Biography
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jafar ibn Zakariyya ibn al-Khattab ibn Sharik al-Narshakhi was a medieval historian of Transoxiana. He was born in 286 AH (AD 899) in the village of Narshakh near Bukhara; a scholarly edition of 2010 places the village close to Vabkana, three farsakhs from Bukhara. The details of his ancestry come from Abu Saʿd al-Samʿani’s “Kitab al-ansab”. Narshakhi was a Sogdian.
Almost nothing else is known of his life. According to the National Encyclopaedia of Uzbekistan he served as a scribe at the Samanid court, and the researcher Sh. Kamoliddinov suggests that he came from an educated Bukharan family close to the Samanid and later the Karakhanid rulers.
Narshakhi’s only known work is the “History of Bukhara”, written in Arabic. By the date given in its preface it was presented in 943–944 (332 AH) to the Samanid emir Nuh ibn Nasr (reigned 943–954); some scholars give 948–949. The book belongs to the genre of histories of individual cities, which emerged in the ninth century.
It tells of the founding of Bukhara and its ancient rulers, describes the city and the villages of the oasis, its gates and walls and its waqf endowments, and covers the Arab conquest, the uprisings of Muqanna and of Abu Muslim, the spread of Islam and the rise of the Samanid state. The pre-Islamic part draws on al-Baladhuri and al-Tabari and probably on al-Madaʾini.
The Arabic original has not survived. In 1128 Abu Nasr Ahmad al-Qubavi of Quva translated it into Persian in abridged form and carried the account of the Samanids down to 975; in 1178–1179 Muhammad ibn Zufar abridged it again, and an unknown editor later brought the narrative to 1220. The book survives in this last version. Narshakhi died in the month of Safar 348 AH, in the spring of 959.
The “History of Bukhara” has been published in Paris (1892), Bukhara (1904) and Tehran (1939), and translated into Russian (1897), English (1954) and Uzbek (1966, 1993). It is regarded as one of the most important sources on the history of Bukhara and of the Samanid dynasty.
Career
- Samanid court in BukharaScribe · Bukhara
Life path
- 899Birth
Born in the village of Narshakh near Bukhara (286 AH).
- 943–944“History of Bukhara”
Presented his Arabic “History of Bukhara” to the Samanid emir Nuh ibn Nasr; some sources give 948–949.
- 959Death
Died in the month of Safar 348 AH, in spring.
- 1128Persian translation
Abu Nasr al-Qubavi of Quva translated the book into Persian in abridged form and extended the account of the Samanids to 975.
- 1178–1179Second abridgement
Muhammad ibn Zufar abridged and supplemented the Persian text again.
- 1892Paris edition
Charles Schefer published the text in Paris.
- 1897Russian translation
N. Lykoshin translated the book into Russian.
- 1954English translation
The American Iranist Richard Frye published an English translation.
- 1966Uzbek edition
The “History of Bukhara” appeared in Uzbek in Tashkent (reissued in 1993).
Works
- “History of Bukhara” (“Tarikh-i Bukhara”, “Tarikh-i Narshakhi”) (943)Historical work
A history of Bukhara and its oasis written in Arabic; the Arabic original is lost and the book survives in a twelfth-century Persian translation and later revisions.
Legacy
Narshakhi’s “History of Bukhara” is regarded as one of the most important sources on the history of Bukhara and the Samanid state: it holds information on the political history of the oasis, the Arab conquest, social and economic life, historical topography and irrigation. The book was copied and read in Central Asia for centuries and many manuscripts of it survive.
Era: The Samanid era, tenth century- Abu Nasr al-Qubavi translated the book into Persian (1128)
- The Russian translation of the “History of Bukhara” appeared (1897)
- Richard Frye published an English translation (1954)
- A scholarly edition with translation and commentary by Sh. Kamoliddinov was published (2010)