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

这个项目是一项开创性的新研究，基于已知最早的波斯文献，这些文献写在伊斯兰东部的巴米扬山谷。我们将第一次研究大约200份阿富汗文献中提供的最早形式的波斯语文字，这些文献于2013年和2016年购买，现在保存在耶路撒冷的以色列国家图书馆。前伊斯兰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。巴米扬的巨型佛像是古代建造的最大的活佛，2001年塔利班轰炸了这些佛像，成为伊斯兰原教旨主义暴力的象征。虽然大部分公众的注意力都集中在佛像为什么如此悲惨地被炸毁的问题上，但我们的魅力在于它们在1400年前的生存；也就是说，自从伊斯兰教进入巴尔克-巴米扬地区以来。因此，通过对“阿富汗geniza”文件的深入研究，PersDoc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文化认同创造中的重要性，以及2)伊斯兰教的巩固和伊斯兰化在东部伊斯兰土地上。虽然这些文件中有相当一部分是犹太人写的，而且是在一个特定的家庭档案中，但事实上，它们不太可能属于任何类型的geniza，即在犹太教堂存放文件和书面资料的地点。然而，他们现在被认为是这样的，阿富汗精灵一词已经进入学术用语。这些文件整体上更有可能属于不同的家庭档案，其中一些也属于非犹太人。它们种类繁多，令人愉快，包括私人信件、商业票据、贷款收据和文学节选。这些文件记录了巴米扬山谷居民的日常经济、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合作，以及宗教和法律事务上的接纳与适应。他们的故事是我们从未听过的：这是一个多元文化社会的故事，在这个社会中，不同宗教的人蓬勃发展，相互合作，相互吸收文化思想和习俗，并经历了动态变化。这些文件值得关注和分析：它们必须详细识别，系统分类（内容，形式，日期和风格的规则），并通过语言和历史内容进行分析。对于后者，我们将交叉参考中世纪伊斯兰和中国史学的文献记录，以及最近在巴米扬山谷的考古调查结果（包括对巴米扬佛像后面壁龛里的绘画进行放射性碳定年，这表明在伊斯兰征服之后很长一段时间里，佛教遗址仍在继续受到赞助）。这些文件也需要尽可能广泛地传播，以最大限度地传播它们的丰富意义：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，以对抗新保守主义散文家和辩论家持续不断的运动，这些运动诋毁伊斯兰化叙事，认为它仅仅是暴力和不容忍的一种，并禁止任何严肃的讨论。为此，我们将与学者合作制作短片，为全世界的成年人和年轻人设计一个教育工具，并通过我们的网站向公众开放，并与主要媒体合作，讨论我们的项目及其发现。

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.