: The Importance of Bukhara in Great Game Politics 281 52. Mohan Lal: A Journey among the Turkmens 287 53. Levshin: Observations on the Qazaqs 292 54. Nikolai Ignatiev: Russia’s Agenda in Central Asia 295 55. Bayani: The Russian Conquest of Khiva and the Massacre of the Yomut Turkmens 300 Glossary 307 Index 309 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments This volume was produced with funds provided by the Ohio State Uni- versity Department of History and College of Arts and Humanities, and the In- diana University Department of Central Eurasian Studies and Islamic Studies Program. We are especially grateful for the original contributions to this anthol- ogy made by Devin DeWeese, Paul Losensky, and David Knighting, as well as to the generous counsel by our colleagues Akram Khabibullaev, Mika Natif, and Christopher Atwood, and the anonymous reviewers of this volume. Scott Tyler at Indiana University Graphic Services prepared the detailed map accompany- ing this volume. We are grateful for Yuri Bregel’s permission to base our map on maps that he had prepared and published in his Historical Central Asia Maps (Pa- pers on Inner Asia Special Supplement no. 1, Bloomington, 2000). We thank our editors at Indiana University Press, Rebecca Tolen and Laura MacLeod, for their support and dedication to this project. Lee Keeling provided valuable technical assistance in preparing several parts of the manuscript. Scott Levi would also like to thank Ali Shahhosseini for his friendship and valuable guidance in preparing for publication the original translation of the excerpt from Muhammad Hakim Khan’s Muntakhab al-tavarikh. Chapter 1: F. C. Murgotten, tr., The origins of the Islamic state, being a trans- lation from the Arabic accompanied with annotations geographic and historic notes of the Kitâb Futûh al-Buldân of al-Imâm Abu-l ‘Abbâs, Ahmad ibn-Jâbir al- Balâdhuri, vol. 2 (New York: Columbia Studies in the Social Sciences, 1916). Chapter 2: (1) Reprinted by permission from The History of al-Tabari (Ta’rikh al-rusul wa’l-muluk), vol. XXIII, The Zenith of the Marwanid House: The Last Years of ῾Abd al-Malik and the Caliphate of al-Walid, A.D. 700–715/A.H. 81–96, translated and annotated by Martin Hinds, the State University of New York Press © 1990, State University of New York. All rights reserved. (2) Reprinted by permission from The History of al-Tabari (Ta’rikh al- rusul wa’l-muluk), vol. X XV, The End of Expansion: The Caliphate of Hisham, A.D. 724–738/A.H. 105–120, translated and annotated by Khalid Yahya Blankin- ship, the State University of New York Press © 1989, State University of New York. All rights reserved. Chapter 3: Richard N. Frye, The History of Bukhara: Translated from a Per- sian Abridgement of the Arabic Original by Narshakhī (Cambridge, Mass.: Medi- aeval Academy of America, 1954). Chapter 4: Indiana University Press, which has published this book, ac- knowledges the material derived from Hudūd al-῾Ālam, ‘The Regions of the World’: A Persian Geography, as edited by C. E. Bosworth (London, 1970). This work is x Acknowledgments published by the Trustees of the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Trust, who have granted their consent to reproduce it here. Chapter 5: Reprinted by permission from The Life of Ibn Sina: A Critical Edi- tion and Annotated Translation, by William E. Gohlman, the State University of New York Press © 1974, State University of New York. All rights reserved. Chapter 6: Jamil Ali, tr., The Determination of the Coordinates of Positions for the Correction of Distances between Cities: A Translation from the Arabic of al-Bīrūnī’s Kitāb Tahdīd Nihāyāt al-Amākin Litashīh Masāfāt al-Masākin, Bei- rut: The American University of Beirut, 1967.
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