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УДК 94
TO THE QUESTION OF THE USE OF THE ETHNIC TERM "TATARS" IN ARAB HISTORICAL LITERATURE1
E.G. Sayfetdinova
Sh. Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences
Kazan 420014, Russian Federation
E-mail: adulya2@yandex. ru
Reconstruction of the ethnogenesis of the peoples inhabited the Golden Horde is one of the issues being studied intensively in modern historical scholarship. Medieval Arab sources play an important role in studying the history of the peoples of the Golden Horde. Study of contemporary Arab authors' historical researches where medieval Arab chronicles are analyzed in greater detail, is necessary to understand their importance.
Objective: study of the Arab historical literature regarding the issue of the use of the ethnic term "Tatars".
Some contemporary Arab historical researches are used as materials for this research. For example, Muhammad Sahil Takkush calls the Golden Horde - "Magul-Kypchak", and Iran - "Magul-Faris" in his book "History of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria". Qasim Abdel Qasim, the author of the book "Era of the Mamluk Sultans", calls the Golden Horde "bilad al-kypchak". In his work "The Mamluks", Shaydiyaz al-Garini calls Berke the "khan of the Golden Horde tribe" and the Golden Horde inhabitants - "at-tatar al-kypchak", i.e. the "Kypchak Tatars". Of particular interest is the book of Egyptian historian Muhammad Abdelgani al-Ashqar "Salar - the Tatar Muslim Emir (Naib of the Mamluk Sultan in Egypt, 1260-1310)". It describes the reign of Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad who was in close friendly relations with the Golden Horde khan Uzbek. It is known that the Golden Horde Muslims prayed for Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir mentioning his name after khan Uzbek. Long-term friendship between the Golden Horde and Egypt eventually led to the conclusion of a dynastic marriage between Egyptian Sultan an-Nasir and the Golden Horde princess Tulunbay.
As a result, the study of the use of the ethnic term "Tatars" in Arab historical literature remains relevant and requires a review of some of the preconceived ideas about the ethnic history of the Tatar people in the Arab world in favor of the in-depth study of this problem.
Keywords: Golden Horde, term, Tatars, Mongols, Mamluks, Arab historiography.
For citation: Sayfetdinova E.G. To the Question of the Use of the Ethnic Term "Tatars" in Arab Historical literature. Golden Horde Review. 2016. Vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 529533.
Medieval Arab sources equated the ethnic term "Tatars" with the word "Mongols". Chronicles describing the era of the Mamluk sultans indicate that Egypt constantly had to fend off the Tatar onslaught. Later, this tradition was continued, and the term "Tatars" was used by an Egyptian scholar Amin al-Hawley. Already E.A. Belyaev drawn attention to the use of the ethnic term "Tatars" in the work of al-Hawley in the preface to his book "Relations between the Nile and the Volga in the 13th-14th centuries": he calls the Mongols - "Tatars", and the Golden Horde -
1 English translation by R. Hautala.
the "Tatar State"[2, p.3]. However, we must bear in mind that Amin al-Hawley was not a historian but a philologist. As a literary scholar, he relied in his book on medieval Arab sources: chronicles of al-Maqrizi, Ibn Tagriberdi, Ibn Hajar, Ibn Iyas et al., in which the Mongol State was seen as "biladat-tatar" (the "country of the Tatars"). Al-Hawley calls the population living on the Golden Horde territory the "northern Tartars" and, for example, when referring to the Oirats he uses the term "eastern Tartars". Amin al-Hawley did not analyze the origin of the "Tatar" term since his aim was to describe the relations between the Nile and Volga in the 13th-14th centuries.
