PREFACETIAS, the Islamic Area Studies Center at the University of Tokyo, wasestablished in 2006 to undertake an empirical and comparative study of thedynamic relationship between modern thought and politics, with a focus on
post-18th century Central Eurasia and the Middle East. Of the two researchgroups comprising this IAS Center, Research Group 1, “Islam and Politics inCentral Eurasia,” focuses on relatively new areas of Islamic research such as
Central Asia, Caucasia, and the Volga-Urals region, as well as Xinjiang in China.
The Central Eurasian Research Series constitutes one of the main projects ofResearch Group 1.
The series aims to introduce source materials invaluable to the further
development of Central Eurasian studies, which has made great progress since
the mid-1980s when glasnost was introduced in the Soviet Union.1 We believethat among other things, it is important to make newly obtained rare sources
available and known to all researchers in Central Eurasian studies. In this respect
the series succeeds the aims of the Central Asian Research Series that waspublished by the preceding Islamic Area Studies Project (1997-2002). In theearlier series we published various manuscripts of Muslim intellectuals of theearly 20th century, documents regarding Ismail Bey Gasprinskii’s World Muslim
Congress project, as well as the index of the journal Āyina (1913-15).2For example see Dudoignon, Stéphane A. & Komatsu Hisao (eds.). Research Trends in Modern
Central Eurasian Studies (18th-20th Centuries): A Selective and Critical Bibliography of Works
Published between 1985 and 2000, Part 1-2, Tokyo: The Toyo Bunko, 2003-2006.
2Central Asian Research Series:
No.1: Чокаев, Мустафа. Отрывки из воспоминаний о 1917 г. (ред. Исхаков С.М.).
Токио-Москва: IASP-Российская Академия Наук, 2001. 64 с.
No.2: Исхак-хан тура ибн Джунайдаллах Хваджа. Мизан аз-Заман (ред. Коматцу Х. иБабаджанов Б.). Ташкент-Токио: Институт Востоковедения Академии Наук Республика
Узбекистана-IASP, 2001. 20+36 с.
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The first issue of our new series introduces a unique Jadidist journal
called Ḥaqīqat, which saw only two issues published in Tashkent in 1922. At firstglance it seems odd that a journal with the motto “There is neither religion
without society nor society without religion” appeared in Turkestan under theofficial policy of atheism upheld by the Soviet authorities. However, politicalcircumstances of those critical years following the October Revolution compelled
the Bolsheviks to arrange a temporary compromise with Islam and with theMuslim intellectuals in the former Czarist colony. By assisting the Jadid
intellectuals in expressing their views, Muslim Communists were able to advancesome of their own objectives, which included enlightening the Muslim people.
In his detailed introduction, Dr. Bakhtiyar Babadjanov presents asummary of every article published in the two issues of the Ḥaqīqat, andanalyzes the articles in the religious context of Islamic reformism. Almost all of
the articles revolve around the main issues discussed by pre-Revolution Jadids:
the reasons for stagnation and decline in Islamic civilization, which at one timeenjoyed a golden age; the recovery of pure Islam through the elimination of any
bid’a and superstitions prevailing in Muslim society; the miserable condition ofMuslim education in old-fashioned madrasas and maktabs; the immediate needfor modern education, technology and sciences; reform in the administration ofwaqf (endowment) properties, and so on. In fact the article “We and Education”
is attributed to Munavvar-qari Abdurashidkhanov (1878-1931), a famous Jadidist
leader in Tashkent. Some of the articles reflect hope and expectation for the newregime, while others maintain wary and skeptical attitudes toward the Sovietauthorities.
In one of the articles, an ex-Ottoman educator named Sati‘-bek (SatıBey 1880-1968) makes a Jadidist argument and condemns the fatalistic attitudes
