The Scholarly Study of Bobojon Sanoiy’s Works

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of scholarly research, the source-study characteristics, and the philosophical and social views of Bobojon Sanoiy, a major representative of the nineteenth-century Khorezm enlightenment and translation school. The study systematizes international and national scholarly works devoted to the three main directions of the scholar’s heritage – the Sufi-gnostic, the historical, and the socio-political. Sanoiy’s most important historical work, “Maorifun Nasab” (“Nasabnoma”), occupies a special place among the 239 manuscripts re-examined during a research trip to the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) in December 2021, and has been identified as a unique source found in no other manuscript collection. The article discusses the work’s true title, its structure (an introduction, five chapters, and a planned but unrealized conclusion), the history of its composition, and the autobiographical information left by the author himself. Sanoiy’s political ideas are devoted to the questions of the just ruler and social justice: the scholar criticized the vices of society and advanced the idea of reforming it through spiritual perfection. His works are preserved in European collections (Berlin, St. Petersburg, London, Paris) and constitute an important source for studying cultural exchange between East and West.