Musa Sayrami
Encyclopedia
Mullā Mūsa Sayrāmī was a historian from Xinjiang
, known for his account of the events in that region in the 19th century, in particular the Dungan Rebellion of 1864-1877. While the ethnonym
Uyghurs, with its modern meaning, was not yet used in Musa Sayrami's day, he probably would be called an Uyghur if he lived a few decades later, based on his place of birth and the language of his literary works.
Musa was originally from the village of Sayram, located northwest of Kuqa
in what is today Baicheng County
, Xinjiang
. The place should not be confused with the larger city of the same name
in Kazakhstan
In his youth he was sent to Kuqa
to study at the madrassah of Mulla Osman Akhund. He became a close friend of one of his classmates, named Mahmudin (Muḥammad al-Dīn), a son of Burhān al-Dīn Khoja, an important member of the Khoja clan
. Musa later referred to Mahmudin as "Khojam Padishah".
In the summer 1864, during the early days of the Dungan Rebellion in Xinjiang, Musa joined the army of the rebel Khoja Burhān al-Dīn when it passed through Sayram. Along with Burhan's son Mahmudin, Musa was among Burhan's rebels at Aksu and Uqturpan, and became Burhan's right-hand man there.
After the people of Uqturpan overthrew the Khojas
in 1867, Musa Sayrami escorted the arrested Khojas to the headquarters of the new ruler of the region, Yaqub Beg. He then found a place for himself in Yaqub Beg's government apparatus, where he served under Mirza Baba Beg, the zakat
chi (chief revenue officer) in Aksu.
Musa survived the death of Yaqub Beg's and the reconquest of Xinjiang by Zuo Zongtang
's Qing
armies in 1877. He lived the rest of his days in Aksu, writing and re-writing his Tarikh-i amniyya, which he completed in 1903.
—the old literary language of Central Asia, which can be thought of as an ancestral form of today's Uyghur
and Uzbek
languages. According to modern scholars, the Chagatai of Musa Sayrami's manuscripts had been influenced by "modern" Uyghur language (i.e., the vernacular of Sayrami's own era).
Soviet researchers suggested that the title of Musa's work also alludes to the name of one of his friends, Dadhah Muhammad Amin Bai
Aqsaqal
; thus, it can also be read as "History dedicated to Amin". Amin was the elder (aqsaqal
) of the Russian subjects in Aksu and Uqturpan, and maintained correspondence with the Russian consul in Kashgar
, Nikolai Petrovsky
. The Soviet researcher K.A. Usmanov thus suggested that Petrovsky, known as an avid collector of materials related to the history of the region, may have been instrumental in encouraging Musa to undertake his work.
Tārīkh-i amniyya, which has survived in several manuscripts, consists of the following parts:
Tārīkh-i amniyya was first published by the Russian scholar N.N. Pantusov in Kazan
in 1905.
(Pantusov had apparently a special interest in the history of the region; he had earlier published a Russian translation of another work on the same topic, Mullā Bilāl's Ghazāt dar mulk-i Chín ("Holy War in China"), originally written in 1876.)
A modern Uyghur
translation was published in Urumqi
in 1988 as Tärikhi äminiyä.
Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi (History of Ḥamid) is a revised version of Tārīkh-i amniyya, completed in 1908. A modern Uyghur translation by Enver Baytur was published in Beijing
in 1986.
, Sayrami is "one of the best historians that Central Asia has ever produced", and his books are the most important locally produced source on the Dungan Rebellion and the Yaqub Beg regime.
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, known for his account of the events in that region in the 19th century, in particular the Dungan Rebellion of 1864-1877. While the ethnonym
Ethnonym
An ethnonym is the name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms and autonyms or endonyms .As an example, the ethnonym for...
Uyghurs, with its modern meaning, was not yet used in Musa Sayrami's day, he probably would be called an Uyghur if he lived a few decades later, based on his place of birth and the language of his literary works.
Biography
Kuqa
Kuqa may refer to:*Kuqa County, Xinjiang, China*Kuqa City, seat of Kuqa County...
in what is today Baicheng County
Baicheng County
The Baicheng County is a county in the Aksu Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The county's land area is 15,889 km2...
, Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
. The place should not be confused with the larger city of the same name
Sayram
Sayram is a city located in southeastern South Kazakhstan Province on the Sayram Su River, which rises at the nearby 4000 meter mountain Sayram Su. In medieval times, the city and countryside were located on the banks of the Arys/Ares River, into which the Sayram Su river flows.The city...
in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
In his youth he was sent to Kuqa
Kuqa
Kuqa may refer to:*Kuqa County, Xinjiang, China*Kuqa City, seat of Kuqa County...
to study at the madrassah of Mulla Osman Akhund. He became a close friend of one of his classmates, named Mahmudin (Muḥammad al-Dīn), a son of Burhān al-Dīn Khoja, an important member of the Khoja clan
Khoja (Turkestan)
Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...
