Personal History of a Bukharan Intellectual

Sadr-i-Ziya's Diary lends valuable perspective to numerous studies narrowly focused upon the modern Reformists (Jadids) of his area. It also, and perhaps in the first place, reveals the endless occupational and mortal uncertainties tormenting a Central Asian Islamic judge practicing his profession within an aged political and economical system deteriorating during the last decades, ca. 1880-1920, of the state of Bukhara. By supplying a Bukharan intellectual's personal history, Sadr-i Ziya, author, poet and calligrapher, also reveals himself as an admirable human being who enjoys life but endures the repeated, scalding experience of losing beloved children, their mothers, and other family members, in an era when medicine and prayer scarcely deterred the multitude of prevailing inflictions. Nothwithstanding this strong focus upon his personal life, Sadr-i Ziya provides an unparalleled view of the central role played by the omnipresent religious hierarchy in his homeland.