The woman" " New Amina Qasim books to the Russian edition with a preface in Krachkovsky Yu .I. akad. vremya svoje V (1912) noted that " for Muslims , the text published by Selim Cobain in 1905 was of great interest .translation from Russian of the pamphlet "Women's Rights in Islam"by the Caucasian emigrant Akhmed Agayev ... The translation is dedicated to Qasim Amin, which makes it quite clear that the work was inspired by his works" (Krachkovsky, 1956, p . 134) .1 Since then , Russian literary scholars-Arabists, speaking about the translation practice of the Russian language. We have borrowed this information (sometimes with reference to Krachkovsky, and sometimes without it), without going into details concerning both the identity of the author of this booklet and the Arabic translation itself. In this article , I want to correct this omission.

words: Keywords A. Agayev's pamphlet, S. Cobain's translation into Arabic, the position of a Muslim woman.

Palestinian translator Selim Cobain (1870-1951), a native of Nazareth, one of the first graduates of the Nazareth Russian Teachers ' Seminary, an excellent connoisseur of the Russian language, a passionate admirer and popularizer of Russian literature, emigrated to Egypt in 1897 and connected his entire life with the Land of the Pyramids. In Cairo, Cobain founded the magazine "Al-Iha' "("Brotherhood"), a printing house of the same name, translated and published works by luminaries of Russian classics-Leo Tolstoy, A.M. Gorky, N. V. Gogol, A. S. Pushkin, I. S. Turgenev, L. L. Tolstoy (son of Leo Tolstoy) etc. The work of Akhmed Agayev mentioned by I. Y. Krachkovsky was translated by S. Cobain as "Hukuk al-mar'a fi-l-islyam" ("Women's Rights in Islam"), although the author himself gave it the Russian name "A Woman in Islam and in Islam".

The author of the Russian original, Ahmed-bey Agayev (Agaoglu) (1869-1939), a prominent Azerbaijani educator, public figure, journalist, publicist, critic, pan-Islamist and pan-Turkist, was born in Shusha (Nagorno-Karabakh) in a noble family. He received his primary education at the Shusha Lyceum, secondary education at the Russian Tiflis Gymnasium, after which he continued his studies at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute in 1887, and soon (1888) at the Sorbonne. In 1894, he returned to his homeland and began teaching French at one of the lyceums in Shusha. In the same year, he participated in the IX Congress of Orientalists in London, where he made a report on the religious life of Iran. The pro-Iranian and anti-Ottoman orientation was characteristic of the early works of A. Agayev, who saw Iran as the leader of the Muslim world.

1 In 1899, K. Amin's book "Tahrir al-mar'a" ("Liberation of women") was published, where the idea is held that religion is not to blame for the humiliated position of women at the present stage. Two years later, K. Amin published another book - "Al-Mar'a al-Jadida" ("The New Woman").

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In 1897, he moved to Baku, where from 1898 to 1905 he headed the literary and critical department in the Russian-language newspaper Kaspiy (1881-1919). Here A. Agaev published his articles about the works of European writers, in particular Shakespeare's Othello, Schiller's Robbers, Gorky and Islam, Tatar Aslan from Gorky's play At the Bottom, and others. He called for translating Western literature. He published a number of newspapers, including Irshad (1905) and Taraggi (1908). A. Agaev was one of the active participants of the 1st All-Russian Muslim Congress, held in Nizhny Novgorod on August 15, 1905. He became imbued with the ideas of pan-Turkism, which he expounded in his articles in the newspaper "Kaspiy". In 1909. he moved to Turkey and became actively involved in its political and cultural life, teaching at Istanbul University, and working as a journalist in Turkish newspapers. In 1919, Aghayev was one of the members of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. His route to Paris was via Istanbul. Here, the British authorities who occupied the city arrested him as an active participant in the liberation movement in Turkey and exiled him to Malta, from where he returned to Turkey in 1921. A. Agayev died in Istanbul in 1939, remaining faithful to the national policy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk until the end of his life.

Akhmed-bek Agayev's pamphlet "A Woman in Islam and in Islam" (59 pages long) in Russian was published in Tiflis in 1901. Some of its materials, even before the book was published, were published in separate articles in the Baku newspaper "Kaspiy", which was discussed above.

