P rominent t ajik f igures of the

Iraj Bashiri

72
to St. Petersburg (1883-84), he was assigned the qadiship (office of the

judge) of Bukhara's remote districts, Ghuzor and Nahrpai.
Undaunted, Donish worked on his Navodir al-Vaqoye' (Singular
Events, 1885) until the new Amir, Abdulahad (ruled 1885-1910), ap-
pointed him director of one of Bukhara's madrasahs. When Navodir
was completed, Donish copied and distributed it among his friends and
supporters. Highly influential in awakening the people, Donish's work
rallied the Amir, the court, and the Ulema against him. The book was
singled out as anti-Islamic, and its author as irreligious and unprinci-
pled. It was even rumored that Donish lacked a knowledge of Islam and
the Shari'a (law). In response to these allegations, Donish published
Mi'yor al-Tadayun (The Touchstone of Religion, 1894) in which he
analyzed the Islamic figh (jurisprudence) as it pertained to his contem-
poraries. In fact, in matters of religion, Donish easily outshone his dog-
matic accusers.
Convinced that mere improvements in the government would not be
sufficient to place Bukhara on a solid path to progress, during his last
years, Donish devoted his time to writing Risolai Ta'rikhi (Historical
Essay, 1897). In it, he severely criticized the 100-year rule of the
Manghit amirs, especially Muzaffar. Furthermore, he prophesied that
either internal strife or the will of the people would put an end to the
rule of the Manghits.
A unique individual, Donish taught himself the works of the masters
and made three arduous trips to Russia to perfect his understanding of
the world. When he became convinced of the inability of Bukharan
authorities to effect change, he severely criticized the traditional meth-
ods used in the Bukharan madrasahs, promoted the learning of foreign
languages and the exact sciences, and more poignantly, documented the
root causes of the malaise that permeated every aspect of Bukharan life.
In the field of literature, Donish influenced the literary developments of
his time by introducing realism into Tajik literature, and by broadening
the scope of the vernacular to encompass the expression of contempo-
rary concerns.
Ahmad Donish died in 1897 in Bukhara.