This is an unfinished draft of translation of wonderful assay by Lazar Rempel. The original handwritten text is stored in our family. When figure out ho to do it I will scan and provide the images here.

Maxim Myakishev, Richmond 98

The Spirit of Islam in the Art of Old Bukhara.

 The article written at the very beginning of ths gives reminiscence of the remnants  of old  cultural being at the same time a short picture  (essay) of its long history, destroyed in 1920  th   by the storm of the city, putting an end to  emirate and opening the new sorrowful page in the  history of this stronghold of Islam. Contains also  the opinion of a specialist in the field of Eastern art on the Future fate of the Old city.
 
       Hurry to the city of happiness
            - to Bukhara.
       It sends to you its greetings...
            Abu'l Hasan Rudaki.
            (IX-X centuries)

  These lines are more than thousand years old!  They were written by Abu'l Hasa
n Rudaki well known  throughout the Middle and Near East who was born  near S
amarkand, the most part of his life spent in  Bukhara and died 1050 years ago in
941 p.d.
 In an anthology "Love poetry of the East"  (Moscow, Pravda, 1988) Rudaki is described so:  "...an old man in dilapidated (warn) torn clothes  is threading with a bag on stooped shoulders a  mountain path. His hair is white. Being old and  blind he (ears) on a t
hick stick. Sometimes his  toothless mouth is quivered by a sad smile. Empty  eyeho
les are covered with trembling wrinkled  eyelids - he had been blinded..."
  Not only by love lyrics is filled the poetry  of this forefather of classic poetry
of Middle  East, whose tomb I observed in kishlak Rudaki lied  high in the mountai
ns. Of course not only love  lyries (?) could fill the poetry and art of East  durin
g the long centuries. The spirit of Islam  penetrated the whole culture and various a
rt of  Bukhara for more than 2 thousand years.
  For the first time I visited old Bukhara in  1836. I was sent by the Union of
 Soviet Architects  there to investigated the old architectural monu-
 ments and on coming back I published some articles  (essays) about them in the "
Architectural  newspaper".
  How could I guess that no more than in 2  years time I would return to Buk
hara as an "enemy  of people" sent away from Moscow for an indefinite  period, w
hich lasted till 1954 - for 17 years  (till after the death of Stalin).
And so it ha
ppened that I got an opportunity  to became closely acquainted to Bukhara sung by
  Rudaki, Samarkand shining in the rays of poetry of  Abulhasan Farrukhi and Taraz
 not once sung by  classical poets of 10  th -
11 th  centuries. As if my  own fate intended me to pass in a thousand years
that ancient path that connected those old cities  like a silk thread (?)  weaved  b
y Islam.
  In 1937 all the Islamic cult buildings (...)  on Bukhara stood empty and deserted
 with gates  flung open. Though small inhabited houses looked  far more inviting one
 evening I subdued to attrac-
 tion to step into the empty lifeless yard of  medrese (?) Miri Arab (1530-
1536). To the left  from the gate is supposed the mausoleum (tomb) of  sheikh Miri
 Arab of Yemen (?) as well as of his  reigning pupil (?) Ubaidullokhan. When you
 enter  this place you feel embarrassed by the mysterious  atmosphere of some unear
thly world. The like feel-
 ing of unexpressed mystery surrounds you while  reading the Sufi poetry. So I pas
sed further into  yard of deserted medrese and entered the gallery  surrounding it at
 the level of the second floor.  Before my eyes layed (?) the old yard paved with
  bricks. I sat down on some old and worn out rag  and verses of immortal Rud
aki flew to my memory:
              Bukhara reaches  me again as
    the smells of  jasmine and....
              come back to me  alive at night
              by breath of  wind....
  Nowhere in medrese Miri Arab was seen a  light. Only (?)jakals' (?)wooes were h
eard from  behind the old city walls. But suddenly from one  of many dark cells a
 woman in white robe with  sharp cries sprang just into the middle of the  paved
 yard enlightened by the full moon. An old  man was running after her. Being half
