On October 26, 2009, the Center for Arab Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the first meeting of the seminar on Arabic historical sources of the Late Middle Ages and Modern times. Employees of the Center, the Department of Oriental History, the Department of Oriental Writing Monuments of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and teachers of the Institute of Asian and African Countries of Moscow State University took part in its work. The purpose of the seminar is to discuss poorly studied aspects of the history of the Middle East and North Africa region of the specified period, related to the history of concepts.

With the report "Genre of biography in the Libyan chronicle" Manhal al - 'azb fi ta'rih Tarabulus al-Gharb" ("Sweet (unleavened) source on the history of Western Tripoli") Ahmad-beka an-Na'iba al-Ansari (end of the XIX century) " was presented by D. V. Mikulsky (IB RAS). In his opinion, the monument is practically not put into scientific circulation either in Western or domestic Arabic studies. The work is a two-volume work written by the Libyan author Ahmad beq al-Na'ib al-Ansari, who died, as stated in the preface, at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. He belonged to one of the most educated families in Tripoli, traditionally involved in the judiciary. Ahmad Beg's ancestor came from Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) in the late 14th century, fleeing the Reconquista.

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This compilation describes events in Tripoli from the beginning of the Arab-Muslim conquest to the second half of the 19th century. The structure of the monument has a very peculiar character. The text is categorized in such a way that the sections contain information about the supreme heads of the Muslim community, i.e. caliphs - from the righteous to the Ottoman (Ottoman Sultans), and about specific rulers and governors of this territory. The speaker suggested that such a structure is typical for the so-called local stories that were appearing in the Ottoman Empire at that time.

D. V. Mikulsky told about his research of one of the sections of this monument - biographies of outstanding people who were clergy. They are highlighted in the text by the title, which indicates the name of the person to whom the biography is dedicated. In total, the text contains 80 biographies, which are given in the context of the most important events of a particular year. Of this number, 37 were Sufis, 23 were faqihs, and 20 were individuals who combined Sharia and Sufism.

Biographies vary significantly in volume: the largest one takes up 214 lines of text, and the smallest one takes up one line. The speaker divided the information contained in the biographies into 17 thematic headings. The first is information about the person himself and the nature of his activities. Since in traditional Muslim society a person is famous not only for himself, but also for his family tree, D. V. Mikulsky singled out the second category - information about ancestors. Such information is contained in 13 biographies out of 80, namely: two biographies of Sufis, five faqihs and six Sufi faqihs. The genealogy of the Sufi Sheikh al-Senusi (1791 - 1859), the founder of the Senusi brotherhood, is most fully described. The third category contains information about relatives and contemporaries of the hero of the biography (two or three cases). Then there are references to the place of birth and primary education (31 biographies). So, 23 people were educated by some local experts (sheikhs, alims, holy people), two first at home, and then from experts, one at school, one from their father-faqih, two learned the Koran by heart at the age of seven and eight, respectively. The speaker placed information about teachers (18 cases) and students (four biographies) in the following categories (fifth and sixth).

The category "deeds" turned out to be extensive. Such information is found in 54 biographies. This allowed us to distinguish the following sub-categories: righteous lifestyle (15 cases), transmission of hadith (five), stories about deeds (15), foundation of a mosque (two), teaching (four), participation in dogmatic disputes (two), settling in a certain place (six), various life circumstances (five times). The acts are accompanied by information about the positions held by the heroes of the biographies (naibs, qadis, muftis serving under the governor in Tripoli). This is mentioned in the information about 14 Muslim clerics.

An important role in the formation of the righteous was occupied by traveling to the Arab East: to Istanbul, Egypt, the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Some biographies say that when their heroes returned to their homeland, they did something special. For example, one founded a madrasa, the other a zawiyyah (Sufi monastery), two began teaching, and two continued their studies with Sufi sheikhs.

A separate category is "miracles", which, according to the source, were performed by 22 people. For example, they could predict fate, discover previously unknown graves of other righteous people, communicate with otherworldly forces, etc. Another category is devoted to the spiritual and intellectual achievements of the heroes of biographies: they wrote certain works, poems, wise sayings, asceticism, humility are attributed to them. Finally, in the biographies, the place where the righteous person was buried is called: next to the grave of relatives, in the zawiyah or mosque founded by him, in a certain locality, etc. In conclusion, D. V. Mikulsky noted that the reviewed biographies of the righteous as a source have a very personal character. This is evident in the numerous comments of the author-compiler, who allows himself explanations, doubts, clarifications, praises of Allah regarding the material compiled by him.

