Turkic-language Quran of Kara-Khanid Khanate era discovered in British archives
As part of a scientific and research expedition to Great Britain, the representatives of Kazakhstan’s National Center of Manuscripts and Rare Books visited the libraries, archives and research centers of London, Oxford and Manchester. During the visit, the specialists managed to get copies of 15 manuscripts and around 500 archival documents related to the Kazakh history, Kazinform News Agency cites the press service of the ministry of culture and information of the country.
One of the valuable manuscripts found in Manchester is the holy book Quran translated for the first time to the Turkic language in around the 10-12th centuries in the period of the Kara-Khanid Khanate. The Turkic translation is very close to the translation language of Kutadgu Bilig, the 11th century work written by Yūsuf Balasaguni.
Another important manuscript discovered is the medieval work in the Arabic language written in the bibliographic direction. The ultimate book of articles of the fundamentals of natural science contains information about the biography of Abu Nasr al-Farabi and his works. European research scholar Carl Brockelmann once noted that the work belonged to al-Farabi.
At the Bodleian Library in Oxford Kazakhstani specialists took interest in the Zain ul-Akhbar book written by Abu Sa'eed Abdul Hayy Bin az-Zahhaak Bin Mahmood Gardezi (Farsi) in 1049/53. The work tells the history of the Persian (pre-Islamic) tsars, Muhammad and khalifs before 1032, as well as the history of Khorasan until 1041. Some champers cover science, religions and celebrations in India, Turkic tribes of Asia, Russians and Greeks. Orientalist Vasily Bartold used some passages from the manuscript in his works such as Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion and Report on a Trip to Central Asia in 1893-94.
It was noted that the personnel of the National Center of Manuscripts and Rare Books and foreign scholars are to conduct joint research of the said manuscripts and other works.
