Abbasgulu Bakikhanov

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Abbasgulu Bakikhanov
Abbasqulu Bakıxanov
Unknown painter. 19th century
Born21 June [O.S. 3 July] 1794
Amirjan, Baku Khanate, Qajar Iran[1]
DiedJanuary 1847 (aged 52–53)
Wadi Fatimah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Other namesQodsi (pen name)
Occupation(s)writer, historian, journalist, linguist, poet and philosopher
Known forFather of Azerbaijani historiography
Parent
FamilyBakikhanovs

Abbasgulu agha Bakikhanov[a] (Azerbaijani: Abbasqulu ağa Bakıxanov) (21 June [O.S. 3 July] 1794,[3] Amirjan – January 1847, Wadi Fatimah, near Jeddah), Abbas Qoli Bakikhanov,[4][b] or Abbas-Qoli ibn Mirza Mohammad (Taghi) Khan Badkubi[5] was an Azerbaijani writer, historian, journalist, linguist, poet and philosopher. He was son of the third khan of Baku Mirza Muhammad Khan II. Served as an officer in the Imperial Russian Army and participated in the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, he later retired and settled in Quba.

Also known by his pen name Qodsi (Azeri: Qüdsi), many Azerbaijani scholars view Bakikhanov as among their first thinkers and historians.[6] He is credited with being the first person that wrote a "scholarly monograph on the history of greater Shirvan"; the area that would later make up most of the Republic of Azerbaijan.[7] His Qanun-e Qodsi, was the first Persian grammar manual published.

Early life[edit]

Bakikhanov's house-museum in Amsar, Quba.

Bakikhanov was the son of the 3rd khan of Baku, Mirza Muhammad Khan II and a Georgian woman named Sofia.[8] Started his education life in 1801 and was educated in Persian by several mullahs of his time like Muhammad Bakuvi and Haji Muhammad Gulkhani (d. 1808).[9] In 1813, seven years after the loss of the khanate's sovereignty, the family moved to Quba, where over the next ten years, he learned Arabic, Turkish, and Russian, followed later by French and Polish.[10] In 1818, he established the first Azeri literary society Gulistan-i Iram.

He enlisted in the Russian army on 20 December 1819 [O.S. 1 January 1820] and began serving as an interpreter and based in Caucasus Viceroyalty office in Tiflis on 28 December 1821 [O.S. 9 January 1822].[11] He worked in this position for 25 years.

Career[edit]

Bakikhanov took active part in campaigns against rebellious Dagestani principalities.[12] He was also a member of the Russian diplomatic mission in charge of negotiating border issues between Russia and Persia in the 1820s. In 1823, he helped gather ethnographic information for the Description of the Province of Karabakh. In 1828, he was among the Russian military command under General Paskevich that took part in peace negotiations with Persia, which resulted in signing the Treaty of Turkmenchay. He convinced Khan Ehsan of Nakhchivan, as well as a number of Kurdish leaders of Persia to ally with Russia. In 1829 he was awarded the 4th Degree Medal of St. Vladimir for participating in the siege of Kars in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. He met Alexander Pushkin in Erzurum, 1829, acting as his interpreter. During this time, he also established friendly relations with Nikita Pankratiev as well as Dmitry Bibikov, then Minister of Internal Affairs.[13]

He was tasked with cataloging seized books from Ottoman libraries from Akhaltsikhe, Erzurum and Bayazet. During this time he also found and translated Derbendname (Book of Derbent) by Mulla Muhammad Rafi, which was deemed as less quality work by Vladimir Minorsky.[14]

Dissatisfied with viceroy Georg Andreas von Rosen who questioned his loyalty, he decided to leave military service and tried to seek a career in Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He traveled to Warsaw in 1833 to meet and get support from his former superior Ivan Paskevich, who was now serving as viceroy of Congress Poland. Here, he complained about treatment of Caucasian Muslims by Yermolov and Rosen and sent a protest note. He eventually made it to Saint Petersburg after receiving news from Karl Nesselrode in May 1834 but left only two months later, reportedly under pressure of Rosen.

He retired in 1835 and returned to the village of Amsar near Quba.[15] He continued to write for several newspapers, including Tiflis Gazzette (Russian: Тифлисские ведомости). In 1837 he was summoned to Tiflis for investigative committee on Quba revolt. He wrote the article Wahhabis on the request of mujtahid of Tiflis for Encyclopedic Lexicon, first Russian encyclopedia in 1839.[16]

He was recalled to military duty in 1842 by Yevgeny Golovin, then Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus[12] and was promoted to rank of colonel.