V. V. Orlov (ISAA) presented a report on the topic "Experience of processing biographical information on the Alim corps in Moroccan sources of the XVIII-XIX centuries". These are the Moroccan chronicles of Ahmad al-Nasiri "Kitab al-istiqsa li akhbar duwwal al-Maghrib al-Aqsa" ("The Book of studying information about the dynasties of the Far Maghrib"), as well as the work of Abu-l-Qasim al-Zayyani "At-Tarjuman al-mu'arib' an duwwal al-Mashriq wa- l-Maghrib "("A skilful narrative of the Mashriq and Maghrib dynasties"). The author also used a number of hagiographic sources, in particular the work of Moroccan Alim Muhammad al-Qattani "Salouat al-anfas wa muhadasat al-akyas bi man uqbir min al-ulama' wa-s-sulaha 'bi Fas" ("Consolation of souls and conversation, estimate-

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It is the blessing of the Alim and the righteous who rested in Fez"). It is a kind of hagiographic guide to the tombs of Fez. In addition, a number of other sources were used, including city chronicles.

In the course of processing these sources, the speaker managed to find references to the activities of 158 alims who lived and worked in Fez, Marrakech, Meknes, Rabat, Tangier and other cities of Morocco, although the search for biographies has not yet been completed. there are differences in who the author of the source refers to as alims, and who the researchers refer to them. If the definition of this term is limited to a very narrow stratum of "people of the pen", i.e. the higher teaching staff of large madrasas or universities, then the number of alims will range from 20 to 30 people for the period under review. From the sources of European authors who visited Morocco, it follows that in the Moroccan cities of the XVIII-XIX centuries. there were no more than 100 - 130 alims.

The speaker suggested that the difference in the definition of the number of alims is explained by the fact that there was a combination of social traits of the same character. So, often there are Alim-Murabites, Sufi sheikhs who were also landowners, etc.

To eliminate ambiguity in the definition of alims, V. V. Orlov introduced a number of additional criteria for evaluating them as an object of study. First, it is a reference to a certain person as an alim or faqih with appropriate epithets. Among such epithets, the speaker cites the following: 'allama - a well-known expert, kudwa - an example to follow, baraka-blessed, huja - an unquestionable authority, musharik-omniscient (in such and such sciences), fadil-worthy, muhaqqiq-exploring, mudakkiq-attentive, nafi' - beneficial, darrak - comprehending, badi ' - knowing, mahir-skilled, experienced, etc. Secondly, the availability of education and the place of its receipt. Most often, Moroccan Alims were educated either at the al-Qarawiyyin University in Fez, or in other centers of Muslim scholarship, including abroad, although there are few specific cases described. Third, the right to issue a fatwa. Fourth, biographies often contain information about teaching in educational institutions or about the presence of literary or scientific works by one or another alim.

The data collected by V. V. Orlov make it possible to judge the development of the Moroccan intellectual environment. The Moroccan Alim corps of the XVIII-XIX centuries looked very interesting in socio-political terms. 35% of the Alim whose biographies could be traced came from Fez, 22% from other cities and 8% from rural areas. Moroccan intellectuals were characterized by high mobility. Of all the Alim biographies that were analyzed, 44% say that their characters changed their place of residence during their career in search of knowledge both in Morocco and abroad. For example, in Syria, according to I. M. Smilyanskaya, in the XVIII century there were only 26% of such alims.

From the biographies, it follows that the Moroccan alims had a broad outlook. In some cases, their specialization in some sciences (logic, tafsir, hadith, Kalam, fiqh, grammar) is mentioned. About 40 alims were members of the most popular Sufi fraternities in Morocco: Qadiriyah, Shaziliyah, Nasiriyah. Most of the Alims who lived in large cities were also imams of mosques. Almost all the Alims were teachers of various ranks. There are also advisers at the court of the sultan or governor, muftis who issued fatwas concerning taxes.

