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process, revealing the intricate networks and exchanges across social and religious
divides. Beyond Central Asian studies,
Polymaths of Islam
will be a vital source for
students of the Middle East and beyond.
Pickett also does a remarkable job of identifying the complexity of the polity of
Bukhara. The scholars Pickett has chosen to study were typically fluent in three
languages – Arabic, Persian, and Turkic. They spent at least a decade becoming
what the author defines as a “polymath,” those with an “authoritative
command
over many different forms of knowledge – from medicine to law to epistolography
and beyond – allowed to accumulate substantial power (p.2).” In the words of the
author, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Christians “reproduced and re-enforced a
cosmopolis that intrinsically embraced a larger, Islamic “shadow” cosmopolis
(p.35).” To give an example, the literary works done in Judeo-Tajik, which uses
the Hebrew script
to produce writing in Tajik, was almost identical in terms of
style and genre to the works of Muslim authors. The author’s inclusion of
Zabiha’s Poetry is an excellent example in which the late eighteenth century
Jewish poet from Samarkand combined Persian,
Islamic mystical, and Jewish
elements to produce a unique poetic voice (pp.36-37).
In sum, the author’s comprehensive coverage of not only Muslim, but also non-
Muslim intellectuals makes it all the more illuminating for those who seek to learn
more about the city of Bukhara and its diverse mix of faiths and professions.
Pickett explores the ways in which the Persian language deeply penetrated into
local religious and cultural productions and practices
while preserving their
distinct texture. The scholarship does have gaps however, most evident in its
exclusion of certain important works produced in Arabic or Turkic.
Tatimat al-
Yatima
and its coverage of the city of Bukhara by the famed Arab traveler as-
Sa’alibi, is but one example, of a source which could offer an Arab perspective on
the city. Furthermore, the employment of literature
and scholarly works done in
Turkic, including in Uzbek, focusing on the city of Bukhara by well-known
scholars such as Bo’riboy Ahmedov or Ismatulla Abdullayev, could have
improved the completeness of the picture of early modern Bukhara offered in the
book.
Despite
these minor shortcomings,
Polymaths of Islam
successfully unpacks its
ultimate line of inquiry, that is, whether these Bukharan religious elite scholars
were loyal to the rulers
in whose realms they resided, or to Islam. The author
states that these scholars were not dedicated to one ruler but became their own
men. At the same time, such elite religious scholars were pillars of the emirates in
which they served. The rulers of the Central Asian region relied on the expertise
and knowledge of such Muslim scholars, who wielded
substantial amount of
influence, power and authority in many areas of everyday life.
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