Contemporary Arab historians name the Golden Horde in different ways. So, in his book "History of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria"[10], Muhammad Sahil Takkush calls the Golden Horde "Magul-Kypchak", and Iran - "Magul-Faris". Qasim Abdel Qasim, the author of the book "Era of the Mamluk Sultans"[4], calls the Golden Horde "bilad al-kypchak". In his work "The Mamluks"[11], Shaydiyaz al-Garini calls Berke the "khan of the Golden Horde tribe" and the Golden Horde inhabitants - "at-tatar al-kypchak", i.e. the "Kypchak Tatars". According to I.M. Mirgaleev, although these terms "are not historical names, but the result of a simple technical connection of known terms, yet they do not strongly distort reali-ty"[6, p.83]. However, one cannot argue that contemporary Arab historians do not resort to a critical review and analysis. For example, an Egyptian historian Qasim Abdel Qasim writes in his "Era of the Mamluk Sultans": "At the same time, in proper Mongolia they are called as the Tatars". Thus, contemporary Arab historians use more accurate wordings while describing the Golden Horde and its population.
Of particular interest is the book of Egyptian historian Muhammad Abdelgani al-Ashqar "Salar - the Tatar Muslim Emir (Naib of the Mamluk Sultan in Egypt, 1260-1310)"[7]. It describes the reign of Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad who was in close friendly relations with the Golden Horde khan Uzbek. It is known that the Golden Horde Muslims prayed for Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir mentioning his name after khan Uzbek. Long-term friendship between the Golden Horde and Egypt eventually led to the establishment of family ties.
When al-Malik al-Nasir came to the throne, he was still a child. Emir Salar who came from the country of Tatars, from the clan of Oirats, became his tutor. The Oirats is a group of the Mongol-speaking tribes. In the 13 th century, Oirats resisted the army of Genghis Khan. But soon the chief of Oirats, Qutuqa Beki, came voluntarily to submit himself to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan praised this action and thereafter allowed to intermarry the houses of Genghis Khan and Qutuqa Beki. As a result of marriages between the sons, daughters, and descendants of Genghis Khan and Qutuqa Beki, there formed the entire dynasty, within which is difficult to define the direct descendants of one or another people. For example, the Golden Horde khan Mengu-Timur married Oghul Qaimish, a daughter of Qutuqa Beki. The Oirats belong to a group akin to the Mongol peoples and medieval Muslim and Old Russian sources call them the Kalmyks (Kalmaks) and Dzhungars (Zyungary). Rashid ad-Din mentions their tribe in his chronicles, where he writes that "in Iran and Turan there were and are many people from among the emirs of Oirat tribe. But it is unknown, to which branch each of them belongs. Only they, among themselves, know their origins"[9]. Most likely the same family ties existed in China and Golden Horde as well. This suggests that the Oirats were numerous and they spread in different countries. With reference to chronicle of al-
Maqrizi and Ibn Tagriberdi, Muhammad Abdelgani al-Ashqar writes: "the Oirats or Hayrats lived in the Tatar territory, where Salar came from. In 1295 they fled to Egypt from brutal rule of Ghazan and embraced Islam"[7, p.71]. Amin al-Hawley writes: "the Oirats, or eastern Tatars, came to Egypt by thousands and settled in the quarter al-Huseyniyya. Al-Maqrizi tell a lot about this quarter, one of the richest areas of Cairo. According to al-Maqrizi, it was inhabited by beautiful people. The Arabs willingly married the Tatar women"[1]. However, Salar himself arrived in Egypt after he was captured during a battle of Baybars with the Tartars. S.G. Klyashtorny writes in his work on the formation of the main ethno-political characteristics of the Tatar ethnonym, where he proves that the State of the Tatars appeared long before the Mongol era: "The earliest stages of the Tatar history are inextricably linked with the history of other steppe tribes of Central Asia (Mongolia and East Turkestan). For the first time information about the Tatars appear on the pages of sources shortly after the collapse of the Han Empire (3rd century AD) and the Hunnish Power (3rd-4th centuries AD). Other information about the Tatars belongs to the era preceding the emergence of the Empire of Genghis Khan"[5, p. 22]. D.M. Iskhakov notes in the book "The Tatars: Popular Ethnography": "Based on the analysis of written sources, we can definitely say that the ruling elite of the nobility of the Great Mongol State (Eke Mongol Ulus) preferred to call themselves the "Mongols" ... Apparently, by the name of "Tatars" were called the remnants of the defeated nations, gathered in the special forces"[3, p. 30]. It is possible that Salar was among these mingled groups. He was not a Mongol because Mamluk sultans could not bring closer the person with whom they were at war. Al-Ashqar writes that "most of the Mamluks were from the Kypchak lands and their language was Turkic".
