Svetlana A. Kirillina

This publication is based on the presentation made in the 26th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI) which took place in Basel, Switzerland in September 12–16, 2012. The motto of the congress was Arabic and Islamic Studies in Europe and Beyond. The publication is dealing with the major stages in the history of the translation of the Muslim scripture into Russian and reconstruction of the comprehensive panorama of Qur’anic studies as an essential part of Arabic and Islamic studies.

The survived correspondence of Vasiliy V. Bartold and Agafangel E. Krymsky contains important data about crucial changes which took place in the Oriental science in the post-revolutionary Russia. The letters of two distinguished scholars, dated before 1918, were concerned mainly with discussion of the professional issues. Anyhow, the following correspondence increasingly touched upon social and political problems and included their thoughts about methods of their resolving. The correspondence of these two eminent scholars remains a significant factor in the history of the Oriental science.

The article analyzes the unpublished correspondence between V.V. Bartold and A.E. Krymsky during the period from 1908 till 1913. It contains valuable data which helps us to reconstruct main trends of the academic life at that time and to have a better understanding of the problems which occurred in the field of Oriental studies in Russia in the early 20th century. The correspondence of these distinguished scholars shows that they shared obvious common sympathy and similar professional interests. The letters of V.V. Bartold and A.E. Krymsky confirm that their primary concern was the state of Oriental studies and the system of education.

The article, based on Moroccan and Egyptian examples, offers a historical retrospective of political and economic interactions between the ruling circles of the Arab lands and powerful clans of descendants of Prophet Muhammad (sharifs), which resided in the North Africa since the early Middle Ages. The authors demonstrate the causes of friendly relations between the ruling structures and sharifian families. Typical social and economic conditions for usage of charitable endowments (waqfs) and land grants (azibs), provided to the advantage of sharifs, are also reviewed, as well as historical and cultural background for transformation of waqf and azib lands into private property. The authors trace back the etymology of azib and argue that its semantic content was due to existence of semi-nomad camps on the cattle-pass routes. Special attention is paid to the legal status of population living in waqfs and azibs, as well as factors of economic efficiency of these economic units. The study explores the continuity and stability of their evolution on specific examples. Reasons for development of wakfs into azibs, which remained typical in Moroccan (not Egyptian) history, are also outlined.

The publication presents previously unpublished letters from V.A. Gordlevsky to A.E. Krymsky dated 1906–1909.

A report on international academic discussions of the medieval and early modern Middle East.

The article considers the milestones of evolution of the Department of Near and Middle East History since its establishment within the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University and up to the collapse of the USSR. The research is based on the analysis of scientific and pedagogical activities of prominent Soviet professors and scientists who worked at the department and considerably influenced the development of Russian Oriental Studies within the walls of the Moscow University. During the existence of the Soviet state the teaching staff of the Department worked actively and effectively on creation of new quality curricula and training programs for oriental studies, development of innovative lecture courses and corresponding textbooks taking into account the latest trends and tendencies in teaching. This helped to provide the Soviet generation of students with a sufficiently complete understanding of the historical development and current state of the socioeconomic and cultural life of the countries and regions under study. The scientific life of the Department during the Soviet period was characterized by a gradual shift in the focus of research interests of its staff from topics describing the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the Near and Middle East against colonial oppression, the history of the labor movement, the activities of communist parties and trade union organizations, towards the issues of civilizational development of the East, the ways of development of the nations in the context of the bipolar world, etc. The most significant polemical subjects were reflected in the capital scientific works of the Department, which over time acquired a more diverse and analytically profound character.

The article describes the Department of Middle Eastern History at Moscow State University and its place in the development of Russian Oriental studies.

The present article is a further extension of the authors’ previous publication dealing with the main milestones in the development of the Department of Near and Middle East History during the years of Soviet power. This part of the study covers the range of issues relating to the functioning of the staff of the department from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present day. The challenges faced by domestic higher education and Oriental studies in the post-perestroika period are described, as well as the characteristics of the departmental leaders who were able to ensure the consistent development of the department in the new realities of a rapidly changing world. A considerable part of the article is devoted to the analysis of academic and pedagogical activities of the Department’s teaching staff at the present stage. The members of the Department actively and fruitfully work on creation of new high-quality training programs for Orientalists specializing in the history of the Middle East, making a significant contribution to training and education of Orientalist specialists at Moscow University, and promoting Oriental studies and historical science in general.

Using the example of Alaouite Morocco and the Egyptian province of the Ottoman Empire, the authors discuss the historical retrospective of the political and ideological interrelationship between the ruling circles of the Arab lands and the influential clans of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (sharifs), who lived in North Africa since the early Middle Ages. The reasons for the political alliances between the Alaouite dynasty and the provincial sharifian families are explained, as well as the factors behind the sharifs’ participation in the political life of Ottoman Egypt. The ecological, political, and socio-cultural grounds for the long-term preservation of peripheral land-use patterns in these countries are considered. The authors turn to the study of the functioning of pious endowments (waqfs), land grants (azibs), and tax-farming holdings (iltizams) provided in favor of the sharifs. The historical and cultural prerequisites for the transformation of waqfs, azib lands, and iltizams into private property are clarified. Special attention is paid to the legal status of users of azibs and iltizams and to the political status of residents of lands granted as azibs.

The article analyses the scientific and pedagogical activities of the teaching staff of the Department of the Near and Middle East History on the threshold of the 270th anniversary of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The main goal of the authors was to make an objective assessment of the current state of the Department and its contribution to the development of Russian humanitarian knowledge, to determine its place in the structure of university science and education. Such a study makes it possible to characterize the specific nature of the training of Russian specialists in the Middle East and North Africa, the history and culture of Islam at Moscow University. At the same time, it allows us to get an adequate idea of the scientific schools formed in the Department, the level of academic research conducted by it, in order to assess the multifaceted work of the Department’s team within the framework of all-Russian and international Orientalist research projects. In the course of the work it was convincingly demonstrated that the Department of the Near and Middle East History has now firmly occupied its niche in the structure of Russian Oriental studies, becoming an important part of the Russian humanitarian community, a recognized center of education and training of qualified Orientalists for the needs of the country.

The article investigates the biography and academic legacy of the famous Russian representative of classical Oriental studies Boris V. Miller (1877–1956). His life along with his scholarly and pedagogical activities reflected turning points in the history of linguistic, folkloristic, historical and ethnographic studies of the Iranian-speaking peoples of the Caucasus — Talysh, Kurds and Tats at the end of the 19th — first half of the 20th century. Professor B.V. Miller is remembered in the history of Oriental studies in Russia as a talented and highly motivated scholar who made a significant contribution to the development of Iranian studies, and as one of the founders of Iranian studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

In 2024, we celebrated the 220th anniversary of the birth of the prominent scholar G.S. Sablukov (1804–1880), who occupied a special place in the history of the Qur’anic studies in Russia. His main academic achievement — the first published translation of the Qur’an from the Arabic into Russian (1877) — became an important step in the development of Russian Oriental science. The article investigates the stages of formation of G.S. Sablukov as an expert on Islamic issues, contains an overview of his works dedicated to the Qur’an and analyzes the assessments of his translation of the Holy Muslim Book, which have changed over time. However, there is no doubt that with his translation of the Qur’an, G.S. Sablukov made a significant contribution to Russian Islamic studies by strengthening its scholarly foundations.