Mikhail Osipovich Attaya, whose 150th birthday we are celebrating today, belonged to a brilliant galaxy of "Russian Arabs" - natives of Arab countries who lived in Russia for a long time and made a huge contribution to the formation and development of Russian Arabic studies and Islamic studies. Sheikh Mohammed Ayad Tantawi (1810-1861), F. Kelzi (1819-1912), I. G. Nofal (1828-1902), G. A. Murkos (1846-1911), M. O. Attaya (1852-1924), A. F. Khashab (1874 -?), Panteleimon (Bandali) Zhuse (1871-1942), Tawfiq Kezma (1899 -?), later K. V. Ode-Vasilyeva (1892-1965), Selyam Hamdi (1924-1966) - this incomplete list of names of Arab intellectuals who, due to various circumstances, linked their fate with Russia, causes any Arabist to tremble. Authors of books and translations, teachers of the Arabic language-they contributed to the mutual enrichment of Russian and Arabic cultures.

It would be fair to add to this list the names of both Arab writers who have made available to the Arab reader the works of the greatest Russian writers and poets, and often little-known to anyone - with the exception of a narrow circle of specialists - Arabic translators from Russian, who carried out not only interlinear translations of literary works, but also translations of the works of Soviet and Russian Orientalists Arabic language.

The school of Russian Arabic studies and Islamic studies was formed largely due to the scientific and pedagogical activities of "Russian Arabs", which are now continued in the works of a considerable number of immigrants from Arab countries who were educated in our country, settled in it and work in Russian universities and research institutes. Without the" Russian Arabs " of the past, Russian voe-

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Current studies would not only be impoverished, but probably would not reach the heights that are usually associated with the names of the most prominent Russian Orientalists who studied the Arab East and the Muslim world-I. Y. Krachkovsky, V. V. Krachkovsky, Baron Rosen, A. E. Krymsky, who highly appreciated the contribution made by Arab intellectuals to Russian Oriental studies.

The names of most of the "Russian Arabs" are now almost forgotten, and our Orientalist youth knows little about them. The editorial board will continue to publish materials dedicated to the life and work of scientists and teachers of Oriental languages who come not only from Arab countries, but also from other Eastern countries, who worked in the past or are currently working in Russia. Below is an obituary dedicated to M. O. Attai, published in 1924 in the magazine "New East" and written by the famous Islamic scholar, who later headed the Department of Arab Countries of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, E. A. Belyaev, as well as a list of printed works of M. O. Attai.

M. O. ATTAYA: (1852 - 1924)

[New East. 1924. Book 6. pp. 530-532]

On September 16, the oldest professor of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, Mikhail Osipovich Attaya, died. He was born in 1852 in the city of Damascus (Syria) in the family of an intelligent Arab doctor. After his parents moved to Beirut, M. O. Attaya entered the local commercial school, and after graduating from it - the medical faculty of the American College; at the same time, he studied his native Arabic language and literature at the verbal faculty of the college. As a student, M. O. collaborated in the liberal organs of the Arab periodical press and was one of the organizing members of the secret society "Lifting the Veil"; the purpose of this organization was to free the darkest and most downtrodden member of Eastern society - the Eastern woman-from oppression, slavery and ignorance.

The late M. O. repeatedly spoke simply and picturesquely about the reasons that prompted him to leave his homeland. Medical students at the Beirut College had a shortage of corpses that were imported from Europe, because dissecting native corpses was strictly forbidden by the local authorities as an unacceptable sacrilege. But the young doctors paid little heed to the prevailing prejudices: at night they pulled out the corpses they needed from fresh graves. One of these nocturnal expeditions for corpses ended sadly for its participants: tracked down by the police, they were captured red-handed when returning from the cemetery. M. O. and his comrades were put in prison, where they waited for a harsh punishment for the committed "blasphemy". Only through the intercession of the consul of one of the great Powers, the Turkish authorities agreed to release M. O. on condition of his immediate departure from Turkey.