In this work, Akhmed-bek Agayev consistently suggests that Islam from the very beginning supported the comprehensive development of women both in family and in public life. The book begins with a description of the enviable position of women in Europe and America, where "women's rights are becoming more and more expanded and equalized with men's rights every day; at the same time, in Asia and Africa, many millions of women who profess Islam are condemned to the most severe and hopeless slavery and deprived of the most primitive human rights... In this respect, even the Hindus, generally less progressive than the Mohammedans, were ahead of these latter" (Agaev, 1901, p. 2-3).

The author gives examples of statements made by famous personalities of the past about the negative impact of Islam on the position of a Muslim woman. Voltaire, for example, called Mahomet "the fiend of the human race." Both in the West and in Russia, "a large public is of the opinion that Islam alone is to blame for everything that is happening on Muslim land, and that if it were not for this teaching, everything would have gone differently there, on this land. For the followers of this view, Muslims, as long as they remain Muslims, will not be capable of any moral or social progress. Finding all the evil in Islam itself, they see the only salvation for them in the eradication of the religion itself. This is the ignorance of the Middle Ages in relation to Islam, " says A. Agaev [ibid., pp. 4-5].

Mahomet was depicted as a devil with horns or the Antichrist [ibid., p. 6]. According to Zh. According to Renan, "the Middle Ages never brought their anger to half: Mahomet was a swindler, a thief of camels, a cardinal who, not getting into the pope, invented a new religion in order to take revenge on his comrades, was portrayed as a vile reveller" [ibid., p. 7]. A. Agaev complains that centuries pass, and the people's religions are not the same. prejudice continues to weigh on the best minds. Leibniz and Shakespeare teased the Muslim prophet for the amusement of the crowd, Voltaire won the pope's pardon with his pamphlet "Mahomet" (Mahomet - Tartuffe in arms). Even the nineteenth century was no stranger to such aberrations. It was only in the second half of the 19th century that "it fell to our lot to illuminate the East, its history and life under the real, impartial rays of science" [ibid., p. 8]. And today, the developing scientific Oriental studies have completely reversed the previously existing views on various religions and teachings of the East and, in the meantime, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand.

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by the way, on Mahomet and his teachings. Among Muslims, Mary is more revered than among some Christian sects, " A. Agayev says. The Qur'an constantly repeats: "I have come to restore the true teaching of Christ." The author refers, in particular, to the name of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), who defended Mahomet. But it is deeply regrettable, he notes, that the general public continues to remain outside the influence of these ideas and clings to almost medieval concepts of both Mahomet and his teachings.

It is impossible to talk about the attitude of Islam towards women without looking back to the pre-Mohammedan period, A. Agayev is convinced. Only with this approach can we judge the role of Islam in the development of the women's question, and what Mahomet did for women in general and for the Arab woman in particular. The author draws attention to the fact that the situation of women in the pre-Mohammedan period in Arabia and in the surrounding countries was outrageous. For example, in Persia, she was a slave, led a reclusive life, did not know the light of God. There is nothing to say about the rights of a woman in the family, in relations with her husband or parents; she was in a completely subordinate position [ibid., p. 16]. The birth of a girl was the Arab's worst omen, the surest sign of the gods ' displeasure. The girls were buried in the sand. Women and men in a marriage that was probably not based on love were free to leave each other whenever they wanted.

As A. Agaev emphasizes, Mahomet paid great attention to the female question: "O people, fear God, who created you from the same substance", i.e. they are identical as social and moral units and are equally responsible to God for their actions. The Koran rebelled against the savage custom of burying their daughters alive in the sand, which Mahomet considered a grave offense. The pagans converted to Islam and promised not to kill their daughters again. Mahomet believed that marriage should be based on love. "Marry those you love," the Koran says, A. Agayev reminds. Islam has limited the number of legal wives to four, in contrast to previous polygamy.

There was no seclusion under Mahomet, as in the Koran, A. Agaev notes. Mahomet was concerned with improving the status of women. An example of this is Khadija-a bright personality, risking her wealth, name, position and even life, married a modest, dark "innovator" who dared to rise up against the entire past and present of Arabia. The Prophet's daughter Fatima has always been and still is the ideal of a woman, embodying the ideal of family life for Muslims, the author believes. And in the Abbasid era (750-1258), he points out, a woman studied not only laws, religion and "traditions", but also "poetry, literature, rhetoric, calligraphy, played an outstanding role in society." A. Agayev describes the virtues and achievements of Zubaydah, the wife of Caliph Harun ar-Rashid, his sister Abbasa. "Both of them are educated, gifted, charitable." The author writes colorfully about the love of Abbas and Jafar, who were treated with extreme cruelty by Harun ar-Rashid. All women of this period were attracted to knowledge, " he says. A woman in the Abbasid era was not constrained in any way in the manifestations of personal freedom, she even took part with weapons in her hands, dressed in military armor, in the struggle against the Crusaders (XII century), in the war against Byzantium.

