Details

Subject(s)

• Kūḣistonī Badakhshon (Tajikistan)—Genealogy [Browse]
• Kūḣistonī Badakhshon (Tajikistan)—Biography [Browse]

Summary note

Digital image of a document presenting the genealogy and biography of Shāh ʿAbdullāh, a resident of the village of Sūchān, who traces his lineage to Sayyid Suhrāb Valī. The text presents a biography of his life down to the year 1387/1968. It discusses his education under his father, who was a prominent khalīfah, and on the events connected with the coming of Soviet power to Badakhshan. The author worked as a farmer on a collective farm (kālkhwāz = kolkhoz) and also worked for a number of years as a khalīfah, like his father. The text constitutes an important source for understanding the social life of Ismāʿīlīs in the Soviet period. The autobiography is followed by several pages of poems written by the author, mostly in praise of Imām Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh (d. 1957), who is treated in the text as the current Imam. Due to official censorship, Ismāʿīlīs in the Soviet Union were broadly unaware of the passing of this Imam, which is why he still listed as the current Imam in the text despite its having been authored nearly a decade after his passing.

Notes

• Date: 1387/1967
• Location: Suchon.
• The main text is preceded and followed by a series of poems.
• Incipit: هوالله تعالی شانه . بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم. الحمد لله رب العالمین العاقبت والمتقین والصلاط والسلام علی رسوله محمد و آله واصحابه اجمعین . باب در بیان احوالات این بندۀ کمترین شاه عبدالله ابن عالم شاه
• Explicit: این بود سرگذشت بندۀ حقیر شاه عبدالله ابن عالم شاه ساکن قشلاق سوچان در موضع باشه مرغ تا سنۀ ۱۳۸۷ هجرت پیغمبر
• Badakhshan Manuscript Project.
• The original text is written in a modern notebook in black ink with some occasional marginal notes in blue ink. The paper is somewhat worn and the binding appears to be damaged, but the text is fully legible.

Source of description

Original document; title from introduction on first page.

OCLC

1103769666

Other standard number

• BMP009

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