The poem âImitation of the Quranâ is considered by many to be one of the most controversial works of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. The poetâs reasoning touches on the most painful topic - religious. He tried to convey to the reader that blind adherence to dogmas, a lack of understanding of the essence of faith leads to a diminution of personality, that someone can manipulate the consciousness of impersonal people.
The history of writing the poem "Imitation of the Quran" (Pushkin)
Analysis of the work must begin with the history of its writing in order to understand the motives of the poet. Upon returning from the southern exile, vital Pushkin had to spend another 2 years while spending time in voluntary exile in the family estate Mikhailovskoye. Voluntary, because his father volunteered to look after the obstinate poet.
Alexander Sergeevich was a man of an inquiring mind and simply could not be bored in captivity. He developed a vibrant activity, visiting neighbors and annoying them with conversations. They were honest people, with many the poet acted relaxedly and deigned to reason on politically incorrect topics. Including - religious.
Conversations with Praskovya Osipova
Perhaps the most interesting conversationalist for Pushkin was Praskovya Aleksandrovna Osipova, the neighbor landowner. She liked Pushkinâs lyrics, poems about nature, thoughtful poems. The woman possessed a subtle mind, was inquisitive and, to the joy of the poet, deeply religious. The interlocutors could spend hours discussing hotly on the topic of faith. In the end, Pushkin decided to express his arguments in poetic form, writing in 1825 the 9-chapter poem âImitation of the Quranâ.
Pushkinâs analysis of religion was based on the interpretation of texts from the Koran - the holy book of Muslims. Each chapter is based on a specific story from the life and deeds of the Prophet Mohammed. It is not known whether the brilliant writer Praskovya Aleksandrovna convinced of his innocence, but he definitely achieved heated debate among his colleagues.
Brief Summary
Although the author prudently chose the foreign faith as critical reasoning, the work provoked a resonant response. There was a rare case when there was no unequivocal agreement with the conclusions of the poet. Did Pushkin envision such a turn? "Imitation of the Quran" affects too intimate feelings, important for believers.
At first glance, this is a creation about the deeds of the prophet. But enough to ponder the text, and it becomes clear that the story is about ordinary people who are forced to blindly obey the once accepted dogmas and laws of the Muslim faith. Why should the Islamic warrior draw his sword and go to death, not even knowing the causes of the war, in the hope that "blessed are those who are fallen in battle"? For the sake of what, young Muslim women, having become âpure wives of the prophetâ, are doomed to celibacy?
After reading the leitmotif of the work âImitation of the Quranâ becomes clear. The verse warns that while true believers tirelessly follow the commandments, there are people who use their feelings to achieve their own selfish goals.
Is Pushkin an Atheist?
âRise, fearful,â the poet calls. âEveryone has a personal answer to thisâ - such an argument is given by those who disagree with the peremptory appeal of Pushkin. To this, believers have a suitable saying: "Caesar is Caesar's, but God is divine."
Having written "Imitation of the Quran," Pushkin flaunted an analysis of contradictions in the religious community. Everyone understood the allegorical meaning of the text. Although we are talking about Islam, it implies any faith (including Orthodox faith). Involuntarily the idea arises that Alexander Sergeyevich is an atheist (which in tsarist times was considered seditious). However, this is not so. It is known that Pushkin respected pious people and was tolerant of all religions. He firmly believed that blind worship does not contribute to spiritual enlightenment. Only realizing oneself as a person can one reach God.
Correspondence of the poem to the text from the Quran
So, how to make an analysis? âImitation of the Quranâ among writers is considered a difficult work, because the text is based on the Quran. It is not enough to know the passages from the holy book that Pushkin used in writing the poem; an understanding of the intricacies of Islam is required. Numerous studies show that part of the quatrains quite accurately follows the logic of the Koran and is based on an accurate interpretation of the text from this book. However, Pushkin would not have been himself, without introducing liberties in the interpretation of the text, sacred for Muslims, especially since the essence of the poem itself implies some changes, rebirth, rejection of dogmas.
To understand the incredible complexity of the interpretation of the work, let us consider not all of Pushkinâs verse âImitation of the Quranâ, but at least a few quatrains. The cycle, written in 1824, consists of nine chapters. It opens with the first chapter, âI swear the even and the odd ...â, consisting of four quatrains:
I swear even and odd
I swear by the sword and the right battle
I swear by the morning star
I swear by the evening prayer:
No, I didnât leave you.
Who in the shadow of reassurance
I introduced, loving his head,
And hid from vigilant persecution?
I didnât drink thirst on the day
You deserted waters?
I didnât give your tongue
Mighty power over minds?
Take courage, despise deception,
Follow the path of truth cheerfully
Love the orphans and my Quran
Preach the trembling creature.
General analysis of the first chapter
The essence of the work of researchers of the work of the ingenious poet is to find the correspondence of the lines written by Pushkin with the lines from the Koran. That is, in search of what information base the poet relied on when composing the work âImitation of the Quranâ. The verse is difficult to study, so the experts are extremely interesting.