In 1873, M. O. joined the Lazarev Institute, where he began teaching Arabic, Oriental calligraphy, and Muslim law. The following year, he was assigned to manage the Institute's library, a position he held until 1917. As a result of her forty-three years of continuous work in this field, she has created the best Oriental library in Moscow and one of the best in Russia. But M. O. could devote rare hours of leisure and well-deserved rest to working in his favorite book depository. He considered teaching to be his main recognition, and over half a century of his teaching career, several generations of our Orientalists passed through his audience; some of his students occupied and still occupy an honorable place in the academic world of European Orientalists. M. O. was the first teacher for all those who entered the Lazarev Institute: invariably, the academic year began with his lectures on Arabic. And these lectures left the brightest and most pleasant memory. The good - natured and condescending attitude of the deceased towards students, his boundless responsiveness, his constant desire to come to the rescue, undoubtedly encouraged and strengthened many people, instilled a desire to work. M. O. himself. He always set an example by his perseverance and unwavering faith in the cause of enlightenment. M. O. published a number of valuable textbooks. His "Guide to Learning Arabic" and "Arabic-Russian Dictionary" have not yet lost their significance. The result of it on-

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scientific works are: "Kalila and Dimna", "History of Arabic Literature", "Arab metrics" (the last work has not yet appeared in print). In addition, he was the author of many scientific articles and notes scattered in special periodicals. His creative energy did not leave him even in the first years of the revolution: in the midst of hardships and worries, M. O. did not lose his cheerfulness, did not lose his incessant desire for fruitful activity.

In the 1920s-21s, the seventy-year-old elder amazed and infected others with his exuberant energy when creating the Institute of Living Oriental Languages, being its first director. At this institute, for the first time in Moscow, the languages of the Far East and India were introduced into the teaching program. He didn't seem to notice the difficult environment in which he worked selflessly.

In recent years, often deprived of the opportunity to attend the institute due to an increasingly complicated heart disease, he turned his cramped, damp room into a place for classes with students. Despite a serious illness, he found the strength to attend the Red Army Academy, where he taught at the Eastern Department from the day it was founded.

Always interested in the current work of Oriental studies, M. O. was one of the first founding members of the V. N. A.V.

Only a future historian of Russian Oriental studies can portray and evaluate the life and work of the Moscow School of Oriental Studies with proper completeness and impartiality.

For more than 50 years, he worked tirelessly in the field of education and died at his post (on the morning of his death, he had a conversation with students about the lesson plan for the coming academic year). For several decades, M. O. was the living personification of the Lazarev Institute. Every orientalist who was involved in the Moscow Institute, when recalling his student years, first of all came up with a sympathetic image of his oldest teacher. Every pet of the Moscow Oriental school, upon arrival in Moscow, considered it his duty to visit his teacher. And our "sheikh" greeted everyone with boundless cordiality and sincere greetings.

A native of the East by birth, a European by education, M. O. was able to combine and reconcile in his rich intellect the impulses of a hot Eastern temperament with Western critical skepticism. He wholeheartedly loved his native East and devoted his entire long working life to studying and teaching it.

Evg. BELYAEV

LIST OF M. O. ATTAY'S PRINTED WORKS*

A practical guide to learning the Arabic language. Kazan, 1884, 189 p.

Arabic anthology. Part 1. Texts. Kazan, 1886. 113 p.

Translated from Arabic: The Book of Kalilah Dimnah. Collection of fables known as Bidpai's Fables, Moscow, 1889, XCV. 288 p. (Co-authored with M. V. Ryabinin).

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. T. I. M., 1893. - Author's article: On Arabic inscriptions in the Roinov Museum. pp. 25-28; On three Arabic manuscripts brought by M. M. Kovalevsky from the Caucasus. pp. 38-45 (together with G. A. Murkos).

Analysis of the Arabic inscription on the mosque at the Khan's Palace in Baku // Antiquities. Proceedings. Vol. XV. Issue 1 / Report of Imp. Mos. Archeol. Societies for 1890-91, Moscow, 1894, p. 9.

