Imom Buxoriy xalqaro ilmiy-tadqiqot markazi bukhari.uz
Khoresm has always been famous throughout the history for his great people, scholars and geniuses in multifarious activities. Especially, the names of such geniuses who were born and educated in the Middle Ages in Khoresm as Muhammad Musa al-Khoresmi, Abu Rayhan al-Beruni, Abu Abdullah al-Khoresmi, Ibn Miskavayh, Abu Nasr al-Iraq, Abu Sahl al-Masihi, Abu Khayr ibn al-Hammar, Abu-l-Fath al-Mutarrizi are famous through the area from East to West. One of the most famous and estimated scholars born and educated in Khoresm is Mahmud az-Zamakhshari.
His full name was Abu-l-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar ibn Muhammad. He was born on Wednesday, on the 27th day of the month Rajab, 467 A.H. in Zamakhshar, which was one of the big villages of Khoresm. Therefore, he was known with his penname az-Zamakhshari. When he was living in Holy Mecca, he once wrote a letter to his student from Alexandria Shihabuddin Ahmad ibn al-Husni al-Maliki of the following content: “I am Mahmud ibn Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khoresmi, then I am Zamakhshari. I belong to one of the biggest villages of Khoresm — Zamakhshar. Zamakhshar is my birth place”.
Being a birthplace of such a great genius, the village Zamakhshar became famous throughout the world. Information about the life and creative activity of az-Zamakhshari is preserved in the historical sources written in the Middle Ages and in some of his writings. Such information could be found in the works written by Ibn Khallikan, Ibn al-Anbari, Yaqut al-Hamavi, Muhammad al-Yafi’i, Ibn al-Javzi, Jalaliddin as-Suyuti, Ibn al-Qifti and other Arabic authors. Relying on the facts mentioned in the works of those authors, we may say that though az-Zamakhshari’s father was not such a rich man, he was one of the learned and faithful people of his time with great honesty. As he worked as an imam in one of the mosques of Zamakhshar, he used to spend his time in reading the Holy Qur’an. He was known as one of the most merciful and generous people of the village with high level of morality. His mother was also an educated woman of high faithfulness, so az-Zamakhshari received the primary education in his village from his parents.
Fully devoted to science and education, az-Zamakhshari took his way to Bukhara, one of the scientific and educational centres of Maveraunnahr of that time with the purpose of improving his knowledge. Unfortunately, on the way to Bukhara he fell off the horse he was riding on and broke one of his legs. He had to get it amputated and he had to spend the rest of his life with one leg. However, this invalidity could not prevent him from improving his knowledge.
From the very early age, he got interested in different branches of the Islamic sciences, especially the Arabic language and Arabic literature, as well as the complex of religious sciences. At that time calligraphy was one of the most necessary and needed professions, so az-Zamakhshari got engaged in learning the secrets of this profession and, as a result of these endeavours, he could improve his financial situation. Despite his physical disability, he demonstrated a great courage and tried to enrich his knowledge. This act earned him great fame and honour. It could be an example of great ability of a man in the way to master science and knowledge.
Studying his life and endeavours in the science and education, we can see that he also visited some foreign countries in search of knowledge. As the written sources inform us, he was really to Khorasan, Iraq, Syria, Mecca and other countries. During his stay in these countries, he attended the lectures delivered by the estimated scholars of his time and established scientific and friendly relations with them. The most important fact is that he took an active part in the debates on controversial problems of the contemporary Islamic sciences.
Az-Zamakhshari had a lot of students and followers in different cities that he had attended during his visits. It would not be an exaggeration to say that especially those five years he had spent in Holy Mecca were very fruitful. Holy Mecca was not only a sacred place of pilgrimage for Muslims, it was also one of the scientific and educational centres of the Islamic world where one could meet the most estimated representatives of science and education of that time as well as the students and disciples seeking knowledge. The students enjoyed meeting the well-known scholars as az-Zamakhshari, who came to worship to Holy Mecca and attended lessons and discussions held in the madrasahs of this city. As a result of these activities, az-Zamakhshari became the only scholar in the Islamic world who had earned the most honourable title “Jarullah” (Allah’s neighbour). An Arabic scholar ash-Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra states that during his stay in Holy Mecca, he used to spend his time in Baytullah al-haram, and he was always surrounded by students and disciples who were interested in morality,fans of poetry and aphorisms.
Relying on the above-mentioned facts, we may say that Mahmud az-Zamakhshari demonstrated the real principles of internationalism in teaching and educating his students and followers. He had lots of students in different cities and countries such as Khoresm, Tabaristan, Abivard, Samarkand, Baghdad, Damascus, Halab, etc. Moreover, he had students in the other corners of the world who had studied his works and considered him to be their unseen teacher.
