Islamic Civilisation in Volga-Ural Region

lIRCJCA Research Gentre for lslamic- History, Art and Culture ,[{oKna~br BToporo Me>K.ıcyııapo~Horo CnMnosı.ryMa l1CJIAMCKAJI KYJihTYPA B BOJifO-YPAJihCKOM PEfl10HE ~ Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on ISLAMIC CIVILISATION IN VOLGA-URAL REGION ~ VOLGA-URAL BÖLGESİNDE İSLAM MEDENİYETİ II. Milletlerarası Sempozyumu Tebliğleri istanbul 2008 -- Baghish/au (dedications) asa source on the culture of folk Islam of the Volga Tatars: based on materials of expeditions of the 1990's Guzel Sayfullina Baghish/au (dedication) is aiı important part of the ritual of redtatian of the Quran. lnitially, it was an obligatory conduding element of the recitation of the whole book. The terms used towards it co nfırm such a function of t he dedica tion: khatim ("one who reads the Quran through to completion");1 khatm2 or khi:item3 ("reading the Quran to completion").4 The Dictionary of /qra Jslamic Pub/ications (Internet) gives even more concrete interpretation of the term: "khatma - is a recitation of the whole Quran, espedally in memory of a deceased person at the end of which there is a supplication to Allah Subhanahü wa Ta'ala to give its heavenly reward to the deceased and to f orgive him or her and all the Muslims". This fact, namely, the necessity to read dedications not in daily religious service, but in special cases, explains why such texts are just shortly mentioned in reli gious manuals, or hot mentioned at alL Thus, a popular textbook of the begin ning of the - 20t~ century "Ghiybadate lsfamiya" by Ahmadhadi Maksudi, re printed in Kazan in 1989, gives just a smail prayer in Arabic, under the title «Kopbl)H yKbı6, cl)aa6biHbıl)paaXIlapra 6arbıwnaraHAa, 6y ı.1nl) AOra Kbıj;jnbiHbıp" (This is a prayer to read after the redtatian of the Quran and to dedicate its re wards to the spirits\souls).5 The study of the Tatar fölk religious culture of the past century shows a different attitude to the conduding prayer. First of all, here it becomes a constant ele ment of the recitation of any part of the Quranic text, be it several suras, a single sura or some ayats. In this respect its function can be compared to the function of 11niyat" (intention), wit h which every Muslim should begin the prayer. Like 1 Frank, Alien J., J. Mamatov. Dictionary of Central Asian lslamic Terms, Dunwoody Press, 2002, p.75; Xl)M31AH K.3., MT)xMyroa M.lt1., CT)i1cjıy11m1H r.w. rapl)nYf:ı-ı-arapYa-pycYa allbiHMallap CH>311ere. K., TKH, 1965, p.652. 2 Frank, Alien J., J. Mamatov, Id em, p. 75. 3 Xl)M31AH K.3., MT)xMyroa M.lt1., CT)i1cjıyi1111AH r.w., Id em, p.686. 4 • Frank, Alien J., J. Mamatov, ldem, p. 75. 5 MaKcyAIA, A. rbıi16aAT)Te IAC/laMIAR. Ka3aHb, TKH, 1989, p. 105. A similar short d edication is given in the collection of prayers "Shökriinii kitabi" published in Kazan in 1990s (not dated). 52 "niyat", the dedication is formulated in texts of prayers in Arabic.6 But in addi tion to them, Muslims recite their dedications in their own language. These de dications, being more free in a shape, can express all hopes and "requests" to Allah. They can touch subjects, which go far out of the frame of normative Islam and to a large extent reflect traditions of local culture (it is interesting to note that such interpretation of dedications charaeterizes contemporary publications of Tatar baghishlçı_u) . The study of Tatar baghish/au as a part of the Quranic recitation became, in a way, an opening in this respect: until recently this element of religious culture of the Tatars had escaped scientific attention.7 Together with the main ideas of lslamic teaching, their content reflects elements of pre-lslamic (pagan) beliefs of the Tatars and shows a significant influence of Sufi traditions. In some cases some baghish/au can be compared with an encyclopaedia of folk religious cul ture, which characterized Tatar society in the 20th century. Having concrete peculiarities in their content and structure, they also can be called a special kind of folklore. lt is understandable that changes of Tatar religious culture in the 20th century influenced this tradition as well, which can be d iscovered in comparison of texts recorded from people of different generations and different education. In dedications of "old tradition" one can meet the whole complex of religious ideas typical for Tatar Muslim culture of pre-revolutionary _period. The evidence for that is their strong connection with religious literature published at that pe riod. Contemporary examples of dedications represent rather a brief "abstr.act",· where just the main parameters of the "normative" dedication ar·e included (see 6 The significance of these elements in the normative service, according to existed popular reli gious literature, however, is di'fferent. If the texts of "niyat" are given in all manuals on namaz, the texts of concluding prayers can be given as additicnal information. 