According to the assumption of E.N. Najip, some Kypchak groups called themselves the Tatars: "historians report that during the reign of Sultan Baybars (1259-1277) in Egypt arrived a significant number of Tatar emirs with obviously Turkic names. The Tatar emirs who came to Egypt in the time of Baybars, were natives of Kypchak steppes. Consequently, the tribes who called themselves the Tatars, lived in the Dasht-i Kipchak also before the arrival of the Mongols in this area [8, p.86].
It is unlikely that Salar was native of Kypchak steppes. However, the fact that Salar was one of the few (in fact, he and Kitbuga, ruling the Mamluk Sultanate in 1295-1297) who could had risen to the rank of emir, says that Salar was a loyal subject of the Mamluk sultans. Salar was an ardent follower of Islam and as al-Ashqar writes: "even khan Ghazan himself was surprised that Salar was willing to die in the struggle for the ideals of Islam"[7]. Probably therefore, Mamluk sultans entrusted him with leading post of the head of the State apparatus, which was called the "deputy" of Sultan - Naib, otherwise Sultan Mukhtasar (in Arabic -"small Sultan"), from among the emirs. He also was in charge of external relations. Salar was vested with such powers in 1299. In this capacity Salar served until 1309. When al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad in the third time came to the throne, he executed an impostor-Sultan Baybars II, who previously, as Salar, played the role of "tutor" of the Sultan. Salar sided with al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad, but he did not believe him accusing Salar in the plot. He locked him in prison, where Salar died of hunger. Despite this sad end, Salar was buried in a stone mausoleum, which has been preserved until now and represents one of the many medieval monuments
in Egypt. This implies that the Tatar emir Salar at the time played de facto an equally important role in the history of Mamluk Egypt as beklyaribek Nogay did in the Golden Horde history. He not only took part in the events of that time but he directed the course of history.
In general, the study of the use of the ethnic term "Tatars" in Arab historical literature remains relevant and requires a review of some of the preconceived ideas about the ethnic history of the Tatar people in the Arab world in favor of the in-depth study of this problem.
REERENCES
1. Amin al'-Kholi. Svyazi mezhdu Nilom i Volgoy v XIII-XIV vv. Kazan, 2002, 49 p. (In Russian)
2. Belyaev E.A. Predislovie. Amin al'-Kholi. Svyazi mezhdu Nilom i Volgoy v XIII-XIV vv. Moscow, 1962,49 p. (In Russian)
3. Iskhakov D.M. Tatary: populyarnaya etnografiya. Kazan, 2005, 159 p. (In Russian)
4. Kasim Abdel' Kasim. Epokha mamlyukskikh sultanov. Cairo, 2004. 378 p. (In Arabian)
5. Klyashtornyy S.G. Drevnee gosudarstvo tatar v Tsentral'noy Azii. Golden Horde Review. 2013, no. 1, pp. 22-35. (In Russian)
6. Mirgaleev I., Nuraneev L. Perelistyvaya istoriyu sultanata mamlyukov. Gasyrlar avazy - Ekho vekov. 2003, no. 1/2, p. 183-186. (In Russian)
7. Mukhammad Abdel'gani al'-Ashkar. Salar - tatarskiy emir-musul'manin (naib mamlyukskogo sultana v Egipte (1260-1310 gg.). Cairo, 2000. 94 p. (In Arabian)
8. Nadzhip E.P. Ocherk istoriko-kul'turnoy obstanovki v XIV-XV vv. Moscow, 1976, 291 p. (In Russian)