Education efforts[edit]

Bakikhanov's religious views were generally liberal due to major European influences. He criticized fanaticism among the religious masses and the Obscurantism of the clergy. He promoted the Islamic culture in the region and in Russia as a whole. His ultimate goal was to establish a Muslim college in Baku and an Oriental languages school in Tbilisi. In 1832, he came up with a project for establishing a major educational institution for Muslims, where subjects would be taught in Russian, Persian, and Azeri.[16] He went further, and wrote a number of textbooks through which students were expected to study. The project was sent to the governor of the Caucasus for approval but was disregarded. Bakikhanov also translated several fables by Ivan Krylov into Azeri, one of which survives. His greatest accomplishment in the field of education was writing Qanun-e Qodsi, the first Persian grammar manual published in history.[17]

Later years[edit]

In 1845, Bakikhanov went on a hajj. On his way to the holy Islamic sights, he was warmly received by Mohammad Shah Qajar and was awarded the Shir-e Khorshid, the highest-ranking Persian medal for the second time.[9] There he also visited Isfahan, Yazd, Shiraz, and Kermanshah. From there he changed his route to Ottoman Empire on the suggestion of Moisey Argutinsky-Dolgorukov, who was stationed in Qajar Iran at the time.[9] In Constantinople, Bakikhanov had an audience with Abdulmejid I in October 1846, who showed interest in some of his academic writings, particularly in Asrar al-Malakut, of which he was presented a copy.[18] It was reported by Allgemeine Zeitung that this meeting also had a diplomatic character as it was for the first time a Muslim was representing a non-Muslim country.[19] From there, Bakikhanov went to visit Alexandria, Cairo, Mecca and Medina. On his way from Medina back to Damascus he caught cholera and died in the small town of Wadi Fatimah in Hejaz (present-day Saudi Arabia) in 1847. His exact time of death or burial site has not been established, but his death was reported on 2 February 1847 by the Russian consul in Syria to Mikhail Ustinov, Russian ambassador to Ottoman Empire.[20]

Works[edit]

Major[edit]

  • Riyadh al-Quds (The Holy Garden, 1820). Bakikhanov wrote his first book (in Azerbaijani) under religious influence from the Muslim communities of Quba. At the same time, Riyadh al-Quds was Bakikhanov's reflection piece on Shi'a mystic literature, such as Jila al-Uyun by Mohammed Baqer Majlisi.
  • Mishkat al-Anwar (The Cresset Niche, 1829) is an almanach of fables, parables, as well as some quotes from the Qur'an and references to Sufi mysticism overall aimed at preserving social values and morals within society. The book was written in Persian.
  • Kashf al-Qaraib (The Discovery of the Unknown, 1830) was one of the school books written by Bakikhanov in 1830 in Persian, where he describes the discovery of the Americas.
  • Qanun-e Qodsi (The Holy Law, 1831) was the first book in history entirely dedicated to the grammar of the Persian language. Originally written in Persian in 1831, it was translated into Russian in 1841 and became one of the bases for the development of iranistics in Russia.
  • Ketab-e Asgariyyeh (The Book of Asgar, 1837) was Bakikhanov's first fiction book: a love story of two young people, persecuted by the fanatic society they lived in. The book was written in Azerbaijani language.
  • Asrar al-Malakut (The Secrets of Heavens, 1839) is an introduction to astronomy, written in Arabic, later translated to Persian by Bakikhanov himself and translated to Ottoman Turkish by Seyyid Şeref Hayâtîzâde.[9]
  • Gulistan-i Iram (The Blooming Flower Garden, 1841) is one of his major works (written in Persian) and dedicated to the history of the East Caucasus from Ancient Times to 1813. It was nominated for a government award in 1845 by Alexander Neidgardt, viceroy of Caucasus, just before his death.[13] An English translation of this work has been made by Willem Floor and Hasan Javadi and published by Mage Publishers in 2009.[21]

Other works[edit]

  • Tahzib al-Akhlaq (Education of Morals, 1832) was a book on morality for children, based on Oriental and Greek philosophy.
  • Meraj-e Khayal (Ascension of the Dream) and Majlis-e Fireng (European Society) were written during his stay in Warsaw in 1833-1834, where he described his impressions of Poland.
  • Ayn al-Mizan (Creature of Scales, 1835) was a book on formal logic in Arabic, donated by himself to Alexander Kazembek in 1840.
  • Kitab-e Nasaikh (The Book of Admonitions, 1836) was a short moralizing sayings, based on the previous book.[3]
  • Umumi Joghrafya (General Geography) was an unfinished book on geography, of which Asrar al-Malakut was supposed to be part of.

He also authored scientific essays, collected poems, articles, translations of various works into Azeri and Russian, etc.