A characteristic feature of Morocco, noted by V. V. Orlov , is the polycentrism of its religious and educational sphere, which arose due to the developed system of Sufi education in Zawiyah outside such large cities as Fez, Rabat and Meknes. The speaker pointed out that the Alim corps of Morocco was steadily replenished from the Alim urban environment, which is similar to the ilmieh (religious and academic class) model typical of the Ottoman Empire. However, it would be wrong to represent the Alim corporation as a closed community. Unlike in Syria, where about half of the Alim inherited their profession from their father, in Morocco there are often nisbas indicating various craft professions, at least in the distant past. This means that access to higher education for the Moroccan citizen remained free and open.

During the discussion of the presentations, F. M. Atsamba (ISAA) expressed the opinion that it would be advisable to arrange the biographies analyzed by D. V. Mikulsky in chronological order, as this could emphasize the qualitative changes that have been made in the past.-

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a corporation of prominent religious figures was tolerated. She also noted that when analyzing biographies, it is important to mention the madhhab and indicate whether science was the main source of income for Alim.

Dmitry Mishin (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) compared the modern Alim corps in Morocco and Libya with a spiritual corporation in medieval Muslim Spain. He stressed that, as in Morocco, the Alim Corps of Andalusia was not a closed community, and its members often practiced combining Islamic studies with other activities. For example, there were many merchants among them. Unlike in Libya, Andalusian sources note that the Alim were also transmitters of hadith. F. M. Atsamba noted that in modern times, the inclusion of a particular religious figure in the chain of hadith transmitters was irrelevant, since collections of hadith were already compiled.

The seminar participants drew attention to the formalization of the status of the Alim corps in the Maghreb countries in modern times, in contrast to the Middle Ages. According to V. V. Orlov, the Ottoman Empire played a major role in this. I. M. Smilyanskaya (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) recalled that the Port was characterized by a certain ranking of the clergy, and the level of education had a great influence on Alim's career.

In conclusion, I. M. Smilyanskaya emphasized that when analyzing biographies and other historical sources, it is necessary to use modern methods and work in line with the so-called history of concepts and categories. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account their multi-semantic nature, since modern concepts such as state, society, politics, etc., were established in Europe in the XVI-XVII centuries, but in the Arab East they had a different meaning.

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V. A. KUZNETSOV, V. V. ORLOV

On December 2, 2009, the second session of the seminar "History in the Medieval Arab-Muslim system of Knowledge" was held at the Center for Arab Studies of the Institute of Islamic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Employees of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ISAA, the Faculty of History of Moscow State University and the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences took part in its work.

The main report "History in the medieval Arab-Muslim system of knowledge" was delivered by V. A. Kuznetsov (MSU). He considered the problem of the epistemological status of historiography on the basis of theoretical medieval works on the history of al-Iji, al-Kafiyaji and al-Sahawi, as well as on the basis of the world-historical chronicles of Ibn Qutaybah, al-Dinawari, al-Ya'qubi, at-Tabari, al-Mas'udi, al-Maqdisi, Miskawayh, as-Sa'alibi, Ibn al-Asir, Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn Khaldun. The speaker highlighted the following questions: What were the Arabic equivalents of the concept of "history" and how were they defined? What were the genres of historical literature and how did they transform? What place did these genres occupy in medieval classifications of knowledge?

The analysis of sources allowed V. A. Kuznetsov to draw the following conclusions. Before the word at-ta'rih was understood as historical knowledge in general, it went through a long path of development, beginning with the meaning of date, dating and chronology. It was not immediately used in works that are considered historical, and when it did, it was primarily in the sense of chronology, dating, or epoch. Only by the middle of the tenth century did the idea of at-ta'rih emerge as a type of literature that combines chronologically constructed knowledge about the past. Throughout the subsequent period, this meaning co-existed with the previous ones, but it did not cease to be perceived as a derivative, as something secondary and optional, as the texts of al-Iji, al-Kafiyaji and al-Sahawi clearly indicate. Finally, in the work of Ibn Khaldun, this generalized understanding becomes the main one, and at-ta'rih is transformed from chronology into knowledge of the past. Thus, in the evolution of the meaning of at-ta'rih, there is a tendency to ascend from the particular to the general. That the Arabic at-ta'rih came from dating (and similar meanings), and not from the story (khabar or its synonyms) served as a serious obstacle to creating a single historical narrative about the past. At-ta'rikh did not imply the unity of the text either in the XV century or in modern times, when historiography retained the features of medieval chronicling. In other words, if there is an increase in volume in Europe

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In the Arab-Muslim world, the number of related messages increased. Perhaps that is why Ibn Khaldun, introducing the idea of unity of social development, wrote that he created a new science - ' ilm at-ta'rih, which rejected internal unity at the level of semantics.