9. Rashid ad-din. Sbornik letopisey. Available at: http://www.vashaktiv.ru/texts/r/ rashid_sb_let_kn1_ukaz_r2.php (In Russian)
10. Takkush Mukhammad Sakhil' Istoriya mamlyukov v Egipte i Sirii (1250-1517). Beyrut, 1998. 599 p. (In Arabian)
11. Shaydiyaz al'-Garini. Mamalik. Cairo, 2001. 287 p. (In Arabian)
About the author: Elmira G. Sayfetdinova - Cand. Sci. (History), Senior Research Fellow, Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (5 entrance, Kremlin, Kazan 420014, Russian Federation). E-mail: [email protected]
Received June 14, 2016 Accepted for publication August 31, 2016
К ВОПРОСУ О ПРИМЕНЕНИИ ЭТНИЧЕСКОГО ТЕРМИНА «ТАТАРЫ» В АРАБСКОЙ ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ
Э.Г. Сайфетдинова
Институт истории им. Ш. Марджани АН РТ 420014, Казань, Российская Федерация E-mail: аёы1уа2@уапёех.гы
Реконструкция этногенеза народов, населяювших Золотую Орду является одной из интенсивно изучаемых проблем в современной исторической науке. При изучении истории народов Золотой Орды важную роль сыграли и средневековые арабские источники. Для понимания их значимости необходимо изучение современных исторических исследований арабских авторов, в которых средневековые арабские летописи рассмотрены более детально. Цель: изучение арабской исторической литературы в вопросе применения этнического термина «татары». Материалами исследования являются некоторые современные арабские исторические исследования. Например, Мухаммад Сахил Таккуш «История мамлюков в Египте и Сирии» в книге Золотую Орду называет Магул-Кыпчак, а Иран - Магул-Фарис», Касим Абдел Касим автор книги «Эпоха мамлюкских султанов» Золотую Орду называет «билад ал-кыпчак», Шайдияз ал-Гарини в работе «Мамлюки» Берке называет ханом золотоор-дынского племени, а жителей Золотой Орды - «ат-татар ал-кыпчак», т.е. «кыпчак-ские татары». Особый интерес вызывает книга египетского историка Мухаммада Абделгани ал-Ашкар «Салар - татарский эмир-мусульманин (наиб мамлюкского султана в Египте (1260-1310 гг.). Речь идет о временах правления султана ал-Малика ан-Насира Мухаммада, с которым сложились тесные дружеские отношения у золото-ордынского хана Узбека. Известно, что в Золотой Орде молились за султана ал-Малик ал-Насира, поминая его имя после хана Узбека. Многолетняя дружба Золотой Орды и Египта, в конце концов, привела к заключению династического брака между египетским султаном ан-Насиром и золотоордынской царевной Тулунбай.
Результаты и научная новизна: исследование применения этнического термина «татары» в арабской исторической литературе остается актуальной и требует пересмотра некоторых уже устоявшихся представлений об этноистории татарского народа на арабском Востоке в пользу углубленного изучения этой проблемы.
Ключевые слова: Золотая Орда, термин, татары, монголы, мамлюки, арабская историография.
Для цитирования: Sayfetdinova E.G. To the Question of the Use of the Ethnic Term "Tatars" in Arab Historical literature // Золотоордынское обозрение. 2016. Т. 4, № 3. С. 529-533.
Сведения об авторе: Эльмира Гаделзяновна Сайфетдинова - кандидат исторических наук, старший научный сотрудник Центра исследований Золотой Орды и татарских ханств им. М.А.Усманова, Институт истории им. Ш. Марджани АН РТ (420014, Кремль, подъезд 5, Казань, Российская Федерация). E-mail: а[email protected]
Поступила 14.06.2016 г.
Принята к публикации 31.08.2016 г.