Philosophical and religious views[edit]

According to Ahmedov, Bakikhanov understood Allah as a kind of transcendental essence of the world, revealed in an infinite number of attributes. Sharing the messianic idea of Mahdism, Bakikhanov pointed out that Ali and his direct descendants personify the creed and power of the prophet. Direct communication from Ali is interrupted only on the twelfth imam; the last imam did not die, but was ascended to heaven by Allah.[22]

Bakikhanov believed that Allah doesn't directly cause a person's happiness or unhappiness; instead, He provides opportunities for self-salvation or error. A person, through intelligence and knowledge, can strive for salvation, and Allah will assist and guide him. However, if a person neglects these gifts, Allah leaves him in error. Bakikhanov reconciled freedom of action with divine predestination mechanically: Allah creates actions in line with each individual's free choice. He also preached the concepts of hope (tawakkul) and contentment (rida), reflecting a Sufi influence in his views. Citing Rumi, Bakikhanov condemned the pursuit of external benefits, excessive fear of death, temptation (nafs) as desire for the forbidden and illicit, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages.[23] Despite this, Bakikhanov was not an advocate of asceticism. He criticized both wickedness (fisq) and hermitage (zuhd), believing that both the hermit and the wicked deceive people with their sophisms and tricks.

According to him, the individual who wants to achieve individual perfection must be in a society, whether to get rid of disgraces or to protect virtues. In fact, according to him, religion comes after the public interest in ordering moral principles. For him, religion had a nature that confirms the principles that become evident by considering the public interest and the order of the world, rather than directly mentioning what is good.[9]

Family[edit]

In 1826, Bakikhanov married Sakina (b. 1807) his paternal cousin and grandnephew of Fatali Khan, daughter of Kalb Huseyn agha, with whom he had two daughters including Zibün Nisa Begüm (b. 1831) and Tughra Khanum (b. 1839) - both of whom married to their cousins Hasan agha and Ahmad agha.[24]

Awards[edit]

Memory[edit]

  • There is a municipality named after Bakikhanov in Baku.
  • History institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences is named after Bakikhanov.[26]
  • There is a street named after him in Nasimi rayon of Baku.
  • In October 2011 Abbasgulu Bakikhanov's statue was unveiled in Baku, in the municipality of Baku named after Bakikhanov. The park Bakikhanov, where the monument is, was overhauled, and then the monument was erected there.[27]
  • He was portrayed by Fakhraddin Manafov in 2012 film "Ambassador of Morning".[28]
  • Bakikhanov's monument in Quba
    Bakikhanov's monument in Quba
  • Bakikhanov's house in Əmircan with his memorial plaque
    Bakikhanov's house in Əmircan with his memorial plaque

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Bakikhanov" derives from "Baku-Khanov". A Russified name.[2]
  2. ^ Or "Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov".

