[UIGHUR GRAMMAR / CAIRO IMPRINT] Uygur sarfi. [i.e. Uighur grammar]

MAHDUM-I ÇINGIZ KHAN AMUNDMERHUMOGHLU ABD AL-AZIZ [Damulla], (Linguist born in East Turkestan), (1906-1952)., Sirket-i Türkistan., Cairo, [AH 1358] = 1939.

Original wrappers. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Uighur. 40 p., 1 b/w portrait of Abdulaziz (author).

First and only edition of this extremely rare book on Uighur grammar printed in Cairo.

Abdulaziz was one of the most prominent scholars of the Uighur society in the first half of the 20th century. He studied at Khanate Madrasah in Kashgar, and upon graduation, he received the title of Damolla that was used for scholars in that region. In 1925, he continued his education at the Diyubend Madrasah on the Indian subcontinent. He moved to Egypt in late 1926, where he entered in 1927 and graduated in 1934 from the Department of Islamic Law and History of Azhar University. Onwards, he studied at the First Fuad University. After completing his education in 1939, he moved to Arabia. In Arabia, he met Mahmud Muhitî, an exile who served as the army commander of the Kumul popular uprising and went to Japan with him. Following his political contacts in Japan, he reached Beijing, and then Nanjing, the headquarters of the Nationalist Chinese government. In the same year, he was appointed by the nationalist Chinese government as an ambassador for diplomatic negotiations with Egypt. After a brief diplomatic mission, he returned to his country in 1947. At that time, the Nationalist Chinese government, which held a significant portion of East Turkestan, and the national government, which controlled three provinces in the north of East Turkestan, made a peace treaty, eventually forming a joint government. Cengizhan was called to Urumqi by this government and was appointed as the branch manager at the Ministry of Interior. Then he was appointed as the vice president of the Three Principles Youth Organization, established under the auspices of the government and chaired by Isa Yusuf Alptekin. For a while, he served as the chief editor of Altay, one of the most important periodicals of the period. When the relations between the three provincial governments and the Chinese government broke down, he assumed the presidency of the delegation sent to the southern region of East Turkestan to restructure the provincial administration of the government. His travels to centers such as India, Hijaz, and Egypt have left profound traces in the intellectual life of Abdulaziz Cengizhan. Especially in India, the Persian work Tîġ Türkânî fî ber Cîger Ḳādiyânî, which he wrote against the Kādiyânîs, was appreciated by the Ahl-i Sunnah circles in the Indian subcontinent. During his stay in Urumqi, Abdulaziz Cengizhan gave lectures in the field of Islamic history and religious sciences in Dârülmuallimîn and was influenced by the work of the Muslim Brotherhood and adopted their methods. This 'Uighur grammar' written by him is a work produced to systematize Uighur linguistic morphology. This work was also published in Kashgar and taught as a textbook in newly opened schools in its period. (Sources: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islâm Ansiklopedisi; Rahmetullah Ahmed Rahmetî, "'Abdül'azîz Cengizhân", Dogu Türkistan'in Sesi, V/20, Istanbul 1988; Abdulcelil Turan, "Dogu Türkistanli Din Bilgini, Tarihçi ve Sâir Abdülaziz Cengizhan Damolla", Gökbayrak, p. 75, Kayseri 2007, pp. 9-12).

Not in Özege.; Not in OCLC.; Not in Sari.; Not in ISAM.; MIL - TBTK 450.