According to the speaker, despite the early appearance of literature about the past, for a very long time in the Arab-Muslim tradition there was no idea of a single historical knowledge, or historical science, and a huge complex of historical texts in the modern sense correlated with a number of literary genres. Three of them - akhbar (izvestiya), ansab (genealogy) and tabakat (categories) - emerged in the VIII-IX centuries and continuously existed throughout the Middle Ages, although their place in the system of historiography was transformed. Thus, akhbar eventually came to be understood as a synonym for hadith, although at the same time they became the main compositional element of the chronicles-ta'rih; the meaning of the concept of tabaqat expanded - initially it was catalogs of the companions of the Prophet who settled in various cities of the abode of Islam, gradually they were transformed into compendiums of short biographies of representatives of a particular social group (professional, social- psychological, etc.); finally, the ansab, without completely disappearing from historical writing, became less and less popular. The main genre of historical writing in the late Middle Ages wasta ' rih, or historical chronicle. Originating in the tenth century, by the fifteenth century ta'rih had absorbed all other forms of historical writing - biographies (Siri), conquests (maghiz) , stories about the prophets (qisas al-an-biya'), etc.

In the medieval Arab-Muslim system of knowledge, which was formed in the tenth century and continued to maintain its basic structure, historical knowledge was very poorly represented - in most classifications it is either absent altogether (al-Farabi, Ibn Sina), or is not explicitly represented (al-Khawarezmi), or occupies a subordinate position in relation to to all other types of sciences. In those classifications where historical disciplines are mentioned (Brothers of Purity, Ibn an-Nadim), they are still considered outside of any integrity (especially among the Brothers) and at best - within the framework of some more general knowledge-the science of news ('ilm al-akhbar), which unites all knowledge about the circumstances of the created world peace (Ibn an-Nadim, al - ' Iji). They are either a technical aid to the traditional sciences, or an integral part of the adabic ones. At the same time, according to the speaker, in the late Medieval period, it is planned to distinguish historiography as a separate type of knowledge, which is expressed in the appearance of historical writing.'ilm at-ta' rih in al - 'Iji and Ibn Khaldun (the latter is not in the classification itself, but in the text of the Muqaddimah), but its place in the epistemological system is still not completely clear (subordinate position in al -' Iji and system-forming in Ibn Khaldun).

Thus, V. A. Kuznetsov summarized, the gradual separation of history from the general epistemological system and its acquisition of the status of an independent field of knowledge is observed in the evolution of definitions of the concept of ta'rih, in the transformation of genres of literature about the past, and in the classifications of sciences that were continuously developed throughout the Middle Ages.

The discussion that followed the report focused on the regional development of Arab-Muslim historiography. Thus, D. E. Mishin used the material of the Andalusian chronicle to correct some of the speaker's theses, showing, for example, that the tabakat catalogues from the very beginning of their appearance in Muslim Spain in the tenth century included not only information about the companions of the prophet and the first generations of Muslims, but were generally devoted to any closed social groups. When considering the peculiarity of regional biographies, special attention was paid to the connection of early medieval biographical literature of the Middle East with the Hellenistic tradition. V. V. Orlov drew attention to the development of hagiographic literature in the Maghreb late Medieval historiography as a form of representation of "folk" ideas about history.

Particularly interesting was the part of the discussion in which participants tried to compare the epistemological status of historical writing in the medieval Arab-Muslim world with its status in Western Europe. There are many differences and similarities between the situations that developed in these two cultural areas. The fundamental difference between Arab-Muslim historiography and Western European is the purity of the development of the tradition of historical thought. In fact, here we can trace the entire path that historiography has taken from oral traditions to the construction of gigantic world-historical narratives that have not only an internal chronological unity, but even a more or less pronounced methodology (Ibn Khaldun). At the same time, in Western Europe, where prin-

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The types of writing history were perceived mainly from the ancient tradition, the evolution of forms of representation of the past is very poorly represented - in fact, as E. V. Kalmykova (MSU) noted, all forms were already contained in the Greco-Roman and Biblical cultural heritage. As for the general forms, as shown by I. F. Afanasyev and D. E. Mishin, they include the classification style of thinking, the lack of isolation of historical knowledge from other forms of knowledge of the world, its close connection not only with political or religious discourses, but also with jurisprudence.