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gould, Rebecca Ruth (2019). "The Persianate Cosmology of Historical Inquiry in the Caucasus: ʿAbbās Qulī Āghā Bākīkhānūf's Cosmological Cosmopolitanism". Comparative Literature. 71 (3): 272–273. doi:10.1215/00104124-7546287. S2CID 165301161. The present article develops this emergent area of inquiry through an examination of the writings, life, and legacy of the polymath Persianate intellectual ʿAbbās Qulī Āghā Bākīkhānūf (1794–1847). Bākīkhānūf came of age in an era of empire, in his case specifically of Russian incursions onto Qajar territory. While Bākīkhānūf was born into what was the Qajar empire, his place of birth was incorporated into the Russian empire with the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), ratified during his teenage years.
  2. ^ Storey, Charles Ambrose (1970). Persian Literature: v.1: A Bio-bibliographical Survey. Luzac Publishing Ltd. p. 428. ISBN 978-0718901417. by 'Abbas-QulI " Qudsi " Badkubi or Baku-Khanov.
  3. ^ a b Altstadt, Audrey L. (2011-02-09), NASIHATLAR (ADMONITIONS) OF ABBAS KULU AGHA BAKIKHANLI, Gorgias Press, pp. 117–158, doi:10.31826/9781463229900-008, ISBN 978-1-4632-2990-0, retrieved 2023-12-12
  4. ^
    • Floor, Willem M.; Javadi, Hassan. "The heavenly rose-garden: a history of Shirvan & Daghestan, by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov", (Mage Publishers, 2009), p. vii; "Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, also known under the pen-name Qodsi, was an Azerbaijani writer, historian, journalist, linguist, poet and philosopher. He was born on Thursday, the 4th Dhu'l-Hejjeh 1208 hijri, or the 10th of June in the year 1794 in the village of Amir Hajan near Baku. Bakikhanov was a scion of the ruling dynasty of the Khanate of Baku, being the nephew of the last khan of Baku. His father Mirza Mohammad Khan II was the ninth Khan of Baku and was (...)"
    • Bournoutian, George A. "A Brief History of the Aghuankʻ Region, by Esayi Hasan Jalaleantsʻ", (Mazda Publishers, 2009), p. 10; "Even more irritating was the fact that Muslim historians, who had lived in the territory of what later became the Azerbaijan Republic, men like Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov Mirza Jamal Javanshir and Mirza Adigozal Beg, the first of whom was honored by the Academy of Sciences in Baku as the father of the history of Azerbaijan, had clearly indicated a strong Armenian presence in Karabagh prior to 1828 and had placed the region within the territory of historic Armenia."
  5. ^ Storey, Charles Ambrose (1970). Persian Literature: v.1: A Bio-bibliographical Survey. Luzac Publishing Ltd. p. 428. ISBN 978-0718901417. by 'Abbas-Quli "Qudsi" Badkubi or Baku-Khanov.
  6. ^ Bournoutian 2004, p. 17, "The last source examined here is by ʻAbbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov (1794-1847), referred to by many Azerbaijani scholars as one of their earliest intellectuals and historians".
  7. ^ Bournoutian 2004, p. 17.
  8. ^ Berge, Adolt (1875). Кавказ и Закавказье за время управления генерал от инфантерии Алексея Петровича Ермолова, 1816-1827 [The Caucasus and Transcaucasia during the reign of Infantry General Alexei Petrovich Ermolov, 1816-1827]. Акты, собранные Кавказской археографической комиссией [Acts collected by the Caucasian Archaeographic Commission] (in Russian). Vol. VI-2. Tiflis. p. 907.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ a b c d e f Aliyev, Elmin. "Abbaskulu Ağa el-Bakûvî". islamdusunceatlasi.org (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  10. ^ Studies on Qudsi Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine by G.Bakikhanova (in Russian). Retrieved 29 August 2006
  11. ^ Ahmedov 1983, p. 9.
  12. ^ a b Ahmedov 1983, p. 10.
  13. ^ a b Ahmedov 1983, p. 18.
  14. ^ Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. University of Michigan. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
  15. ^ Azeri Literature Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (in Russian). Fundamental Electronic Library The Russian Literature and Folklore. Retrieved 29 August 2006
  16. ^ a b Ahmedov 1983, p. 14.
  17. ^ Floor & Javadi 2009, p. xiii.
  18. ^ Ahmedov 1983, p. 11.
  19. ^ "'Allgemeine Zeitung. 1846, 10 - 12' - Viewer | MDZ". www.digitale-sammlungen.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  20. ^ Enikopolov, Ivan (1975). Современники о Бакиханове [Contemporaries about Bakikhanov] (in Russian). Элм. p. 51.
  21. ^ Willem Floor, Hasan Javadi(2009), "The Heavenly Rose-Garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov, Mage Publishers, 2009.
  22. ^ Ahmedov 1983, p. 31.
  23. ^ Ahmedov 1983, p. 36.
  24. ^ Berge, Adolf (1875). Кавказ и Закавказье за время управления генерал от инфантерии Алексея Петровича Ермолова, 1816-1827 [The Caucasus and Transcaucasia during the reign of Infantry General Alexei Petrovich Ermolov, 1816-1827]. Акты, собранные Кавказской археографической комиссией [Acts collected by the Caucasian Archaeographic Commission] (in Russian). Vol. VI-2. Tiflis. p. 907.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ a b c d Гусейнов, Гейдар (1958). Из истории общественной и философской мысли в Азербайджане XIX века (in Russian). Азербайджанское гос. изд-во. p. 122.
  26. ^ "Tarix". tarix.gov.az. Archived from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  27. ^ "В Баку воздвигнут памятник Бакиханову – ФОТО". 4 October 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  28. ^ "Завершились съемки художественного фильма "Посол зари", посвященного Мирза Фатали Ахундову". LifeNews - Новости Азербайджана и Мира (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-08-30.

Sources[edit]

  • Ahmedov, E.M. (1983). Bunyadov, Z.M.; Jafarov, M.Z.; Ismayilov, M.I.; Kocharli, Firudin; Sunbatzade, A.S. (eds.). Аббас-Кули-ага Бакиханов - Сочинения, записки, письма [Abbasgulu agha Bakikhanov - Essays, notes, letters]. Классическое наследие Азербайджана [Classic Heritage of Azerbaijan] (in Russian). Baku: Elm.
  • Bournoutian, George A. (2004). Two Chronicles on the History of Karabagh (Mirza Jamal Javanshir's "Tarikh-e Qarabaq" and Mirza Adigozal Beg's "Qarabaq Nameh."). Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. ISBN 1-56859-179-9.
  • Floor, Willem M.; Javadi, Hasan (2009). The heavenly rose-garden: a history of Shirvan & Daghestan, by Abbas Qoli Aqa Bakikhanov. Mage Publishers. ISBN 978-1933823270.
  • Gould, Rebecca Ruth. "The Persianate Cosmology of Historical Inquiry in the Caucasus: ʿAbbās Qulī Āghā Bākīkhānūf's Cosmological Cosmopolitanism," Comparative Literature 71.3 (2019): 272-297".

External links[edit]

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