First of all, it turned out that the central images of the first chapter: "vigilant persecution" and "powerful power" of the language "over the minds" - are absent in the Qur'an. Meanwhile, the textual dependence of the first and last stanzas of the poem on the Koran is not in doubt. As if anticipating the interest of critics in this work, Pushkin left several remarks, which helped experts make a more accurate analysis. âImitation of the Quranâ, for example, contains the poetâs note to the first stanza: âIn other places of the Quran Allah swears by the hoofs of the mares, the fruits of the fig tree, the freedom of Mecca. Strange rhetorical circulation occurs in the Qur'an every minute. â
Chapter 89 is closest to the first stanza. The commandments that Allah gives in a poem to his prophet are scattered throughout the Qur'an text. All scholars of the work note a particularly close relationship between the last stanza and the first line of the second quatrain with the 93rd chapter of the Koran: âYour Lord did not leave you ... Do not offend orphans, do not take away the crumbs of the latter from the wretched, proclaim God's mercy to you.â In stanzas 2 and 3, the direct dependence on the Qur'an is no longer so obvious.
Analysis of the second quatrain of the poem "Imitation of the Quran" (Pushkin)
Analysis of this part is difficult. It deals with miraculous salvation from persecution, but Pushkin scholars do not quite understand what story from the Koran this refers to. Researcher Tomashensky, for example, argued that there is no similar text in the Qur'an. However, his colleagues indicate that in the Qur'an there are references to the chase, for example:
- Chapter 8: "God and his prophet brought the faithful to a safe place and sent down the armies to punish the infidels."
- Chapter 9: "As soon as they both took refuge in a cave, Mohammed consoled his libel:" Do not complain, God be with us. "
However, the persecution of the infidels of Mohammed is mentioned in the Qur'an extremely fluently. Fomichev suggested that Pushkin could use the biography of Mohammed from the text of the Koran, translated into French, found in the library of Dushkin. This publication describes in some detail how Mohammed and his partner took refuge in a cave while fleeing from Mecca, and Allah miraculously grew a tree at the entrance to the cave. Peering into the cave and seeing that the entrance to it was covered with cobwebs and that the little dove laid eggs there, the pursuers decided that no one had entered there for a long time, and passed by.
Association of religions?
Perhaps Pushkinâs verse âImitation of the Quranâ is difficult to interpret for the reason that the poet introduced into the work of tradition not only from the Quran, but also from the Old Testament. After all, Pushkin respected all religions. The words about "vigilant persecution" make us recall another pursuit - the persecution by Egyptian pharaoh of Moses and his fellow tribesmen during the exodus from Egypt.
It is possible that when creating his poem, Pushkin had in mind the biblical narrative of the passage through the Red Sea, identifying the prophet Mohammed with the prophet Moses. The grounds for this identification were laid down in the Qur'an, where Moses was bred as the forerunner of Mohammed: Allah constantly reminds Mohammed of his great predecessor, his first prophet - Moses. It is no coincidence that most of the plots borrowed from the Bible in the Qur'an date back to the book "Exodus", which describes the acts of Moses.
Analysis of the third quatrain
Researchers correlated the first lines of this quatrain with verses 11 to 8 of the chapter of the Koran: âDo not forget ... how I brought down water from heaven to be able to cleanse you, and be delivered from the evil of the devil.â However, Pushkinâs talk is about quenching thirst, and not about purification, about âdesert watersâ, and not about water sent from heaven.
Perhaps Pushkin hinted at another legend: how once on the road between Medina and Damascus, Mohammed could barely scoop a bucket of water from a drying brook, but, having poured it back, turned it into a plentiful spring that gave the whole army a drink. But in the Qur'an this episode is absent. Therefore, a number of scholars compared the first lines of the third stanza with the well-known biblical story about how Moses watered people who were exhausted from thirst in the desert by hitting a rod with a rod from the stone from which the source of water hammered, because God so commanded him. In the Qur'an, this episode is mentioned twice (chapters 2 and 7).
Yet the Bible?
Let's go back to the background. What did Pushkin achieve? The "Imitation of the Quran" was born in disputes with the landowner Osipova about the influence of religion on people's minds. The poet expressed his point of view in poetic form. Perhaps Pushkin took into account that Osipova is closer to biblical stories, or it seemed interesting to him to combine several religions or to show that all religions are essentially similar.
It is known that precisely during the work on the cycle of âImitation of the Quranâ, Pushkin had a need to turn to the Bible. âI work for the glory of the Koran,â Pushkin writes to his brother in a letter that dates from the first of November 1824. A little later, at the beginning of the 20th of November, he asked his brother to send him a book: âThe Bible, the Bible! And the French certainly. " Apparently, while working on the cycle, Pushkin became interested in both Muslim and biblical motives.
Conclusion
Poet admirers are inspired by the lyrics of Pushkin, poems about reverent love and colorful nature. But Pushkin, first of all, is a citizen, philosopher, thinker. Fighter with injustice, tyranny, oppression. The work "Imitation of the Quran" is drunk with the spirit of freedom, the call "Rise, fearful!"