A 'Missing' Source on Eighteenth-Century Central Asia Rediscovered: the Istanbul Manuscript of the Works of Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Marghīnānī

2025-11-13T15:18:45Z

A 'Missing' Source on Eighteenth-Century Central Asia Rediscovered: the Istanbul Manuscript of the Works of Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Marghīnānī Binbaş, Evrim; DeWeese, Devin This research note reports the rediscovery of a Persian manuscript in Istanbul that preserves several unique works from late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century Central Asia, mostly dealing with the historical, genealogical, and ritual profile of the Yasavī Sufi tradition and written by a certain Sayyid Aḥmad Nāṣir al-Dīn Marghīnānī, a native of the Farghāna valley. The manuscript was first brought to light nearly a century ago by Zeki Velidi Togan, who assigned it the generic title Tārīkh-i mashāʾikh-i turk and gave some idea of its contents, which suggested its importance for the later phases of Yasavī history prior to the Russian and Soviet eras in Central Asia; Togan later wrote, however, that the manuscript had gone missing, and since that time it has lain unstudied and unidentified. The study recounts the loss and rediscovery of the manuscript, now registered as Istanbul University Library F745, offers insight on why it went missing for such a long time, and outlines its contents, confirming its value as a barely-tapped source on the social and cultural history of Central Asia.

Islamic Culture in the Khanate of Kazan

2022-11-30T14:44:09Z

Islamic Culture in the Khanate of Kazan Binbaş, Evrim; Togan, A. Zeki Velidi The article presents the renowned Bashkir-Turkish historian A.Zeki Velidi Togan’s (1890-1970) article on the unsuccessful 1549-1550 siege of the city of Kazan by Ivan IV in English translation with an extensive introduction. The article includes also a new and improved edition and translation of Sharif Hajji Tarkhani’s “The Book of Victory of the Province of Kazan (Zafarnama-i Vilayat-i Kazan). In the introduction, Togan’s article is located in the context of his intellectual biography after the Second World War.

Abteilung für Islamwissenschaft und Nahostsprachen

A 'Missing' Source on Eighteenth-Century Central Asia Rediscovered: the Istanbul Manuscript of the Works of Sayyid Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Marghīnānī

Islamic Culture in the Khanate of Kazan