Narrative
Дар он дунё
Not translated into English
Fazliddin Muhammadiev · 1965
Synopsis
Дар он дунё (In the Other World): a young Soviet doctor, an atheist, accompanies a group of old Muslims from Tajikistan on their pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The narrator of the journey, he observes his travelling companions, these elderly believers, at close quarters, and notes along the way what seems to him irrational in their faith.
Context
The narrative appeared in Tajik in 1965 and draws on the pilgrimage the author himself made in 1963; it was then translated into Russian, under the title Путешествие на тот свет, into Uzbek and into other languages. It offered Soviet readers a rare glimpse of this rite. V. Bobrovnikov and A. M. Kalinovsky studied it in 2021, placing it in the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Who it is for
For discovering a singular Soviet narrative about the hajj, seen by an atheist doctor, readable in Russian but not in French.
Prizes and reception
Iranica stresses that the author avoids caricature and satire, and takes a genuine human interest in the pilgrims.
Sources for this page 7
The pages consulted to check this page.