Criticism and bibliography. Reviews

Vol. 4. Translated from Arabic by V. V. Matveev, L. E. Kubbel, M. A. Tolmacheva, with the participation of N. A. Dobronravin.

Edited by N. A. Dobronravin and V. A. Popov, Moscow: Eastern Literature, 2002, 623 p.

(Monuments of Oriental writing. CXVI)

The reviewed edition is the final volume of a huge work on the commented translation into Russian of Arabic sources on medieval history and ethnography of "Black Africa", started almost half a century ago by outstanding Russian scientists L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev ^* . However, the death of the former in 1988 and the latter in 1995 did not allow them to complete the grandiose plan, which was based on D. A. Olderogge: the sources of the XIII-XIV centuries remained unpublished, and partially untranslated. Students and followers of L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev - M. A. Tolmachev, N. A. Dobronravii, and V. A. Popov-undertook the work of preparing them for publication. The result of their work was a book that, in its scientific qualities, became a worthy monument to the departed classics of Russian African studies.

The publication includes sections of Arabic-language works of various genres: biographical dictionaries (ad-Darjini, Ibn Khallikan), historical works (Ibn as-Sa'i al-Baghdadi), encyclopedias (an-Nuwayri, al - ' Umari), geographical and cosmographic treatises (Zakariya al-Qazwini, Ibn Sa'id al- Maghreb, al-Shirazi, Abu'l-Fida', al-Harrani, ad-Dimashki), official documents (al - 'Umari), travel notes (al -' Abdari, at-Tijani, Ibn Battuta). Thus, the publication presents information known to medieval Arab intellectuals on various regions of Africa. First of all, of course, these are data on areas that by that time had become direct targets of Arab penetration-the Sudan, North-East Africa, and the coast of the Indian Ocean. However, in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Arabs accumulated some knowledge about other parts of the continent, as well as about the adjacent islands, in particular about Madagascar.

The publication of Arabic sources in Russian will undoubtedly prove extremely useful for Russian non-Arabic scholars, not only for African studies, but also for social anthropologists in particular, since many of the information contained in the book under review is of interest from the point of view of comparative and theoretical analysis of many important aspects of the culture of pre-industrial societies. These include numerous descriptions of the economy and trade of sub-Saharan Africa, family and marriage relations, political organization, religion, and ideology. The information contained in the publication is also important for researchers of the historical ethnography of Africa (descriptions of clothing, housing, food, rituals, traditional medicine). Bezus-

^* Previous volumes of the series: seventh-and tenth-century Arabic Sources on the ethnography and history of sub-Saharan Africa. Moscow, 1960; Arab sources of the X-XII centuries on the ethnography and history of Africa South of the Sahara / V. V. Matveev and L. E. Kubbel, Moscow-L., 1965; Arab sources of the XII-XIII centuries on the ethnography and history of Sub-Saharan Africa / V. V. Matveev and L. E. Kubbel', Moscow, 1985. See also: Lev Afrikanii. Africa is the third part of the world. Descriptions of Africa and its attractions / Trans., comment. and input. article by V. V. Matveeva, Moscow, 1983; Sudanskiye khroniki / Transl., preface and notes by L. E. Kubbel, Moscow, 1984; Istoriya Afrika v drevnykh i srednevekovykh istochnikakh [History of Africa in ancient and medieval Sources]. Anthology / Edited by S. Ya. Berzina and L. E. Kubbel. 2nd ed. Moscow, 1990.

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The book may also be useful for scholars who study the history of Arab-African relations and the spread of Islam in Africa, as well as its interaction with traditional belief systems.

The value of such work is largely, if not decisively, determined by the quality of translation of texts, as well as comments on them. It should be noted that the editors did not limit themselves to mechanical reproduction of texts from the archives of L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev, but did a lot of additional work: they completed the translation of those sources that V. V. Matveev did not have time to finish (seven out of thirteen), checked all translations with the originals, which is especially important for those texts that translations of which were made by V. V. Matveev from publications in European languages (works of al-Watwat, Ibn Khallikan, etc.). In some cases, verification with the original led to a more accurate translation of individual fragments of texts (for example, on p. 35). M. A. Tolmacheva and translations of extensive sections of the works of al-Qazvini and al-'Umari, which L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev did not have time to start, were expertly performed.

It is important to note that this edition has preserved the tradition of previous volumes of the series: in addition to translations of sources, their Arabic originals are also presented. Among other things, this allows the reader to evaluate the quality of the translation, which, in our opinion, is performed at a very high level. Of course, sometimes different translations of individual fragments are possible, and in some places the translators, in our opinion, did not choose the best option. So, it seems to us that

it is better to translate as follows: "They are waging a holy war with black non-Muslims. When the Emir died... After him, the husband of his wife's sister Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-Juddali became the ruler [of Sanhaj]." In the book: "They were waging a holy war with the blacks, who were not Muslims, when the Emir died... After him, his female relative Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-Juddali became the ruler of Sanhaj" (translated by N. A. Dobronravin, p. 204). At the same time, we emphasize that in such cases we are not talking about unacceptable distortion of meaning.

Introductory articles to texts and their translations also generally meet scientific requirements. Despite their lapidary nature, they contain information about the author, source analysis of his work, and the history of translations and publications, including this one. However, it is regrettable that there is no serious scientific commentary directly on the information contained in the texts on the history and ethnography of sub-Saharan Africa. Indexes (names, geographical, ethnic and astronomical names, subject matter), despite the completeness and qualification of their compilation, are able to point out to the reader certain phenomena that he can read about in this book, but is not able to explain their meaning, interpret their content.

This, of course, does not in any way detract from the overall appreciation of the book, which successfully completes the half-century work of several generations of scientists. It adequately crowns a series of publications, the importance of which has long been appreciated by historians and ethnographers of our country.

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