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. Vol. II. Issue 1. 1896. - Author's article: New data on the "Dawn". pp. 84-85; On the Arabic inscription of the Rumyantsev Museum. pp. 94-95; On the phonetics of the Arabic language according to the research of ancient Arab scientists. pp. 114-115; Arabic inscriptions from the Semirechensk region. P. 121; Arabic weight from the Museum of gr. Uvarova, p. 121-122; The Life of St. George at-Tabari, p. 123.

Arabic inscriptions in Baku, taken by gr. Uvarova / / Antiquities. Proceedings. Vol. XVI. / Imp. Moe report. Archeol. Societies for 1891-92 Moscow, 1900. p. 7.

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. V. II. Issue 2. Moscow, 1901. - Author's article: Translation of the Psalter in the handwritten collection of Abdullahi-ibn-Fadla. pp. 134-135; Sultan's letters from the Caucasus. pp. 136-137; To the legend of the wise Khakir. p. 142; Arabic inscriptions from the Ferghana region. p. 151, 160; Al-Machriq Journal, pp. 164-165; Ancient Arabic inscriptions from Mount Tabor, pp. 182.

* Comp.: S. D. Miliband, T. M. Mastyugina.

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Ring from the kurgan of the Kuban region // Antiquities. Proceedings. Vol. XIX. Issue 1 / Report of Imp. Mos. Archeol. Societies for 1899-1900, Moscow, 1901, p. 9.

On the origin of the preposition lata / / Antiquities. Proceedings. Vol. XIX. Issue 3 / Report of Imp. Mos. Archeol. Societies for 1900-1901 Moscow, 1902. p. 13.

Comp. / History of Arabic literature. According to V. Girgos and other sources, Moscow, 1903.264 p.

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. Companies. T. P. Issue 3. Moscow, 1903. - Auth. art.: On the origin of Arabic II U. p. 204; Arabic song from Bethlehem. p. 204; Description of Arabic manuscripts of the Jerusalem book depository, published by the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. p. 213-214; Poetic treatment of Kalila and Dimna among the Arabs. p. 219; Semirechenskiye leaflets selected before the Andijan massacre, pp. 221-227.

A manual on the Arabic language for students of the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in translations from Russian into Arabic. 22. Moscow, 1905, 78 p. In Arabic, yaz., Old Arabic. pag.

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. Society. Vol. III. Issue 1. Moscow, 1907.

C. 2. - Author's article: Arabic inscriptions on pieces of silk cloth and on church utensils in a Local church in Svaneti. p. 10; On the anti-Christian Arabic work of a renegade Spaniard in 1409. p. 23-24; Description of an anti-Muslim manuscript from the collection of Prof. Krymsky's "Conversation of Monk George with the Ulema", pp. 31-33.

Dictionary of Arabic-Russian, Moscow, 1913, 1026 p. Staroarab. pag.

Patriarch Macarius of Antioch of the 17th century and the oldest list of his travels to Russia by Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, Moscow, 1913.

Antiquities. Proceedings of the East. Imp. Moe commissions. Archeol. The Legend of the Seven Sleeping Youths of Ephesus and its Arabic version of the seventh and thirteenth centuries. p. XVI+70; On the liturgical manuscripts of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch of the seventeenth century, kept in the Imperial Public Library. p. 31-34; New Manuscript of Patriarch Macarius. p. 36-37.

Arab Izbornik: A book for student reading on the Arabic language and literature in relation to the program of special classes of the Lazarevsky Institute of Oriental Studies. Trudy po vostokovedeniyu [Works on Oriental Studies], LIZHVYA, Moscow, 1916, issue 44, ed. 1, pp. 1-44. In Arabic, yaz., Old Arabic. pag.

The newest anthology / / Arab Izbornik, Moscow, 1916, pp. 44-97 (together with A. E. Krymsky).

Guide to the Arabic language (folk-colloquial). Moscow: MIV, 1923. 260. LXV p.

Guide for studying spoken Arabic: (Syriac adverb), Moscow: MIV., 1928, 325 p. (in Russian).

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