ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION. In 2 volumes. Under the general editorship of Yu. M. Kobishchanov, Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2008, 936 p.; 776 p., ill.

The first generalizing work on such an extensive and complex topic is written in the genre of a collective monograph, rather than a textbook or popular science book. The two-volume volume of about 215 pp, based on a large-scale source base, is interesting primarily for methodological approaches, as well as for the completeness of creating a space-time panorama of the formation and development of one of the most influential and highly developed, but at the same time the youngest civilization of the Middle Ages - Islamic.

Structurally, the monograph includes three sections. The first volume contains "Introduction to the History of Islamic civilization" and "From the beginning of the heyday of Islamic civilization to the Mongol conquest", the second - " The Era of the great Muslim empires and the Cairo Abbasid Caliphate (mid-XIII-mid-XVI c.)". Each section consists of parts, which, in turn, are divided into chapters. The numbering of parts in each volume is continuous.

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The author's team, consisting of leading Russian and foreign experts, adopts the most common typology of civilizations based on the religious principle. It was religion that united culturally and stadially disparate countries and peoples, creating a new community with its centers and peripheries. And the most interesting questions are the mechanisms of spreading Islam, the results of the synthesis of this religion with pre-Islamic traditions in various regions, as well as the degree of influence of these traditions on the center. It is precisely this panoramic application of the comparative-historical approach that can lead to the identification and confirmation or refutation of universal patterns of social development.

Chronologically, almost the entire monograph refers to the Middle Ages, more precisely, to the "golden Age of Islam", which in many European studies is synonymous with Islamic civilization. But the authors also understand the term more broadly, and the description of phenomena and processes in the world of Islam, originating in the early Middle Ages, is brought to their logical conclusion-whether in the late Middle Ages or in Modern times.

The monograph opens with a kind of prolegomena-an overview and theoretical section I - "Introduction to the history of Islamic Civilization", where in five parts its features are consistently considered in the central societies (highly developed feudal societies of the Mediterranean, Iran, Central Asia) and on the periphery (urban and rural culture, political traditions, branches of Islamic civilization), long-distance trade as one of the most important ways of cultural communication and exchange, economy and social system, development of sciences, art and architecture. The introduction logically begins with a description of the spread of urban culture; since in the Middle Ages, Islamic civilization was very urbanized (for example, in Egypt of the X-XII centuries, citizens made up 1/5 of the country's population, which is 4 times higher than in Europe) and it was through urban culture that civilization as such spread to the periphery.

The branches of Muslim civilization grew out of the syncretism of the peripheral pre-Islamic traditions of the region and the religious and political trends of Islam, in the struggle of religious parties and ethno-confessional groups. The periphery imported from the center a complex worldview system that included religious, philosophical, legal, and scientific ideas that are universal and largely applicable to this day. But the degree of assimilation of this system depended on the stage development of a particular society and, accordingly, its ability to understand this system and connect it with traditional ideas. This process is clearly traced through the study of syncretism and "popular Islam" in different regions - from Tropical Africa to the Middle Volga region, from al-Andalusia to India. Sufism is also considered in the monograph as a result of "broad syncretism of Islam with Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions of the East", in which "some Muslims managed to borrow from Christian hermits and Eastern ascetics their art and justify its religious value on an Islamic basis" (vol. 1, pp. 52-53).

An exceptional role in the spread of Islamic civilization was played by long-distance trade, which in the Middle Ages had not only economic, but also political, social functions and became a cultural phenomenon. This role of trade has been greatly promoted by the fact that there is no inherent prejudice against trade operations in Islam. The penetration of Islam into many peripheral regions (from the island countries of the Indian Ocean and East Africa to the Crimea and the Volga region) was peaceful and began with the development of territories by Muslim merchants. The most important trade routes of the early Middle Ages have passed through the territories occupied by the Caliphate since ancient times: first of all, a significant part of the Great Silk Road to Transcaucasia fell under the control of the Arabs, from where trade expeditions went to still unknown regions. This feature also determined a lot in the development of culture and science in the central societies of the Islamic civilization. Arab merchants needed specific information about the countries and tribes that became their main trading partners. In addition, the Arabs gradually perceived the achievements of culture and science of other peoples, primarily Sasanian Iran, India, and the Greeks. These two circumstances determined the development of Arabic astronomy, history, and geography and led to the appearance of works with unique descriptions of remote lands of the entire ecumene of the Old World. The author of this chapter Yu. M. Kobishchanov consistently examines various types of long-distance trade (food, salt, handicrafts, horses); the turnover of precious metals and stones; the import of furs, animals, incense and spices; the slave trade and related socio-economic activities.-

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and ethno-cultural processes; money circulation, etc. Each characteristic is backed up with colorful quotes from sources, thanks to which a hermeneutical "presence effect"is achieved to some extent.

