Alexander Kassimowitsch Kasembek

Alexander Kassimowitsch Kasembek

Alexander Kassimowitsch Kasembek born Mirza Muhammed Ali Kasem-Bek , ( Russian Александр Касимович Казембек , maiden name Russian Мирза Мухаммед Али Казембек * July 22 ^{. Jul} / 3. August  1802 ^greg. In Rasht , † November 27 ^jul. / 9th December  1870 ^greg. In St. Petersburg ) was an Azerbaijani - Russian orientalist and university professor .

Life

Kasembeks grandfather was Khan's Fatali Finance Minister of the Quba Khanate . Kasembeks father Hajj Muhammed Kassim Kasembek came from Derbent . At the end of the 18th century he settled in Iran , studied Islamic law and did the Hajj to Mecca and Medina . In 1801 he married Sharaf Nisse, the daughter of the Rapid Governor Mir Bagir Khan. After the annexation of the Quba Khanate to Russia , the father returned to Derbent, brought his family from Iran in 1810 and became a Shiite Sheikh al-Islam in Derbent.

Kasembek was initially tutored by his father at home. He learned Arabic grammar from Mullah Abdul Asis Chiskendscha and scholastic philosophy and Islamic law from Sheikh Muchammed Bachrein. Kazembek learned Persian , Arabic and Turkish . At the age of seventeen he wrote his first work in Arabic: An attempt at a grammar for the Arabic language. He was also in contact with Scottish missionaries in Derbent who were friends of his father. In 1820 the father was suspected of being connected to Shich Ali-Khan, who had fled to the Avar Khanate in Dagestan . The father lost his position as Sheikh al-Islām, was convicted and exiled to Astrakhan . When Kasembek came to Astrakhan in 1821, the contact with missionaries increased there, so that he finally converted to Christianity and took the name Alexander. He now helped the missionaries translate the scriptures into Eastern languages ​​and learned Western European science and languages. In 1825 he received an offer to complete his training in England , but for which he did not receive the approval of the Russian government. Instead, he got a job as a translator in the Russian Foreign Ministry. However, in August 1825 he was sent to the Asian school in Omsk to teach the Tatar language .

On the way to Omsk, Kazembek only came as far as Kazan in January 1826 due to illness . There he came into contact with the rector of the University of Kazan Karl Friedrich Fuchs , who suggested that he stay in Kazan and teach Arabic and Persian at the 1st Kazan grammar school. Kasembek immediately followed the suggestion. After taking an examination in Oriental languages at the University of Kazan , Fuchs applied to the Foreign Ministry in July 1826 to transfer Kasembeks to the University of Kazan. In October 1826, Kazembek was appointed lecturer for Arabic and Persian at the University of Kazan. In addition, he continued to teach at the Kazan 1st grammar school. He later wrote a methodology textbook for teaching Arabic, Persian and Tatar in grammar schools, which was highly valued by the Imperial Academy of Sciences , approved by the Ministry of Education and printed in Kazan in 1836. Kasembeks method was also used in teaching in Astrakhan and Tbilisi . In Kazan, Kazambek also taught Turkish. In 1828 the lecturing department became the chair for Turkish-Tatar language at the University of Kazan under Kasembeks direction. There he taught Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Tatar. In 1829 he was accepted into the Royal Asiatic Society . In 1830 he became an adjunct professor. In 1831 he wrote a Persian history of the Arabic language and literature , whereupon the Ministry of Education appointed him a master's degree and adjunct in oriental studies . In 1835 he became a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. In 1836 he was promoted to associate professor and in 1837 to full professor. He published his first work on Islamic law in Paris in 1842 . When Franz von Erdmann left the University of Kazan in 1845 , Kasembek became his successor. In 1845 he became dean of the 1st department of the Philosophical Faculty of Kazan University. In 1846 Kasembek switched to the chair for Arabic and Persian, while the chair for Turkish-Tatar was now headed by his student Ilya Nikolayevich Beresin . In 1844, Kazembek prepared Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy for the entrance examination of the University of Kazan for the study of oriental languages, which Tolstoy passed with distinction. In 1846 the second edition of Kasembeks General Grammar of the Turkish-Tatar language appeared, which Julius Theodor Zenker translated into German ( Leipzig , 1848).

In 1848, after Mirsa Jafar Topchibashev's retirement, Kasembek was appointed to the chair of Persian literature at the University of St. Petersburg . In 1852 he was appointed to the Real Council of State (4th class ). He advocated the centralization of Oriental Studies in St. Petersburg, so that in 1855, as part of the reform of the University of St. Petersburg, the new Faculty of Oriental Studies with Kazembek as dean was opened and corresponding educational offers at other universities were canceled. He advocated the establishment of a chair in the history of the Orient , which was then established in 1863. In 1858 Kasembek gave up the office of dean, which Anton Ossipowitsch Muchlinski took over. However, Kasembek was re-elected as dean in 1866. In 1868, in view of the strategic interests of Russia, he presented the faculty with a detailed plan for exploring Turkestan . In 1869 he was sent abroad to study al-Muqaddasī's manuscripts . Kazembeks death in 1870 prevented the continuation of this work, which Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold regretted very much.

Kasembeks daughter Olga married the son of the famous poet Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynski . Kasembeks grandson Alexander Lvowitsch Kasembek founded the monarchist emigre society Soyuz Mladorossow .

Honors, prizes

• Demidow Prize (1846) for the second edition of the grammar of the Turkish-Tatar language
• Demidow Prize (1851) for the English book Derbend-nameh or the History of Derbend
• Order of St. Vladimir III. Class (1851)
• Order of the Sun and Lions 1st Class (1855)
• Demidow Prize (1856) for the Modern Turkish course at the Imperial Military Academy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ N. Wesselowski : Казембек (Александр Касимович) . In: Brockhaus-Efron . XIIIa, 1894, p. 925 ( ЭСБЕ / Казембек, Александр Касимович [accessed April 23, 2018]).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Рзаев А. К .: Мирза Казем-Бек . Азернешр, Baku 1965.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Элеонора АБАСКУЛИЕВА: Мухаммед Али Казым бек (Александр Казем-Бек) соединял юуйсусский чоединял юунсуч чоснкостивоеде евоскостак (accessed on April 23, 2018.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} А.К.Шагинян: Казем-Бек (Мирза) Александр Касимович (accessed April 23, 2018).
5. ↑ ^{a b} Джафарова Рейхан: Мирза Казем-Бек - основоположник изучения мусульманского права в России (accessed April 23, 2018).
6. ↑ Абдуллаев М. А .: Из истории философской и общественно-политической мысли народов Дагестана в XIX в. Nauka , Moscow 1868, p. 133 (Russian).
7. ↑ Alexander Kasem-Beg: General grammar of the Turkish-Tatar language (with additions by J. Beresin. From the Russian translation and with an appendix and sample scripts, edited by Julius Theodor Zenker, Neudr. D. Ed Leipzig 1848 and St. Petersburg 1848–1849 together with critical remarks and additions by Otto Böhtlingk ) . APA Oriental Press, Amsterdam 1981.