P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Muhammadiev, Fazluddin

Tajik short-story writer and novelist Fazluddin Aminovich

Muhammadiev was born into the family of a bookbinder on June 15,

1928, in Samarqand. He joined the CPSU in 1951.

Muhammadiev attended the Moscow Aviation Department which he

gave up after his father's death to work on the farm. For a time he was

the Secretary of the Union of Writers of Tajikistan. Between 1947 and

1949, Muhammadiev was a contributing correspondent for Tajikistoni

Surkh. After graduating from the Central Komsomol in Moscow, he

---

Iraj Bashiri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

184

joined the Communist Party, and between 1951 and 1960, contributed

to Zanoni Tajikiston and Sadoi Sharq.

Muhammadiev graduated from the Gorkii Institute of Literature in

Moscow in 1962. In the same year, he became the Editor of the satiric

journal Khorpushtak (1962-64). From 1964 to the end of his life, he

dedicated his time to the production of documentaries and to creative

writing.

Muhammadiev began his career as a simple reporter in the 1950s,

but quickly rose to the level of a credible author. His Porchai Ostin

(The Sleeve Material, 1955), as well as other works dealing with the

social and civilizational issues, were received enthusiastically. Two of

his works, Raisi Nav (The New Boss, 1955) and Muhojiron (The

Immigrants, 1956), dealing with the needs of the rank and file of the

collectives, clearly place him in the forefront of social reformers of the

decade.

In the 1970s, Muhammadiev traveled extensively to the isolated

hamlets of the republic talking to industrial workers in Norak, Roghun,

and Berghozi. "Shirai Zamin" ("The Essence of the Earth," 1981), "Oini

Muqaddas" ("The Sacred Custom," 1982), and "Savolu Javobhoi

Enajon Boimatova" ("The Questions and Answers of Ainajan

Baimatova," 1986) reflect his assessment of the industrialization

process in the former republics of the Soviet Union.

The clash between tradition and modernization also occupied some

of his time. Investigation of the complex inner aspects of life was

Muhammadiev's goal from the beginning. Maktubi Dust (The Friend's

Letter, 1958), Savdoi Umr (The Zest for Life, 1958), and Roh (The

Road, 1962) are indicative of that, as is Odamoni Kuhna (Traditional

Folks, 1963), which deals with the generation gap, bribery, and

sponging on society. The translation of Traditional Folks into Russian

included Muhammadiev among the best Soviet writers of the time.

Muhammadiev considered religion to be a historical stage in man's

development. He believes that religion can dull a person's creative

intellect and limit his worldview. Was it not Islam, he argued, at the

base of the bai-feudal system that treated women like chattel? Neither

are his characters ignorant of the tenets of the Islamic faith. In fact, it is

after a thorough examination of the said tenets that they become more

devoted to their socialist homeland and the Communist ideology.

---