When considering the socio-economic development of Islamic civilization, the monograph uses the concept of a large feudal formation, developed by Yu. M. Kobishchanov in line with the Marxist formation theory, with a number of clarifications concerning the transitional forms of social economy and a more subtle attitude to the mutual influence of socio-economic relations and traditional types of grassroots organization of society and labor. Another important addition to the Soviet formation theory is the assertion of man as a psychosomatic and intellectual-cultural entity in the central place in the socio-historical formation. The personality types of feudal society are different than in modern reality, along with their own system of values, moral norms and behavioral patterns, which, being formed together with feudalism, had a huge reverse impact on socio-economic relations.

The formation of the peasantry is considered taking into account economic and cultural types (CCT) and is associated with the CCT of ploughmen. A large feudal formation is also understood as a dynamic space-time system, where the Caliphate of the VIII-XIII centuries is the center of the Islamic world, but Iraq, Fars, Sham and Egypt are the centers of this center, surrounded by the near, middle (borderlands of the Caliphate) and distant periphery. From the centers to the periphery there was an expansion of feudalism, the dynamics of which depended on the level of development of local society and specific historical conditions (for example, Volga Bulgaria did not take place as a developed feudal society due to the Mongol-Tatar invasion). However, this concept needs at least some refinement. For example, one can hardly agree with the thesis that economic coercion of small producers (rent of land, cattle, usury) is a type of feudal exploitation (vol.1, p. 216).

The next part is devoted to the development of sciences: political and legal thought, linguistics, geography. The first chapter (authored by L. R. Syukiyainen) examines the formation and development of Muslim law, the approaches of medieval Muslim philosophers and jurists to the problems of state and politics, and the historical fate of the Islamic political and legal doctrine in Modern times. The chapter on linguistic thought is mainly devoted to the methods of work of Muslim scholars on the study of Arabic and various languages of the periphery of Islamic civilization, as well as neighboring countries and ethnic groups, and the main attention of the authors of the chapter (D. N. Nasilov, I. G. Dobrodomov, A. I. Tchaikovsky) is focused on Northern Eurasia. Until the Great Geographical Discoveries, the geographical thought of the Islamic civilization remained the most developed, informative and rich in the world. Attention of the authors (Y. M. Kobishchanov, E. Y. Vanina, M. S. Meyer) The article focuses on all the main aspects of geography as a science: cartography, astronomical and mathematical geography, cosmography, geographical information in encyclopedias, as well as regional features of science. However, despite the large volume, this review of the achievements of Islamic scientific thought is far from complete, which is recognized in the introduction to this part of the monograph. And it is difficult to agree that the importance of philosophy, historiography, literary studies, as well as mathematics, astronomy and medicine for the further development of world science is "not so necessary" (vol.1, p. 239) as the disciplines chosen by the authors for consideration.

Section II - "From the beginning of the rise of Islamic civilization to the Mongol conquest" - covers the development of regions over a vast territory that includes both the central regions (Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt) and, to varying degrees, the periphery-from Northern Eurasia (Dagestan, Khazaria, Volga Bulgaria, etc.) to Northern and Tropical Africa, China, India, Lanka, Indonesia, the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush. And here, in describing all the numerous states and ethnic groups in these almost endless spaces, the authors pay attention first of all to the specific historical features of the spread of Islam and the problems of economic, socio-cultural development of regions, the history of everyday life, ethnic interactions, i.e. those aspects that relate specifically to the history of civilization, but not of states, and which were almost impossible to find under one cover before. Of course, with such coverage, it is impossible to avoid some visibility, unambiguity in the presentation of specific issues that have been discussed for many years (for example, about the time of the Khazar khaganate, about who the Arabs fought with during the campaign to the Northern Caspian region in 652/53, etc.).