Special attention was paid to the problem of the influence of ancient Near Eastern historiographical schools on Muslim historiography. Although this question remains open (and it is hardly possible to resolve it in the visible future), the main lines of interrelationships can still be identified. Thus, D. V. Mikulsky and F. M. Atsamba noted the connection of Muslim historiography with pre-Islamic oral Arabic tradition (although the nature of this connection remains unclear), and D. E. Mishin drew attention to how early Muslim authors mastered the ancient Iranian complex of legends and myths.

* * *

On January 25, 2010, the third session of the seminar was held, which was attended by employees of the Center for Arab Studies, the Department of Oriental History, the Department of Oriental Writing Monuments of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and teachers of the ISAA.

S. I. Luchitskaya (IVI RAS) made a report on the topic "Social space of the Western European Middle Ages: principles of construction (based on the materials of "chess books")". It dealt with a wide range of issues related to medieval society's self-image. Based on a thorough study of wide layers of source material, the speaker came to the conclusion that the modern set of terms and concepts used by modern historians to distinguish estates, social strata, macro-and micro-groups cannot be considered satisfactory for studying medieval society. S. I. Luchitskaya drew the attention of the audience to the methodological aspect of medieval research: In an effort to discover social groups in medieval history, the historian is forced to project modern ideas onto a reality that is far from his own. In order to deviate from the description of the historical existence of the Middle Ages through the prism of modern culture, it is necessary, as she noted, to turn to the concept of "constructing the social". In her opinion, the concept of "social category", which is close to a modern researcher in the humanities, as an abstract unit of the division of society into opposing strata, did not exist in the Middle Ages.

S. I. Luchitskaya noted that the results of her research revealed that the social stratification of the European Middle Ages was based on a wide variety of criteria that were very far from modern ones. As the main differences between medieval and modern stratification criteria, the speaker emphasized their complex nature, non-fragmented characteristics and always occurring moral coloring. Giving examples, S. I. Luchitskaya showed that these criteria made it possible to contrast the sick and healthy, adults and children, "dives" as people of nobility and obliged to serve the poor, and "pauperi", distinguished not only by insufficient property status, but also by lack of dignity, etc.

A significant part of the presentation was devoted to the original way of thinking about social relations, which was characteristic of medieval intellectuals in Europe since the middle of the 13th century - the idea of society by likening social space to a chessboard, and social groups to chess pieces. A detailed description of socio-professional associations "represented" by certain figures, the relationship between the arrangement and rules of their course, on the one hand, and real social relations, on the other, allowed us to reveal the essence of the chessboard as a social metaphor and the subject of research interest of the historian. The report emphasized the need to understand the different ways of self-identification of members of medieval societies and to study the principles of social construction inherent in these societies.

In the discussion that followed, the speakers focused on the social essence of the chess game metaphor and the adequacy of modern ideas about European feudalism. So, D. E. Mishin drew analogies between a number of the most dramatic chess moves (turning a pawn into a queen, checkmate of a pawn to the king) and perturbations in society, and T. K. Koraev

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(ISAA) drew the attention of the audience to the fact that in the Eastern tradition of chess, the queen (farzan) did not mean the queen (regina), but the sage-adviser to the king. Explaining the provisions of the report, S. I. Luchitskaya highlighted in detail the differences between the rules for moving pieces in the Middle Ages and in the modern chess game; in particular, the medieval rules did not provide for the transformation of a pawn into a queen. D. V. Mikulsky, comparing the threefold model of the functional division of society (oratores-bellatores-laboratores) presented in the report with the classical concepts of suzerainty for the perception of feudalism, considered the question of the correlation of these models with reality. S. I. Luchitskaya drew attention to the fact that the opinion of historians of the XIX - early XX centuries. The concept of the social hierarchy of feudalism is nothing more than a systematization of information from lawyers of the XVII century, which is a highly developed and detailed scheme that does not explain the realities of the XIII-XIV centuries. F. M. Atsamba and I. M. Smilyanskaya in their speeches turned to various metaphors and forms of likening society to a tree, elements of a building, the human body, etc.

Summing up the results of the seminar, its leader I. M. Smilyanskaya emphasized that the inclusion of medieval European issues in the subjects under consideration expands the range of tools of Arab historians, opens up new opportunities for comparing traditional social structures of Russia, the West and the East.

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