Juhud al-Istishraq al-Rusi fi Majal al-Sunna wa al-Sira
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Juhud al-Istishraq al-Rusi fi Majal al-Sunna wa al-Sira (Efforts of Russian Orientalism in the Field of Sunnah and Sirah: A Bibliographical Study) is a scholarly monograph by Sulayman al-Jar Allah (سليمان بن محمد الجار الله) examining the historical contributions, publications, and manuscript holdings of Russian Orientalism concerning the prophetic tradition (Hadith) and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Sirah).
Background and Scope
The study provides a bibliographical survey of Russian Orientalism's engagement with the Sunnah and Sirah over its two centuries of institutional history. The author notes that the subject remained largely unexamined due to the limited dissemination of Russian Orientalist literature outside Russia's borders. The work traces printed materials—including books, specialized treatises, and articles published in academic periodicals—as well as the acquisition, preservation, and cataloging of Arabic Hadith manuscripts across Russian libraries and academic institutions.
Structure and Contents
The book is organized into an introduction, two main chapters, and a conclusion:
- Chapter One: The Sunnah and Sirah in Russian Orientalist Sources (al-Sunna wa al-Sira fi al-Masadir al-Istishraqiyya al-Rusiyya): Divided into two sections. The first section explores the origins of Russian Orientalism, tracing its roots to the reforms and eastern policy of Tsar Peter I (d. 1725) and its academic institutionalization in the early nineteenth century with the founding of the Asiatic Museum in 1818 under Christian Martin Frähn, alongside scholars such as Bernhard Dorn and Vasily Bartold. The second section surveys printed Russian literature addressing Hadith and Sirah, analyzing works such as Baron Nikolai Tornauw's Principles of Islamic Law (1850), Ahatanhel Krymsky's studies on early Sirah sources and Islamic history (1902–1903), P. N. Tretyakov's work on the development of Islamic Hadith, and Leo Tolstoy's translated selections of prophetic sayings.
- Chapter Two: Hadith Manuscripts in Russian Collections (al-Makhtutat al-Hadithiyya fi al-Khaza'in al-Rusiyya): Divided into two sections. The first section surveys the primary manuscript repositories, focusing on three major institutions in Saint Petersburg: the Institute of Oriental Studies (formerly the Asiatic Museum), the National Library of Russia (Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library), and the Library of the Faculty of Oriental Languages at Saint Petersburg State University, in addition to regional collections in Kazan, Dagestan, and Moscow. The second section examines catalogs and specific examples of Hadith manuscripts preserved in these repositories, particularly the two-volume catalog of Arabic manuscripts prepared under Arabist Anas Khalidov at the Institute of Oriental Studies, which records 460 Hadith manuscripts out of 10,822 cataloged items, alongside 96 Hadith manuscripts in the Public Library and 41 at Saint Petersburg State University.
- Conclusion (Khatima): Summarizes the core findings and assessments of the research.
Key Findings
The book concludes that academic Russian Orientalism historically prioritized Arabic linguistics, literature, numismatics, historical documents connected to Russian history, and manuscript preservation, while paying comparatively less attention to Islamic jurisprudence and the primary scriptural sources. Consequently, Russian studies on the Sunnah were mostly embedded within broader historical or legal works rather than published as independent monographs, with rare exceptions such as Tretyakov's missionary-oriented study and Tolstoy's literary collection. The author also observes that while early Russian treatments of Islamic law often mirrored Western European Orientalist frameworks, specialized interest in Islamic studies expanded significantly in Russia during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
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