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Section III, which is fully included in the second volume, is " The Era of the great Muslim Empires and the Cairo Abbasid Caliphate (mid-XIII-mid-XVI c.)". The first part (author - Yu. M. Kobishchanov) provides a detailed description and analysis of the history of the Golden Horde (Jochid Empire) from its origin to its collapse. Of course, the author is most interested in the Muslim component in the social system of the Horde and the transformation of Islam into a state religion. In this case, a clear concept is built up, supported by numerous facts, which proves that the main reasons for the first period of Islamization of the Golden Horde were the financial flows necessary for Khan Berke and his entourage, provided by Muslim merchants, as well as the struggle for power within the Genghisids-Jochids for turning the Golden Horde into a state independent of the supreme Mongol Khan, Karakorum or Beijing. This section generally examines in great detail the religious policy of the Genghisids not only in the Golden Horde, but also in the neighboring khanates, and one cannot but agree that this policy was largely formed under the influence of the need to take into account the beliefs of the conquered peoples, and therefore religious tolerance. But, in particular, the influence of Alexander Nevsky on contemporary khans (Sartak, Berke), on the spread of Orthodoxy in the Golden Horde, and even more so on the unification of the Rurikids of North-Eastern Russia into a pro-Horde party seems exaggerated (vol.2, p. 16).

The third part - "Western and Central Asia" - is thematically consonant with the previous two. The authors consider a number of state formations in this region that are directly related to the Mongol conquest and the rule of Mongol dynasties: "The Hulaguid State in Iran and Iraq "(T. K. Koraev); "Timur and his Empire", as well as" The Timurid Empire... "(L. N. Dodkhudoeva); "Ismailis in Iran in the post-Talamut period" (F. Daftari); "The peoples of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush" (N. M. Yemelyanova), and other similar stories.

T. K. Koraev presented imaginative, lively, and appropriately illustrated material on the Mongol conquest of Iran and Iraq, as well as on the ethnopolitical and social history of the Hulaguid state in the 13th-14th centuries. Russian historiography pays much less attention to this state than, for example, the Golden Horde or the Timurid state. All the more valuable is the vivid factual and source material woven into the multi-faceted composition of the section. This includes the exchange of messages between Hulagu and the Caliph of Baghdad, the description of the sack of Baghdad by contemporaries Kirakos Gindaketsi and Ibn al-Fuwati, and many other equally impressive details. The author, among other things, clearly has an interest in military history, perhaps a little to the detriment of other subjects.

N. M. Yemelyanova's section is very interesting: firstly, because this region has been a crossroads of trade routes and demographic flows for many centuries, and secondly, because this region and its peoples are not as well studied in the scientific literature as most other territories and states of Asia. The author not only provides demographic and ethnic data on the territories adjacent to the Pamirs and Hindu Kush, but also examines the complex and often hostile relations between peoples belonging to the same state entities. In addition, information about the Ismailis of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush is provided, which significantly complements the previous characteristics of the Ismailis in the Caliphate and Iran. Perhaps the most interesting pages for both orientalists and a wide range of readers are those about Kafiristan. Even in a much later period (the end of the XIX century), when it was annexed to the Afghan state by Emir Abdurrahman, this area is often referred to in Russian literature as "the Land of the unknown" (V. N. Massov, V. A. Romodin. History of Afghanistan. Vol. II. Moscow, 1965). Information about pagan cults and deities common in Kafiristan, especially about the direct connection of the Siyahpush religion with many social processes in this region, makes this material even more diverse.

The fourth part - "South and East Asia and Tropical Islands" - begins with the section by E. Yu. Vanina "India from the Mongols to the Mughals, XIII-early XVI c.". Through the prism of dynastic changes and the actions of rulers, the political history of the Delhi Sultanate is traced, and the conceptual similarity of the Muslim and Hindu medieval models of the state is noted. Based on the Indian historiography, the features of Indian Islam, sectarianism and heresies are revealed.

The following sections of this section are also devoted to the peculiarities of the spread and formation of Islam in the regions of Southeast Asia, which have their own distinct characteristics.-

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In the previous historical period, however, the majority of the population did not convert to Islam: "Muslim Community of Lanka" (A. L. Safronova), "Madagascar" (Yu. M. Kobishchanov), etc. However, the section " The Rise of Islam in China "(A. A. Maslov) falls somewhat out of the general series and is perceived separately not only because China is a civilization of other religious traditions, but mainly because, according to the author's vivid definition, the spread of Islam in the country, even with the help of Mongol expansion, "is impossible...It makes China, in fact, an open country, removes the "only possible culture" complex from it, and encourages active cultural exchange with many Arab countries and Southeast Asian states " (vol. 2, p. 367). Very little has been reported about Islam and Muslim communities in China, especially in recent Chinese history. The author fills this gap in the most important historical period of the origins and subsequent formation of Muslim communities in a rather closed culture.

