This life in old Russia flashed by like an exotic flower...

I. Y. Krachkovsky

Arabists of St. Petersburg University and the Russian Oriental Society celebrated in October 2010 the 200th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Egyptian scholar - philologist, philosopher, and historiographer Muhammad Ayyad at-Tantawi, whose second half of his life was spent on the banks of the Neva River.

On a granite monument erected in 1881 at the Volkov Cemetery, decorated on one side with gilded Arabic script, a stingy Russian text reads: "Ordinary Professor of St. Petersburg University, State Councilor Sheikh Mohammed Ayyad at-Tantawi. He died on October 27, 1861, at the age of 50."

Oriental studies in St. Petersburg and in Russia as a whole at the stage of its formation in the XVIII-XIX centuries was widely represented by the names of famous scientists-natives of Europe and the East. A special place among them belonged to immigrants from the Middle East, among whom, of course, we should again recall the name of Mirza Kazembek (1802-1870) - "a native of Persia, in Islam - Muhammad Ali", in Christianity - Alexander Konstantinovich, who became the first dean of the Faculty of Oriental Languages (FWY) established in 1855.

He made a significant contribution to the development of St. Petersburg and Russian Arabic studies in the mid-19th century. Muhammad Ayyad at-Tantawi, born about 1810 in northern Egypt, in the village of Nijrid near the city of Tanta.

A graduate of al-Azhar University in Cairo, Tantawi became famous in his youth as a brilliant teacher, a connoisseur of, in the words of Academician I. Y. Krachkovsky, "the national language and literature". Due to his wide popularity both in the East and in Europe, the young Sheikh of al-Azhar was invited in 1839 on the recommendation of Professor C. Fren to Russia, where in 1840 he began teaching Arabic in the Educational Department of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1847. Tantawi began working at the Imperial University, where he taught at the Department of Arabic from 1848 until his death.

Working at the university strengthened Tantawi's popularity. In Europe, his fame was brought by his French, English, and German students; in St. Petersburg, he also attracted attention to his studies.-

a group of young orientalists from Helsingfors / Helsinki, including Georg August Wallin (1811-1852), a prominent Finnish Arabist, traveler and explorer of Arabia.

Collection of Tantavi manuscripts in the Eastern Department of the Library of St. Petersburg.GU is an important part of more than 2 thousand Arabic manuscripts received in the XIX century from famous scientists, diplomats, and politicians in Russia and Europe. Among the nearly 200 manuscripts in the Tantawi collection are works on theology and the history of the prophets, mysticism/Sufism and medicine, cosmology, ethics, stylistics (Ibn Arabi, Ibn Qutaybah, al-Busiri, al-Shaarani, al-Yamani, at-Tarabulusi) and, of course, linguistics, including according to the Egyptian dialect of Arabic (al-Ansari, al-Maghribi, al-Fasi, etc.).

An important section in Tantavi's oeuvre is the description of Russia. It includes memorable poems and notes on official ceremonies witnessed by the author: odes in honor of Nicholas I and Alexander II (1852); chronograms dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas I (1851), the death of Nicholas I (1855), the accession to the throne of Alexander II (1855), etc.

"A gift to the smart with messages about Russia" is the best, according to I. Y. Krachkovsky, Tantavi's work, which most fully manifested "his observant, responsive nature to all phenomena... his sharp eyes, subtle, good-natured humor." Tantawi described in detail the journey from Cairo to St. Petersburg, as well as his trip to his homeland in 1844, spoke in detail about Russia and the Russians, touching on the history and culture, geography and even topography of St. Petersburg...

The stay on the frigid banks of the Neva River was not in vain for the Egyptian scientist. Even in the first years after the foundation of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Tantavi was seriously ill. According to official documents, from 1855 he "suffered from paralysis of the lower extremities...". Slowly fading, he fought a hard battle with the disease until his death in October 1861.

November 2-3, 2010 in the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg.GU hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Professor M. A. Tantavi. About a hundred venerable and young researchers from the centers of Oriental studies in Russia, near and far "abroad" countries submitted their materials and applications for participation in it: from St. Petersburg and Moscow, Kazan and Makhachkala, Alma Ata, Kiev, Tashkent, Dushanbe, Alexandria, Istanbul, Haifa, Helsinki, Freiburg, etc. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to take part in this meeting of Arabists, however, we can note its representativeness and diversity of scientific material*.

The conference was opened with welcoming speeches delivered by Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies M. N. Bogolyubov, R. M. Valeev from the Institute of Oriental Studies of Kazan Federal University, a well-known Egyptian writer and translator of Russian classics into Arabic, editor of the satellite channel "Rusia al-Yaum" Abu Bakr Hussein.