"But unfortunately, the further the Persian influence increases, and chroniclers less often note examples of outstanding personalities from women... and then comes the final reign of hideous eunuchs, harems, intrigues and cosmetics; the woman's personality is finally suppressed and instead of the former exercises of the mind, beneficial influence on others, she indulges in a careless, lazy harem life with corrupting consequences. This is the darkest epoch of their history; it is illustrated not only by the complete degeneration of morals, but also by the reign of low and vulgar harem intrigues, the reign of poison, dagger and mysterious murders, the series of palace revolutions and the omnipotence of the soldiers; this spirit of degeneration

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it permeates literature and philosophy, filling them with an unbearably stifling atmosphere of a decaying society; in philosophy, instead of the former rationalism, a strong and courageous faith in science and virtue, theosophism, a weeping and tearful skepticism, a vague, revealing decrepitude of spirit prevails" [ibid., p. 49].

The traditions of women's freedom, according to A. Agayev, are held only where the corrupting power of Persian influence has not yet penetrated. Such are the Turko-Tatars and the Spanish Moors. Among the nomadic Turko-Tatars (before the adoption of Islam), a woman was an equal helper and companion of a man, and in this era the Turko-Tatars showed an unusual tendency to enlightenment. In Egypt, women of position and education also had great influence in society. On the initiative of one of them, the Academy of Sciences "Dar al-Hikma" was founded (Agaev calls it "House of Sciences", although it is correct "House of Wisdom", 1005, and the academy "House of Sciences" - "Dar al-ulum" - was founded in Baghdad in 930 AD). where there were quite a few women among the lecturers and listeners [ibid., p. 53]. Under the Mamelukes, women played a prominent role in society, and Cairo ladies organized concerts and gatherings in their salons, where women entered into a literary competition with famous poets of that era [ibid., p. 54].

A. Agayev tells about the women of India, in particular about Mehri an-Nyssa, who, according to him, the composer Moore brought out in the opera "Lalla Rook" (in fact, Thomas Moore is an Irish poet who wrote the poem "Lalla Moore", which brought to life several operas, of which the most famous was "Lalla Rook (1862) by the French composer Fr. It is considered that in artistic terms it is inferior to A. G. Rubinstein's opera " Feramors "(1863). - E. A.).

With the disappearance of Spain as a Muslim country, A. Agaev continues, where women enjoyed full equality with men until the end of the Moorish rule, " women's freedom is fading, the rule of eunuchs and harems is finally and everywhere established, and these disgusting institutions bring everywhere the infection of corruption and corruption. The grim picture of family life among the upper classes of Muslims is all too familiar... a Muslim woman is doomed to a hopeless, eternal life that oppresses her body and soul" [ibid., p. 57].

Summing up his thoughts, the author writes that "the salvation of Muslims, their moral, material and even political rise depends solely on the resolution of two issues: women's education and the reform of the alphabet. Only by becoming a free, conscious mother and spouse can a modern Muslim woman perform her social functions efficiently, cultivate character and will in her children, and inspire them with high feelings and noble thoughts that are so important in public life... " [ibid., pp. 57-58]. To awaken the Muslim world, to introduce it to the circle of civilized nations, A. Agayev argues, a strong shock is needed, so that Muslims also pass through their era of reformation and a person of firm will and selfless selflessness is found among them. Such a reformer will find in Islam itself, in its theory and practice, a fertile ground. Neither the Koran nor the Shari'ah itself is repugnant to progress, only their bearers-sheikhs and ulama-have tried to give the character of irreconcilability with civilization for personal gain [ibid., pp. 58-59]. The reforms of the Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali are a model for A. Agayev.

"The Muslim religion is essentially cheerful and progressive," he said. The doctrine of fatalism appears in it not as a dark, oppressive pressure of some fatal, inexorable force over human fate, but as a reinforcing and encouraging reconciliation post factum with what has happened. After all, the Muslim Prophet himself repeatedly repeated:; "Trust the camel to your God, but first bind its knees" "[ibid., p. 59]. This is the end of the Russian text.