The fifth part - "The Mediterranean" - contains sections: "Turkey (M. S. Meyer)," Maghreb after the collapse of the Almohad state "(V. V. Orlov), "The Emirate of Granada" (D. E. Mishin) and others. In the history of Turkey, the author identifies two periods-Seljukid and Ottoman - and notes a peculiar phenomenon of synthesis of traditional Eastern despotism and Mediterranean specifics, which led to the state of social and cultural openness of the new society, which he calls the "Beylik era" and dates back to the second half of the XIII-beginning of the XV century. Another paradox of the same period was the rise of the Ottoman Beylik, which was inferior to others both in size and military power. The author rightly sees the reason for this process in the geographical position of the country and in the political situation in Asia Minor. However, there were probably a number of other factors at work, including the charisma and will of its first rulers. Very interesting are the parts of the section devoted to the religious situation in the early Ottoman Sultanate, in particular, the widespread spread of unorthodox religious movements, including "popular Islam" with its, in fact, prehistoric broad layer of beliefs, in contrast to orthodox Sunnism.

The description of state associations and societies of the Maghreb in the XIII-early XVI centuries is a vivid historical sketch of ethno-religious, political, economic and socio-cultural processes on the ruins of the Almohad state.

The last stronghold of Muslim rule in Spain, the most impressive example of the synthesis of Muslim-Christian culture on Spanish soil - the al-Andalus culture - was the Emirate of Granada.

The sixth part - " Islamic Tropical Africa "(Yu.M. Kobishchanov) - presents a broad historical panorama of the region in the period of the XIII-XVI centuries, which the author defined as" the period of Late Medieval stabilization and consolidation " (vol. 2, p. 499). The sections of this section consistently reflect the history of the Mali Empire, the unfamiliar kingdom of Jolof, the Wolof people who dominated western Senegambia, the Songhai state, whose origins are found in the even earlier statehood of the Songhai people (VII-VIII centuries), the Hausa city-states, the empires of Central and Eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and other state entities. who have left a bright mark on the social development of the region. Of course, the history of these countries, illustrated by vivid and imaginative source material, is viewed through the prism of the main task - the study of the immanent specifics of the Muslim religion and culture for these societies.

The seventh part - "Portuguese and Muslims (XV - early XVI c.)" (A.M. Khazanov) - covers a somewhat later period than many of the previous texts. Thematically, this part also has pronounced differences, describing the dawn of colonial Western expansion in the East. The author considers the beginning of a turning point in world history, when by the XVI century. East and West have entered a state of permanent confrontation. The confrontation between Islam and Christianity, which began in the eighth and ninth centuries, took on the character of a military - religious struggle between the two civilizations, especially in the Mediterranean region. The beginning of the colonial era was a dark and terrible period in the history of the East, when Arabs, Africans, Indians, Malians faced Europeans not as humane "civilizers", but as cruel aggressors, ruthless invaders, merciless exploiters and slave traders. These were the first colonizers - the Portuguese and Spanish. The feudal monarchies of the Iberian Peninsula, obeying the inertia of the Reconquista and the Catholic zeal that engulfed them, which reached the point of mass fanaticism, rushed to find new lands and trade routes.

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paths. In six sections of this section, the author gives a detailed and colorful analysis of the actions of the Portuguese in Muslim lands (the Indian Ocean, Morocco, India, Malacca, Aden and on the "golden" routes to Central Africa), which were very similar to the Crusades and were connected not only with trade, but also with the slave trade and the seizure of strongholds in Africa.the Asian coast, the construction of fortresses and trading posts, churches and prisons, attempts to spread Christianity in the intervals between predatory raids and the search for gold, spices and other rarities for Europe at that time.

The last, eighth part is devoted to architecture and art. It includes such sections as "Art culture of Central Asia of the XIII-XV centuries" (L. N. Dodkhudoeva), "Architecture of Afghanistan" (V. N. Kartsev), "Art of the Ottoman State in the XIV-first third of the XVI century" (L. I. Sattarova), "Art of the Golden Horde. The second half of the XIII - first quarter of the XV century" (I. L. Izmailov, L. I. Sattarova) and others.

Unfortunately, any modern publication is not free from inaccuracies associated with editing and proofreading the text. It is especially annoying when there are links to sources where pages are lost (see, for example, vol. 1, p. 188, note 350). But in general, the two-volume book, perhaps, can rightly be called an encyclopedia of the "golden age of Islam". And, what is especially valuable, unlike most modern works that claim to be covered in this way, the monograph contains hierarchically structured problems, so regional sections do not give the impression of a collection of disparate articles, but each of them is part of a methodologically unified text space and forms a single panorama of the era.

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