At the first plenary session, representatives of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg made presentations on the work of M. A. Tantavi.State Institution: N. N. Dyakov ("Sheikh Muhammad Ayyad at-Tantawi-Professor of the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg University"), A. A. Iskoz-Dolinina ("Russian translations of the Koran. XX century") and O. B. Frolov ("Professor of St. Petersburg University Tantawi and his teacher in al-Azhar Abd ar-Rahman al-Safti"). R. M. Valeev in his report spoke about the place of Arabic studies in the history of Kazan University Oriental studies in the XIX-early XX centuries.

Working sessions of the conference were held in four sections: Sheikh Tantawi and the development of Arabic studies in Russia in the XIX-XX centuries; History and culture of the Middle East; Language and literature of Arab countries, as well as the School of Young Orientalists.

The scientific reports presented at the sessions of the first section (A. A. Dolinina, N. N. Dyakov, K. A. Zhukov, M. Yu. Ilyushina, M. V. Mints, E. A. Prusskaya, O. B. Frolova, S. A. Frantsuzov, S. S. Fayazova,etc.) covered almost all aspects of the life and work of Professor Tantavi himself, so did his famous contemporaries and compatriots, who largely determined the main trends in the formation of Modern Arabic culture and literature (A. al-Jabarti, R. al-Tahtawi, A. Zaki, M. Abdo, etc.), their interaction with the civilizational field of Europe and Russia during the reforms and revolutions of the XIX century.

* Conference materials are published in the collection "Russia and the Arab World: On the 200th anniversary of Professor Sheikh at-Tantawi of St. Petersburg State University". (St. Petersburg Publishing House.GU, 2010).

A special place in the work of the section was occupied by reports on the collection of Tantawi manuscripts and current problems of studying and preserving the Arabic manuscript heritage (A. S. Matveev, A.V. Chernov, O. M. Yastrebova, M. A. Azarkina, A. K. Alekseev, Ya. Y. Jamil, etc.).

Rosvita Badri from the University of Freiburg (Germany) discussed an important aspect of the work of the outstanding Egyptian public figure and writer R. R. at-Tahtawi (1801-1873) in her report. In the wake of the" Arab Renaissance "(Ennahda), R. R. at-Tahtawi, the author of" A Brief Description of Paris... "(1834)-an essay on the life of France in the first half of the XIX century - was one of the first in the emerging new Arabic literature to raise the question of the position of women in Europe and the East.

A. I. Abalyan, P. V. Basharin, I. V. Gerasimov, S. E. Grigoriev, N. A. Dobronravin, E. I. Zelenev, G. G. Isaev, A. A. Mokrushina, M. V. Shishkin, A. V. Abalyan, A. V. Basharin, and others discussed the role of Arab-Muslim culture, its place in the life of the peoples of the Middle East and Africa, and problems of international and intercultural relations in the region. S. Pelevin, D. A. Radivilov, M. A. Rodionov, T. M. Sipenkova, T. G. Tumanyan and others, who spoke at the meetings of the section of History and Culture of the Middle East.

No less diverse subjects and approaches were presented in the section " Language and Literature of Arab countries "(O. A. Bernikova, I. E. Bilyk, N. B. Kovyrshina, R. G. Mammadshakhov, O. I. Redkin, M. S. Salikhov, M. N. Suvorov, V. S. Khrakovsky, etc.).

In recent years, the" School of Young Orientalists " occupies an important place in the work of forums of the Faculty of Oriental Studies. At the conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Tantawi, presentations were made not only by young Arabists, undergraduates and postgraduates, but also by beginning researchers in other branches of "Middle Eastern studies" (T. A. Bokov, E. M. Bosaya, Ya. S. Gerasimov, A. Yu. Korovkina, V. I. Kunkova, A.V. Stepanova, V. D. Tikhomirov, A. Kh. Yulgusheva et al.).

The conference participants were interested in the documentary film"Cairo-Petersburg" presented by E. A. Rezvan (MAE RAS-"Kunstkamera"), dedicated to Sheikh Tantawi and his role in the history of Russian-Arab cultural relations. While working on the film, the author and producer interviewed both well-known public figures in St. Petersburg and Cairo, including the heads of Tantawi's alma mater, al - Azhar University, and the Faculty of Oriental Studies, the last place of work of the scientist, as well as passers - by - "people who are capable of intercultural and interfaith dialogue."

The first day of the conference ended with a "round table" on modernization in the world of Islam in the XIX-XXI centuries, where, in particular, scientists and teachers of St. Petersburg made speeches.GU A. S. Matveev, M. S. Pelevin, E. M. Osmanov, A. A. Sotnichenko.

The conference guests visited the Muslim part of the old St. Petersburg Volkov cemetery, where Professor of St. Petersburg University State Councilor Sheikh M. A. Tantavi is buried. On the same day, the conference in his memory ended with a visit to a unique exhibition on the history of Russian Oriental studies, which opened at the St. Petersburg Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At one of the first stands, to which the Director of the Institute of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences I. F. Popova led the guests, the guests saw a portrait of an Egyptian sheikh with the Order of St. John the Baptist. Anna on the chest - an outstanding scientist of his time, whose life was spent on the banks of the Nile and Neva.

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