Sadriddin Ayniy

A prominent writer, scholar, and public figure who made a huge contribution to 20th-century Uzbek and Tajik literature, Sadriddin Ayniy conducted extensive research on the history of Uzbek and Tajik literature as a skilled scholar, historian, and literary critic. The writer was elected as an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

Biography

In recognition of his unforgettable services to the Motherland, he was awarded the «For Great Services» order in 2001.

A prominent writer, scholar, and public figure who made a huge contribution to 20th-century Uzbek and Tajik literature, Sadriddin Ayniy was born on April 15, 1878, in the village of Soktare, Gijduvan district, Bukhara Emirate.

Sadriddin began attending school at the age of six and arrived in Bukhara in 1890, where he studied at the Mir Arab, Badalbek, and Olimkhon madrasas. After finishing the madrasa, he taught in new-method schools.

After the February Revolution of 1917, struggles for independence began in various cities of Central Asia. Sadriddin Ayniy was thrown into prison for participating in anti-emirate movements.

As a skilled scholar, historian, and literary critic, S. Ayniy conducted extensive research on the history of Uzbek and Tajik literature. His scientific works about great Central Asian poets and scholars—such as Rudaki, Saadi, Ibn Sina, Vasfi, Bedil, Alisher Navoi, and Ahmad Donish—are extremely valuable. For such substantial research, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philological Sciences.

The writer was elected as an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan and a full member of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. For several years, he served as a professor at the Samarkand State University named after Alisher Navoi and as president of the Tajik Academy of Sciences from the day of its founding.

Sadriddin Ayniy passed away on July 15, 1954, in Dushanbe. Fortunately, even half a century after the writer's death, his unforgettable services to the Motherland were recognized, and he was awarded the «For Great Services» order in 2001.

Sadriddin Ayniy is a great and unique writer of the 20th century. His life and creative path passed through the extremely complex and turbulent channels of socio-political and literary processes of the last quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Having received nearly twenty years of madrasa education, he knew the emirate regime and subsequent socio-political changes from the inside.

At times subjected to repression and discrimination, this great writer was able to emerge as one of the founders of the new literature that began to form at the beginning of the 20th century, and as a major literary figure, by artistically depicting the life of the people with all its complexities, uniquely combining history and the era.

Even during his lifetime, Sadriddin Ayniy was known in Western and Eastern countries, and he was a great figure cherished and acknowledged as Master Ayniy by experts such as Dr. Jiri Bečka from the Czech Republic, Dr. Manfred Lorenz from Germany, Professor Sa'id Nafisi from Iran, the Afghan writer Sarvari Goyo, and the Russian professor Aleksandr Boldyrev, as well as our own famous masters like Gafur Gulyam, Oybek, Komil Yashin, Mirzo Tursunzoda, and Zulfiyakhanim.

After his death (1954), the appreciation for this figure and the value of his scientific and literary legacy began to be recognized in a more magnificent and substantial way.

In 1962, at the Afro-Asian Writers' Conference held in Cairo, Master Ayniy was declared a classic writer of the East, alongside Rabindranath Tagore from India, Lu Xun from China, and Taha Hussein from Cairo.

In 1978, the 100th anniversary of Master Ayniy's birth was widely celebrated by the decision of UNESCO. During the independence era, he was awarded our Motherland's great prize, the «For Great Services» order.

One of the cherished figures of 20th-century literature and science, Master Ayniy's noble personal character and rich scientific-literary legacy are our eternal spiritual and scientific wealth, which contributes to the careful and objective study of the history of classical literature and culture, and to raising the people of the 21st century and the well-rounded youth of a bright-future Uzbekistan in the spirit of patriotism, love for the people, devotion, honesty, and pure faith.

All of Ayniy's scholarship and his entire being originate from Bukhara. His creative prosperity and his garden also come from Bukhara. Bukhara taught him science and literature.

Sadriddin Ayniy passed away on July 15, 1954, in Stalinabad.