Persian in Documents (PersDoc): Language and Islamisation in the pre-Mongol Eastern Islamic Lands

该项目是一项开创性的新研究，基于伊斯兰东部巴米扬山谷中最早的波斯文献。这是第一次，我们将研究最早的波斯语写作形式提供了约。200份阿富汗geniza文件，分别于2013年和2016年购买，现藏于耶路撒冷的以色列国家图书馆。伊斯兰教之前的巴米扬和巴尔赫是阿富汗古代晚期佛教寺院和寺庙活动的中心。巴米扬的大佛是古代建造的最大的佛像，在2001年塔利班轰炸时成为伊斯兰原教旨主义暴力的象征。虽然公众的注意力大多集中在为什么佛像被如此悲惨地轰炸的问题上，但我们的兴趣是它们在1400年前的生存;也就是说，自从伊斯兰教到达巴米扬地区以来。因此，通过对“阿富汗geniza”文件的深入研究，《阿富汗档案》在两个关键领域提供了重要的新见解：1）书面波斯语的发展及其在创造文化身份方面的重要性，2）伊斯兰教和伊斯兰化在东部伊斯兰土地上的巩固。虽然这些文件中有相当数量是由犹太人写的，并且在特定的家庭档案中，但事实上，它们极不可能属于任何类型的geniza，即犹太教堂的文件和书面资料储存场所。然而，他们现在被确定为这样，阿富汗geniza一词已进入学术用语。这些文件作为一个整体更可能属于各种家庭档案，其中一些也属于非犹太人。这些信件种类繁多，包括私人信件、商业票据、贷款收据和文学摘录。其中许多都有日期，从公元11世纪到13世纪初。这些文件证明了巴米扬河谷居民的日常经济、政治、司法和文化生活。这是全新的，无与伦比的，令人大开眼界的。阿富汗geniza文件讲述的故事是犹太人和穆斯林之间在经济和商业交易上的合作与协作，以及宗教和法律的事务上的采纳和适应。他们的故事是我们从未听说过的：一个多元文化社会的故事，在这个社会中，不同宗教的人们蓬勃发展，相互合作，相互吸收文化思想和实践，并经历了动态的变化。这些文献值得关注和分析：必须详细地识别它们，系统地分类（按内容、形式、日期和风格的标题），并按语言和历史内容进行分析。对于后者，我们将与中世纪伊斯兰和中国史学中的文学记录以及最近在巴米扬山谷的考古调查结果（包括巴米扬佛像后面壁龛中绘画的放射性碳年代测定，这表明在伊斯兰征服之后很长一段时间内佛教遗址仍在继续赞助）进行交叉参考。这些文件还需要尽可能广泛地提供，以最大限度地传播其丰富的意义：穆斯林和非穆斯林共存并共同繁荣，多元文化在伊斯兰世界是可能的和积极的。因此，该项目的第三个目标是促进学者和更广泛的公众圈子之间的对话，以反击新保守主义散文家和辩论家持续不断的运动，将伊斯兰化叙事诋毁为暴力和不容忍之一，并禁止任何认真的讨论。我们将通过与学者制作短视频来做到这一点，通过为全世界的成年人和年轻人设计一个教育工具，并通过我们的网站提供在线访问，并与主要媒体接触，讨论我们的项目及其研究结果。

This project is a groundbreaking new study, based on the earliest known Persian documents written in the Islamic East's Bamiyan Valley. For the first time, we will study the earliest form of Persian writing provided in ca. 200 Afghan geniza documents, which were purchased in 2013 and 2016 and are now held in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. Pre-Islamic Bamiyan, together with Balkh, were the centres of Buddhist monastic and temple activity in late antique Afghanistan. Bamiyan's giant buddhas were the largest standing buddhas built in antiquity, and became the symbols of Islamic fundamentalist violence when the Taliban bombed them in 2001. While much of the public attention has been on the question of why the buddhas were so tragically bombed, our fascination is with their survival for 1400 years prior; that is, since the arrival of Islam to the Balkh-Bamiyan area. Thus, through an in-depth study of the 'Afghan geniza' documents, PersDoc offers major new insights in two key areas: 1) the development of written Persian and its importance in the creation of a cultural identity, and 2) the consolidation of Islam and Islamization in the eastern Islamic lands.While a significant number of these documents were written by Jews, and within a particular family archive, it is, in fact, highly unlikely that they belonged to any sort of geniza, i.e. storage site for documents and written sources at a synagogue. However, they are now identified as such, and the term Afghan geniza has entered scholarly parlance. The documents as a whole more likely belonged to various family archives, some of which belonged to non-Jews as well. They are delightfully varied, including personal letters, business notes, loan receipts, and literary extracts. Many are dated, ranging between the 11th to the early 13th century C.E. The documents attest to the daily economic, political, judicial and cultural lives of residents in the Bamiyan Valley. This is completely new, matchless, and eye opening.The story that the Afghan geniza documents tell is one of cooperation and collaboration on economic and business transactions between Jews and Muslims, and one of adoption and adaptation in religions and legal matters. Their story is one we never hear: a story of a multicultural society, in which people of different religions thrived and collaborated, adopted cultural ideas and practices from one another, and underwent dynamic changes.These documents deserve attention and analysis: they must be identified in detail, systematically categorised (in rubrics of content, form, date, and style), and analysed by language and historical content. For the latter, we will cross-reference with the literary record in medieval Islamic and Chinese historiography, as well as with recent archaeological survey findings in the Bamiyan Valley (including radio carbon dating of the paintings in the niches behind the Bamiyan buddhas, which point to the continued patronage of the Buddhist site long after the Islamic conquests). The documents also need to be made as widely available as possible to maximise dissemination about their rich significance: that Muslims and non-Muslims co-existed and thrived together, and that multiculturalism is possible and positive in the Islamic world. Thus the project has as its tertiary aim the facilitation of dialogue between scholars and wider public circles to counter the very sustained campaign by neo-conservative essayists and polemicists to discredit the Islamization narrative as solely one of violence and intolerance, and inhibit any serious discussion of it. We will do this by producing short videos with scholars, by designing an educational tool for adults and young adults worldwide that will be made publically accessible through our website, and by engaging with major media outlets to discuss our project and its findings.