. Musa later referred to Mahmudin as "Khojam Padishah".
In the summer 1864, during the early days of the Dungan Rebellion in Xinjiang, Musa joined the army of the rebel Khoja Burhān al-Dīn when it passed through Sayram. Along with Burhan's son Mahmudin, Musa was among Burhan's rebels at Aksu and Uqturpan, and became Burhan's right-hand man there.
After the people of Uqturpan overthrew the Khojas
Khoja (Turkestan)
Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...
in 1867, Musa Sayrami escorted the arrested Khojas to the headquarters of the new ruler of the region, Yaqub Beg. He then found a place for himself in Yaqub Beg's government apparatus, where he served under Mirza Baba Beg, the zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
chi (chief revenue officer) in Aksu.
Musa survived the death of Yaqub Beg's and the reconquest of Xinjiang by Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang
Zuo Zongtang , spelled Tso Tsung-t'ang in Wade-Giles and known simply as General Tso in the West, was a Chinese statesman and military leader in the late Qing Dynasty....
's Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
armies in 1877. He lived the rest of his days in Aksu, writing and re-writing his Tarikh-i amniyya, which he completed in 1903.
Tārīkh-i amniyya and Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi
Tārīkh-i amniyya ("History of Peace") was written in the Chagatai languageChagatai language
The Chagatai language is an extinct Turkic language which was once widely spoken in Central Asia, and remained the shared literary language there until the early twentieth century...
—the old literary language of Central Asia, which can be thought of as an ancestral form of today's Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
and Uzbek
Uzbek language
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
languages. According to modern scholars, the Chagatai of Musa Sayrami's manuscripts had been influenced by "modern" Uyghur language (i.e., the vernacular of Sayrami's own era).
Soviet researchers suggested that the title of Musa's work also alludes to the name of one of his friends, Dadhah Muhammad Amin Bai
Beg
Beg refers to:* Begging* Beg or Baig an alternative form of the Turkic title Bey . It is also used by Indian, Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani people....
Aqsaqal
Aqsaqal
Aqsaqal in Turkic languages literally means "white beard", and metaphorically refers to the male elders, the old and wise of the community...
; thus, it can also be read as "History dedicated to Amin". Amin was the elder (aqsaqal
Aqsaqal
Aqsaqal in Turkic languages literally means "white beard", and metaphorically refers to the male elders, the old and wise of the community...
) of the Russian subjects in Aksu and Uqturpan, and maintained correspondence with the Russian consul in Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, Nikolai Petrovsky
Nikolai Petrovsky
Nikolay Fyodorovich Petrovsky was the Russian consul-general in Kashgar from 1882 until 1902.Petrovsky's main adversary during his time in Central Asia was George McCartney, his English counterpart. The competition between their two countries for influence in Central Asia is known as the Great Game...
. The Soviet researcher K.A. Usmanov thus suggested that Petrovsky, known as an avid collector of materials related to the history of the region, may have been instrumental in encouraging Musa to undertake his work.
Tārīkh-i amniyya, which has survived in several manuscripts, consists of the following parts:
- the introduction, which surveys the history of Xinjiang from NoahNoahNoah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...
to Chengiz Khan to the beginning of the Dungan Rebellion - Part 1, which discusses the early stages of the rebellion, under leadership of the KhojasKhoja (Turkestan)Khwāja or Khoja, , a Persian word literally meaning 'master', was used in Central Asia as a title of the descendants of the famous Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi teacher, Ahmad Kasani . The most powerful religious figure in the late Timurid era was the Naqshbandi Shaykh Khoja Ahrar...
- Part 2, which discusses the Yaqub Beg's regime, and the reconquest of the region by the Chinese troops in 1877.
- Conclusion
Tārīkh-i amniyya was first published by the Russian scholar N.N. Pantusov in Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
in 1905.
(Pantusov had apparently a special interest in the history of the region; he had earlier published a Russian translation of another work on the same topic, Mullā Bilāl's Ghazāt dar mulk-i Chín ("Holy War in China"), originally written in 1876.)
A modern Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turk, is a Turkic language with 8 to 11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China. Significant communities of Uyghur-speakers are located in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and various other...
translation was published in Urumqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
in 1988 as Tärikhi äminiyä.
Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi (History of Ḥamid) is a revised version of Tārīkh-i amniyya, completed in 1908. A modern Uyghur translation by Enver Baytur was published in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in 1986.
Modern assessment
In the view of the modern expert on the period's history, Kim HodongKim Hodong
Kim Ho-dong is a Korean historian, professor at Seoul National University. His research interests include nomadic societies of Central Asia and their interaction with the Chinese state.- Life :...
, Sayrami is "one of the best historians that Central Asia has ever produced", and his books are the most important locally produced source on the Dungan Rebellion and the Yaqub Beg regime.