7 Among_not numerous editions of such texts the publication of the famous Kazan orientalist G. Sablukov should be mentioned (CaeAeHı-ıA o KopaHe, 3aKoHonono>t<ı-ırellbHOi1 KHI!Ire MyxaMMeAaHcKoro aepoy4eHı.1A, K., 1884. p. 74); .as well as the publication of the missioner Ye. Malov (M11ccı-ıoHepcrao cpeAI1 MyxaMMeAaH ı-ı Kpew.eHbiX rarap. K., 1892, p. 128). J. Zaynullin includes a baghish/au, recorded in 1973 intq his book "XVIII -XX Hlb3 6awbıHAa rarap pyxaHI1 1JAf:ı6ı-ıATbı: Kopol)H rl)<jıc11p111jp e, xl)AI1C11ap ı,ı.6. 4bıraHaKJfap. Tl)pKeMl) np11HU.11nnapbı ı,ıl)M ren ıt>3eH4l)neKnl)pe". K., 1998. (P.28-29). Texts of several baghish/au, recorded from Tatar Muslims, are given in my book «My3bl Ka csııu.ı.eHHoro Cnoaa. 'lreHı-ıe KopaHa a rpaAı-ıu.ı-ıoHHoi1 rarapo MYCYilbMaHCKOM KYilbrype". K., Tarnonı-ırpa<j>, 1999. 53 below).8 As a rule, the complex of names and terms, typical for traditional folk dedications, is absent here. Sometimes, the performers repeat information heard from older Muslims, but cannot explain it (so, contemporary Muslims ac tually do not know the names of Seven Sleepers /Askhabe Kahf/, which earlier were considered among the best "protectors". The performer of the baghish/au recorded in 2001, according to tradition, mentioned the name of Zulqarnayn /an important qne in the Tatar mythology/, but could not explain it's meaning). At the same time, they can include new themes to the dedication, connected with the modern epoch, such as partidpation or death in the war. In general, although differing in details, the baghish/au of Tatars Muslims (rec orded in 1990's) have comman peculiarities, which can be characterized as fol lows. 1. Baghish/au is prosaic text read after the redtatian of the Quran. With same exceptions, it does not have a musical background (not counting the ayats of the 3ih sura, which are redted after the reading of any Quranic text, with the same maqam). Dedications are based on oral tradition of transmission. Therefore, when answering the question from whom did you /earn this text, performers, as a rule, name their parents or teachers (often abystay). lt should be noticed, however, that nowadays the written transmission becomes more and more im portant (apart from the "offidal" publications mentioned above, Muslims use taday the handwritten texts of baghish/au. Sametimes they even read it by their notebooks). · 2. The shape of baghish/au can be different, depending on the conditions and aioıs of the redtatian itself. The obligatory element is the prayer in Arabic lan guage (hatem doghasi}, followed by Tatar text with necessary for the case names.9 However, practice shows that the redters often interpret dedication as a culmination of the whole ritual; in such cases texts of baghish/au grow and 8 A good example for that is the edition «Kopbi)H 6arı,ıwnay AOranapbt". AnaHai:i Mf)Yere. lı1MaH, Ka3aH, 1999. 9 The content of the prayer (in Arabic) and the commentary by A.Maksudi are demonstrative in this sense: "R Pa66ı.ı ... YKbtnraHHbtfı ci)ea6btHbt MJbCenMaH ıvif)ernf)peHefı ı,ıf)p6epeHefı KaHnapbtHa ı.ıpewAepren ... MoHbt yKbtraHAaH cofı H>3eHefı RKbtH Mi)emf)peHe ı.ıceMni)pe sf) aranapbtHbttı ı.ıceMnl)pe ı-ıni) 6epf)M- 6epf)M 3t-1Kep ı.ıre6 Ybtrap ... » (Ya Rabbi, transfer the reward of the read \Quran\ to the souls of every died Muslim ... After the reading this, one should recite the n ames of close died people and their fathers one by one). - AxMeTXaAı-ı MaKeyAı-ı «fbti16aAf)re ı.ıcnaMı-ıR». Ka3aHb, TKH, 1989. P.106. 54 include a wide circle of names, from Allah, the Prophet, forces of nature, to rela tives, neighbors ete. Such baghish/au turn int o a kind of narrative poem, which udemands,. special principles for uniting the composition. The main 11device" in such cases is repeti tion. It can be repetition of names (such as 11.YO Rabbim"; "Ilahi ber Hodaem"), or phrases ("Üzer:ıgneng rizalighi öchen bu/sin"; "ruh shiirifliirenii baghish/adim" and others). Goirig through .the whole text as refren, often being thrice repeated, such elements provide the unity of the whole structure of baghishlau. 3. The re are a few constant elements of the content of baghishlau: asking God to forgive mistakes of the recitation, to protect at the Day of Resurrection, asking for blessing for those who have a protecting power, then enumeration of names of those for whom the text was recited and so me requests. The en u meration of names goes according to the order which is known for all Muslims and which is commen for texts of the widest circle, from folk stories and poetic çlassics of the Orient, to private supplications to Allah.

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