Selim Cobain's translation of A. Agayev's pamphlet under the Arabic title "Huquk al-mar'a fi-l-islyam "("Women's Rights in Islam"), published in 1905 in the Cairo Public Printing House (Matbaat al-jumhur), is preceded by a" Preface "and a" Word

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an Arabic translator." The preface (Muqaddama al-kitab) is addressed to the Egyptian Qasim Amin (1863-1908), a fighter for the liberation of an Arab woman:

"My Lord, distinguished, honorable scholar and great reformer, His Excellency Qasim beg Amin! In the world of high morals, this important book by an outstanding scholar, a Russian Muslim, who became famous for his power of persuasion and extreme prudence, has appeared in Russian. The theme of the book is the consolidation of enlightened minds from the mass of Russian Muslims. I undertook to translate it into Arabic in order to benefit all speakers of that language and Muslims in particular. I have been privileged to carry this great gift from one Arabic-speaking nation to another, to become a link between the reformers of the North and the East, in order to raise this book to your highest rank. God grant that it will be approved, and then I will really pay my debt to science and humanity. May Allah strengthen your strength."

Sincerely, Selim Cobain [Huquk al-mar'a..., 1905, p. 3].

In the beginning of "The translator's Words into Arabic" (Kalima li-l-muarrib), the traditional "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful" begins first, followed by the appeal "To dear readers!

I was introduced to this book in Russian, and I was fascinated by what it says about the important things that occupy the thoughts of a growing generation of enlightened Muslims in our current age, whose minds are illuminated by the torches of science and knowledge. My service to literature has led me to satisfy my longing to translate this book into Arabic, to bear the cost of publishing it, and to present it gratefully as a gift to my Muslim brothers in the East. After reading it, they will learn that the Muslim youth of Russia have the same complaints and grievances as the Egyptian Muslim youth about the situation of a Muslim woman, which is very difficult in human society. This book will serve as a link between the Muslims of the North and the East.

I was inspired to publish it by the ideological movement that arose in all parts of Egypt under the influence of the ideas of His Excellency Qasim beg Amin. The echoes of this movement continue to awaken minds. I hope that my work will be approved and accepted, and that the translation of useful Islamic books from Russian to Arabic will continue. Therefore, I ask the readers of this book of mine not to pay attention (to lower the curtain) to the errors that they will see in it, only Allah is blameless and glorious in everything " [ibid., p. 4-5].

When translating the book, Selim Cobain does not miss a single phrase, and presents the Russian text in a manner characteristic of him and his time: he complements," decorates"," colors " individual fragments of the original in order to make it particularly attractive for the Arabic reader, corresponding to the taste of contemporaries. So, in the original: "But the situation of a Muslim woman, despite all its severity and hopelessness, has not yet caused either a strong protest or a convinced reformer" [Agaev, 1901, p. 2-3]. Translated: "Meanwhile, the situation of a Muslim woman, with all her complete ignorance and extreme constraint, has not yet found a very persistent person and reformer with firm determination and unshakable will, who would call on Muslims to improve the situation of women, whose words would make a strong impression on the souls" [Hukuk al-mar'a..., 1905, p. 9].

Another example. In the original: "Reading the famous Tangier native Ibn Battut, who traveled through Asia at the beginning of the XII century and visited the horde of Uzbek Khan in Astrakhan, one is struck by the knightly honor that the then Turkic-Tatars surrounded a woman, and her freedom" [Agaev, 1901, pp. 50-51]. Translated as:"...To confirm our words, we would like to draw the reader's attention to the rihla (travel book ) of the famous Arab traveler Ibn Battuta, born in Tangier, who traveled through Asia at the beginning of the XIII century and visited Sultan Uzbek Beg Khan in the city of Astrakhan; when reading the corresponding pages, the reader will be overcome with confusion and surprise when he learns that a Muslim woman among the Tatars had a high social position and enjoyed honor, respect and absolute freedom in that era" [Huquk al-mar'a..., 1905, p.114]. The translator then goes on to illustrate what was said with Ibn Battuta's description of the Muslim woman's situation at that time, which is not present in the original.

