The Koran in Russian Poetry
A number of Russian poets paid special attention to the Holy Book of Muslims in their work. The beautiful, unusual and unsurpassed style of the Koran thus inspired classics of Russian literature.
The world-famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote a series of poems called “Imitations of the Koran”. According to the “Dictionary of Pushkin’s Language”, the Koran is mentioned in the works of the classics of Russian literature a total of 17 times. For comparison, the Bible is mentioned 13 times, and the Gospel separately – 8.
Researchers of the writer’s biography explain Pushkin’s interest in Islam by several factors. The first of them is his genealogy. Alexander Sergeevich’s maternal great-grandfather was Abram Gannibal, who, according to ethnographer Dmitry Anuchin, was an Ethiopian prince: he was brought as an honorary hostage to the court of the Turkish Sultan Ahmed III, then ransomed by a Russian representative, after which he was presented to Peter I.
The writer was also influenced by his teacher at the Lyceum, Professor Ivan Kaidanov, whose book “Fundamentals of General Political History. Part I. Ancient History” pays great attention to the history of Arabia, the emergence of Islam and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. It is believed that this book became one of Pushkin’s first textbooks, from which he drew knowledge of history.
The poet was especially influenced by his personal acquaintance with the Muslim life of the peoples of the Caucasus and Crimea during his exile in 1820-1821 to the South of Russia. Here he begins to write “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” and the poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai”, to which he put a saying of the Persian poet Saadi as an epigraph.
“The world of Islam entered the poetic world of the classic of Russian poetry not just as a theme or a role model, but as one of the deep and vital sources of creativity. This is evidenced by the repeated mentions of the Koran and the name of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Pushkin’s works of art, letters and diary entries,” write researchers Yuri Gavrilov and Alexander Shevchenko in their book “Islam in the History and Culture of the Peoples of Russia”.
Below are some of Alexander Pushkin’s poems from the series “Imitations of the Koran”. The poet worked on them in the fall of 1824 in his family estate in the village of Mikhailovskoye. “I work for the glory of the Koran,” he wrote in a letter to his brother Leo in November 1824.
Prophet
Longing for spiritual springs,
I dragged myself through desert sands...
An angel with three pairs of wings
Arrived to me at cross of lands;
With fingers so light and slim
He touched my eyes as in a dream:
And opened my prophetic eyes
Like eyes of eagle in surprise.
He touched my ears in movement, single,
And they were filled with noise and jingle:
I heard a shuddering of heavens,
And angels' flight on azure heights
And creatures' crawl in long sea nights,
And rustle of vines in distant valleys.
And he bent down to my chin,
And he tore off my tongue of sin,
In cheat and idle talks aroused,
And with his hand in bloody specks
He put the sting of wizard snakes
Into my deadly stoned mouth.
With his sharp sword he cleaved my breast,
And plucked my quivering heart out,
And coals flamed with God's behest,
Into my gaping breast were ground.
Like dead I lay on desert sands,
And listened to the God's commands:
«Arise, O prophet, hark and see,
Be filled with utter My demands,
And, going over Land and Sea,
Burn with your Word the humane hearts.»
(1826)
Imitations of the Koran
The hand that lit the day-star, sending
Through Heaven and Earth its seas of light,
Like oil in crystal cressets lending
Day’s radiant boon to worlds of night.
Pray to the Mighty, the Creator:
He rules the winds, He guides the rains
To thirsty lands. No might is greater:
His trees give shade to burning plains.
His mind is merciful; we owe Him
Mohammed and His Koran’s gift.
Oh may we see the light to know Him
And may the mists that blind us, lift!
...
No, never haggle with your conscience to deceive it:
Faced with pale poverty, give freely to relieve it.
Heaven wants your bounty full and all your gifts unscored.
Then on the Day of Doom, your acres’ generous keeper,
You, blessed sower, shall be reaper:
The Lord will multiply His grace for your reward.
But if, too mindful of your days of toil and drudging,
You stint the beggar’s dole and if your alms are grudging,
You, tightening your fist in jealousy and greed,
Know: all you ever give will be like chaff that moulders!
Like dust that cloudbursts wash from boulders,
It all shall vanish? God will scorn your gift indeed.