that prevailed among Muslims at the time. This critique brings to mind a shortcomment on Central Asian Muslims made by a young Japanese diplomat, NISHI
Tokujiro (1847-1912), in the 1880s. After working some years as a chargéd’affaires at the Japanese embassy in St. Petersburg, he undertook an extensive
journey in 1880 through Russian Turkestan with permission from theNo.3: Новая Страница из Жизни А.З. Валиди (Составление Рината Н. Шигабдинова,Перевод Абдулкадиром Захидий). Токио: IASP, 2001. 38+24 с.
No.4: Hakan Kırımlı ve İsmail Türkoğlu (haz). İsmail Bey Gaspıralı ve Dünya Müslümanları
Kongresi. Tokyo: IASP, 2002. 85 p.
No.5: Shimada Shizuo (ed.). An Index of Āyina. Tokyo: IASP, 2002. 101 p.
No.6: Мухаммад Иунус Хваджа б. Мухаммад Амин Хваджа (Та’иб). Тухфа-йи Та’иб (ред.
Бабаджанов Б., Вахидов Ш.Х. и Коматцу Х.). Ташкент-Токио: IASP, 2002. 12+32 с.
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Governor-General of Turkestan, K.P. von Kaufman. In four months NISHI
traveled through the Kazakh Steppes, Tashkent, Samarkand, Shahrisabz, Bukhara,
the Ferghana Valley, and Vernyi (Almaty). In Karshi he was allowed to meet
Bukharan Amir Muzaffar. In his official report submitted to the Japanese Foreign
Minister INOUE Kaoru, NISHI noted several impressions about the Central Asianpeoples.
In one passage, he says: “Central Asian Muslims are so devout thateverything is supposed to be conducted in accordance with religious
commandments. Any deviation from them is strictly avoided and forbidden.
Therefore they can never reform once-settled institutions. Even if their outdated
institutions do not meet the needs of modernity and result in unfavorable
conditions, they submit themselves to their plight by attributing everything to thewill of Allah. It is very difficult for them to be receptive to European civilization.
If they fail to create a new learning adaptable to contemporary conditions, theycannot achieve independence and will be destined to obey other peoples.” 3Sati‘-bek’s condemnation of fatalism is just such an attempt to create “a newlearning adaptable to contemporary conditions” that NISHI hoped to see morethan forty years ago.
In the Ḥaqīqat we find two works of the great Uzbek poet Cholpan(1897-1938). The first is a shortened translation of the article “Upheavals in theVisions of Education among the Local [Muslim] People in Turkestan” firstpublished in 1910 by the Russian Orientalist and missionary N. P. Ostroumov(1846-1930), and the second is a poem, Kishan [shackles],4 that ends in thefollowing couplet:
The marks of black shackles are still visible in your hands
However there is no hope for you to be liberated totally from shackles
Cholpan was much aggrieved by the aspects of colonialism thatremained unchanged from the Czarist period. However his melancholy
prediction came true not only for the journal, but also for the most of theMuslim intellectuals including himself.
As noted by Dr. Bakhtiyar Babadjanov (pp. 9-10), very few scholars
up to now have turned their attention to Jadidism of after the 1917 Revolution.
Furthermore, while in most cases Jadidist thoughts have been studied from
西徳二郎「西書記官中亜細亜旅行報告書」『日本外交文書』14, 1951 年, 478 頁。
This poem is not found in Чўлпон. Асарлар: Уч жилдлик, О. Шарафтдинов таҳрири остида,Ж. 1, Тошкент: Ғафур Ғулом номидаги Адабиёт ва санъат нашриёти, 1994.

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literary and historical points of view, religious contexts and meanings haveremained almost untouched until now. I believe that this publication addresses
these lacunae in the intellectual history of modern Central Asia.
Finally I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. HAMAMOTO Mami (NIHUResearch Fellow at TIAS) and Ms SHIMIZU Yuriko (Chuo University) for editing
the text and preparing the first issue of our new Central Eurasian ResearchSeries.

Tokyo, October 2007
KOMATSU Hisao
Leader of the Islamic Area Studies Centerat the University of Tokyo (TIAS)

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