 blind he  spread his arms in warn trying to catch his mad  daughter.
  Some time later we sat with the old man on a  rag downstairs. His name was
Ibragim (?)Gafurav.  Once he had been the court(?) architector of the  Emirs of Bukh
ara surviving the last three of them.  He did not know Russian, neither did I know
 Uzbek  nor Tajik, but as soon as he put before me a heap  of droughts (design
s) we could perfectly do  without any interpreter. Looking them through till  the ver
y dawn I mastered(learned) with his help  the language of Bukhara builders. Ibragim
happened  to be the first in the line of old Bukhara's  masters, men of older gener
ation who became my  friends for as long time as they stayed here with  us until our Lord and
the time took them away one  by one.
        ...Look: Time is making old  everything
        We thought to be new,
        But it also is making young  the old deeds...
        The night has passed and dawn  has come...
  In the morning we climbed the screw -
 stair  case loud of bricks inside the mighty minaret  Kalian I'll never forget the ol
d half blind man  listening from the height of minaret to the noises  of his native
 town in sorrowful highness.
  The source of his grief brings us back to  1920 when Bukhara was destroyed b
y bombing and  taken by storm. The most part of living quarters  were(laid) in ruin
s, and half broken historical  monuments proudly exposed their wounds among has-
 tily built tiny clay huts. According to data later  given me by tarikazh, Kary Ahma
t at the end of  1920 was registered, everything ruined during  (while) overthrowing
of emirate. On the territory  of 27 guzars laying between Registan and minaret  Kalia
n on the area of 47 tanabs(less then 0.1 km2)  where main destructions took place
were demolished  583 living apartments, 850 shops and stalls, donkey stables, 38 (?)backeries and
 9 Islamic cult  buildings their floor space came up to 170 000  giaz half of them
 belonged to vakufs (mostly cult  buildings)over 2 quarter to emire (administrative  buil
dings, shops) and the last quarter were  private property.
  So Bukhara when I came there reminded a beg-
 gar in an old ragged down. The old wall surround-
 ing it was broken in many places. All its 11 gates  grew decrepit and crooked an
d stood wide open...  Of course during 17 years that had been passed  since the
storm some repairs were made: here and  there the holes from shells in architectural
monu-
 ments were puttied with clay. Bukharian builders  also (?)relaid the upper part of mi
naret Kalian  (but only 3 circles instead of previous 5) and the  portal of medrese
 Miri Arab. Some Russian scien-
 tists enthusiastically helped to the native only  in fixing the (?)fasing on other  m
onuments.
  The new powers pulled down some old buildings  of Registan and in their place
 erected the new  ones: the theatre, prison, the teacher college,  some living houses
 for teachers. Behind the city  walls was built the cotton factory.
  Bukhara was considered by them to be the  stronghold of Eastern (?)desports and
 reaction on  the only reason that generations of people born  under feudal rulers
were still alive and despitethe great role Old Bukhara played in the struggle  with previous custo
ms. So the powers acted accord ingly.
  In 1937 many of the best representatives of  progressive intelligent people were ex
ecuted.  Among them were professor  Abdurauf Futrat,  writers Chopan and Abdulla
Kadyri (both belonged  to the left wing of radical ??jadaism). Also was  killed A.Sai
djenov, an eminent expert in Ancient  history of Bukhara...The old city became silent,
  was, so to say, brought to its knees. But I felt  under the ashes the smoldering
 coals of ??mangal.  So I could not get rid of an urgent question:  "What forms
the real "spirit of Bukhara" the city  seemingly forgotten by Got and half lost by
 people?"
  AT the time Bukhara seemed to be a place of  mystery in which life had stopp
ed in its develop-
 ment in the gloomy Middle Ages. But in really it  regressed from the time of emir
ate. Before 1920  there had been made some steps to the New era. At  that period
