On the Credibility of Early Evidence of Arab Geographers About the Turks of Central Asia and the Caucasus

Abstract

The article characterizes the sources and historical conditions for obtaining the earliest information about the Turks of Central Asia and the Caucasus in the first works of Arab geography literature. The importance of this information for achieving the political goals of the Caliphate government on the border with the nomadic Turks is pointed out. Special attention is paid to information about the Turks of Central Asia from two chapters of the Mashhad manuscript of the work of Ibn al-Fakikh al-Hamadani "Akhbar al-Buldan". It is noted that the Meshad manuscript of this monument of Arab geography literature of the beginning of the 10th century preserved the news of the time of the first contacts of Muslim Arabs with the Turks, characterized by open confrontation and struggle for control over the agricultural areas of Central Asia. At the same time, the news of Ibn alFakih makes enables to restore the stages of the gradual transformation of the perception of non-Muslim Turks in Muslim society, as well as to characterize the ideological struggle of the Muslim government aimed at ousting traditional beliefs and spreading Islam among the nomadic Turks. An examination of the composition of the two currently known versions of the text by Ibn al-Faqih gives grounds for the conclusion about the consistent editing of the text by Arab scribes in order to eliminate the first unfavorable images about the Turks that developed during the period of a fierce struggle for dominatin in Central Asia. The change of the images of nomadic Turks in Muslim public opinion and literature is demonstrated by references from the works of Arab authors who wrote in the era of the penetration and adaptation of the Turks in Muslim society and their gradual Islamization (IX-X centuries).