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Muminov, Ashirbek et Szuppe, Maria
« Un document généalogique (nasab-nâma) d’une famille de Hwâja Yasawaî dans le Khanat de Kokand (XIXe s.) ». Eurasian Studies, 1 (2002), pp. 1-35.
The Persian nasab-nâmah, presented here in facsimile and translation with a thorough introduction and notes, is from the Qarshi Museum in Uzbekistan. The document was drafted in 1289/1866 to support the authority of a certain Mulla Karim Birdi Khwâjah Shaykh to collect the “voluntary tax” (nadhr ) levied on herds in the Farghana Valley. His authority, as understood in the mid-nineteenth century, was based on his ‘Alid descent and then on his claimed descent, as attested by the genealogy, from a number of saints important to the nomadic herders of the region. The authors demonstrate how the genealogy is a kind of matrix of ‘Alid narratives including the themes articulated in the popular maqtal-nâmahs, Abu-Muslim-nâmahs, and the lore surrounding the name of Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya, narratives as embedded in the worldview of nominally Sunni inhabitants of Central Asia as in the minds of their Shifii contemporaries in Iran. The authors relate the production of this nasab-nâmah to the ongoing struggles of the Khanate of Khokand to assert its fiscal claims among the nomads living within its jurisdiction.