 in Bukhara were banks and branches of  foreign trading firms. Bukhara had active t
rading  connections with large centers of business  throughout the world from Mosco
w and Liverpool to  ??Deiping and New York.
The most rema
rkable part of Old Bukhara was  Arc citadel. At the top of it the palace of  ??em
ires had been disposed. At its back side stood  a small fortress-
prison (zindan). Leaving Arc half  was ??destructed by our rulers used zimdan for  d
emonstration of cruelty of emires (some manne-
 quins in heavy chains were placed there). Of  course there is no need to justify
old customs. It  will be enough remember that Arc consisted not  only of imposing
 halls for reception foreign am-
 bassadors in the fresh air and enthroning of  emire. It contained also a family ??to
mbe where  had been buried seven sons of Abulfaizkhan (1711-
 1741) killed by the order of their father. It  reminds of morals and customs of Eas
tern courts.
  But everyday life of the city, in its  spiritual life the leading part belonged to
 religion.
  Islam, being a religious teaching is also a  special way of life. Its spiritual roots
 determine  the behavior of its adepts in many ways. The rules  of Koran through
 some of them (sunna,shariat) are  interpreted differently by different groups  (sufies,
mutazilites, kidarites) lay at the bottom  not only of religions rituals but also moral s
tan-
 dards, norms of low ethics, philosophy and also  psychology of Muslims not in Ko
ran itself but in  comments to it are strictly ??forbiggen all the   kinds of imitative arts which may
lead to  idolarity or humilation of the Creator. Therefore  it woul(?)d lead to great
mistakes to study this  sphere of culture of Muslim peoples forgetting  their religious
 teaching.
  In spite of that in Islam we may see much  common to general values of huma
nity. It confirms  personal fate of human beings and also respon-
 sibility of one's deeds. It also confirms the  right of property as an imperscriptable
 on(?)e.  The breach of rights of anybody is considered the  (?)haviessin. Islam is i
ndifferent to nation,  race and caste. It contains some moral, spiritual  and even jurid
ical standards and rules, even the  rules of owning property and financial rules up t
o  rules of taxes paying. All of them suppose main-
 taining of justic throughout the Islam world.  Ideas of rebelli(?)on always were in it
 connected  with moral and psychological conditions and the  Islamic clergyman often
 than religious leaders of  other confessions appeared at the head of people  moveme
nts defending the miserable against the  tyranny.
  If we may speak about the "spirit of  Bukhara" in the meaning of cultural inheri
tances  of Islam we should mention that in folklore as  well as in the works of cl
assical poets and  thinkers could be found the patterns of different ancient legends originated someti
mes from Greek  myths or old Bible customs as well as of hinduis-
 tic creed, Mongol tales, Christian apocryphas or  heroic epos.
  The c(?)osmological ideas taught in medreses  say that the Earth is flat and surr
ounded by moun-
 tains called Kaf inhabited by half people half  birds. The Earth is divided into 7
strips  (iklims). There exist 7 (?)skyes as well as 7 seas  Muslims (especially brother
hood Naksh...?) as many  other peoples respected number 7. All this should  be eva
luated not from the position of science as  "lagging behind progress" but to my mi
nd underline  the eternal meaning of myths in mystical  ceremonies and rituals and t
heir magic roots which  we are inclined to estimate as survivals, super-
 stitions and ignorance.
  Especially were famous Muslim celebration of  Ramasan in Samarkand and of Kurba
nbairam in  Bukhara. Though They are timed to the ending of  (?)piligrimage as a s
acred center of Muslims where  they address performing some of religious  ceremonies
 we doubt their purely Muslim origin. On  the contrary there could be found trace
of an-
 cient, even primitive ???, survived here in the  form of rituals, in other cases in t
he form of  poetic legends.  Sheikh Bahaudd
in shakhi Nakshband (1318-
1389)  was considered to be the patron of Bukhara and the  (?)khanate ...