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I. Y. Krachkovsky pointed out that the translator "supplemented Akhmed Agayev's pamphlet with a significant number of examples from the life of Muslim women in the XIX century" [Krachkovsky, 1956, p. 134]. Such additions are included in the Epilogue to the Arabic edition. However, even in the translated text itself, as noted above, there are many inserts, often with a mark (al-muarrib) (i.e. translator), meaning that Selim Cobain introduces his own material. Thus, he describes in detail the biography of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad by his first wife Khadija, gives poems written by her on the death of her father, as well as a qasida composed about her death, tells about Fatima's children-Hassan, Husayn and Muhsin and others who died in infancy [Huquk al-mar'a..., 1905, pp. 64-70]. The translator devotes many pages to famous women of the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, who played an important role in the cultural life of the Arabs during the heyday of their civilization, and saturates the Arabic text with numerous fragments from their poetry.

The last sentence of the Russian text written by Selim Cobain turns into the following passage: "There is not even a trace of pressure on the active forces of man in the Islamic religion. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Live as if you will live forever and live as if you will die tomorrow," followed by a hadith narrated from Imam al-Tirmidhi: "A man said:' O Messenger of Allaah, I'd better hobble And the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ] .
"It is obvious that the author's positions and ideas are fully consistent with the principles of the late philosopher of the East, Sheikh Mohammed Abdo, Mufti of Egypt, whose death is a heavy loss for Islam," concludes Selim Cobain, concluding the translated text with a qasida that Mohammed Abdo composed while already hopelessly ill:

I don't care what they say: Muhammad
recovered or already full of mourning meetings for him.
But I would like the welfare of religion,
fearing that it will be destroyed by those in turbans.
People have hopes that they crave to be fulfilled.
If I die, then their cherished desires will die and disappear.
O Lord, if you have prepared me to return soon
to the world of souls and the seal will be broken (i.e., the end will come. - E. A.),
So bless Islam and send down a guide to it
the wise one who lights the way in the dark night [ibid., pp. 151-152].

For some unknown reason, Selim Cobain omitted the last Beit of Qasida Mohammed Abdo:

Who will be like me in speech, learning, and wisdom
And I am like a sword, and the sword is sharp.

The Arabic text is also provided with a lengthy epilogue (Hatima al-kitab li-l-muarrib) [ibid., pp. 152-163], where the translator reports that he sent his work to "Mr. great writer, his nobility (title of bek. - E. A.) Akhmed-bek Agayev, the author of this book", and he asks his forgiveness for having expanded it with information about the famous women mentioned in the original, seeing this as an undoubted benefit for his compatriots [ibid., p. 152]. Thus, the famous Turkish writer Fatma Aliye (b. 1862), who, together with her father, the Ottoman historian Ahmed Cevdet Pasha (1822-1895), then Minister of Justice,spent more than one year in the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus, where he was appointed wali (governor), comes to the attention of S. Cobain. In the winter, she lived in Beirut, studied Arabic, Persian and French, became famous in Europe and even translated from French.-

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It is based on a Turkish novel that delighted Ahmed Midhat-efendi, a famous writer and translator of the Ottoman Empire during the Tanzimat period.

"I will also find it useful to complete and supplement my work with a biography of some Egyptian women, "Cobain says, focusing on one of the" outstanding " figures in nineteenth-century Egyptian literature, such as Aisha Teymour (1840-1902), the author of poetry collections, short stories, and journalistic articles on the women's movement (the famous Lebanese poet Warda al-Yaziji, who is also popular in Egypt, corresponded with her). The translator gives fragments from Aisha Teymur's voluminous qasida, which was included in her collection "The Results of Circumstances" (Nataij al-ahwal) [ibid., pp. 158-159]. This is the poet, novelist Zeynab Fawwazefendi (born in 1860), a native of Beirut, who permanently settled in Alexandria, where her entire creative path flowed. She tried her hand at various literary genres, including "numerous articles published in newspapers in defense of women's iol and causing controversy among writers and major writers" [ibid., p. 160].

Selim Cobain also gives a list of Arabic sources (about 30, in addition to page-by-page references), from which he drew material for his interspersions in the text of the "Russian" pamphlet; these "inserts" increased the volume of the book in Arabic translation almost threefold.

So, thanks to Selim Cobain, the topical pamphlet of the Azerbaijani educator Ahmed-bey Agayev "A Woman in Islam and in Islam" became available to a wide range of Arab readers.

list of literature

Agayev Akhmed-bek. A woman in Islam and in Islam. Tiflis, 1901.

Krachkovsky I. Y. Izbrannye sochineniya [Selected works]. In 6 vols. Vol. 3. M.-L., 1956.

fi-l-islyam al-mar'a Huquk (Women's rights in Islam). Author: Ahmed-bek Agayif (famous Russian writer) / Translated into Arabic by Selim Cobain. Cairo, 1905.

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