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'''Mullā Mūsa Sayrāmī''' ({{lang-ug|موللا مۇسا سەيرامى|lat=Molla Musa Seyrami}}, {{lang-uz|Mulla Muso Sayramiy|lat=Molla Musa Seyrami}}; 1836–1917) was a historian from [[Xinjiang]], known for his account of the events in that region in the 19th century, in particular the [[Dungan revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Rebellion]] of 1864-1877. While the [[ethnonym]] [[Uyghurs]], with its modern meaning, was not yet used in Musa Sayrami's day,<ref name=pref/> he probably would be called an Uyghur if he lived a few decades later, based on his place of birth and the language of his literary works.

==Biography==
[[File:Zerrspiegel-Taifurchi-shooting-exercises-i125.jpg|thumb|Yaqub Beg's gunners' exercises]]
Musa was originally from the village of [[Sayram, Xinjiang|Sayram]], located northwest of [[Kuqa]] in what is today [[Baicheng County]], [[Xinjiang]].<ref name=text>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/M.Asien/XX/1900-1920/Sairami/text.htm МОЛЛА МУСА САЙРАМИ: "ТА'РИХ-И АМНИЙА"] ([Excerpts from] Mulla Musa Sayrami's ''Tarikh-i amniyya''), in: "Материалы по истории казахских ханств XV-XVIII веков (Извлечения из персидских и тюркских сочинений)" (''Materials for the history of the Kazakh Khanates of the 15-18th cc. (Extracts from Persian and Turkic literary works)''), [[Almaty|Alma Ata]], Nauka Publishers, 1969. {{ru icon}}</ref> The place should not be confused with the larger [[Sayram (city)|city of the same name]] in [[Kazakhstan]].<ref>Location of Sairam is shown on Map 1 in Kim (2004), before p. 1; it's 赛里木 (''Sailimu'') on modern Chinese maps.</ref>
In his youth he was sent to [[Kuqa]] to study at the [[madrassah]] of Mulla Osman Akhund. He became a close friend of one of his classmates, named Mahmudin (Muḥammad al-Dīn), a son of [[Burhān al-Dīn Khoja]], an important member of the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khoja clan]]. Musa later referred to Mahmudin as "Khojam Padishah".<ref name=pref/>

In the summer 1864, during the early days of the Dungan Rebellion in Xinjiang, Musa joined the army of the rebel Khoja Burhān al-Dīn when it passed through Sayram. Along with Burhan's son Mahmudin, Musa was among Burhan's rebels at [[Aksu, Xinjiang|Aksu]] and [[Uqturpan]], and became Burhan's right-hand man there.<ref name=pref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/Dokumenty/M.Asien/XX/1900-1920/Sairami/pred.htm МОЛЛА МУСА САЙРАМИ: ТА'РИХ-И АМНИЙА] (Mulla Musa Sayrami's ''Tarikh-i amniyya'': Preface)], in: "Материалы по истории казахских ханств XV-XVIII веков (Извлечения из персидских и тюркских сочинений)" (''Materials for the history of the Kazakh Khanates of the 15-18th cc. (Extracts from Persian and Turkic literary works)''), [[Almaty|Alma Ata]], Nauka Publishers, 1969. {{ru icon}}</ref>

After the people of Uqturpan overthrew the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khojas]] in 1867, Musa Sayrami escorted the arrested Khojas to the headquarters of the new ruler of the region, [[Yaqub Beg]]. He then found a place for himself in Yaqub Beg's government apparatus, where he served under Mirza Baba Beg, the ''[[zakat]]chi'' (chief revenue officer) in Aksu.<ref name=pref/>

Musa survived the death of Yaqub Beg's and the reconquest of Xinjiang by [[Zuo Zongtang]]'s [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] armies in 1877. He lived the rest of his days in Aksu, writing and re-writing his ''Tarikh-i amniyya'',<ref name=kim194>Kim (2004), pp. 194-195</ref> which he completed in 1903.

==''Tārīkh-i amniyya'' and ''Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi''==
''Tārīkh-i amniyya'' ("History of Peace")<ref name=kim265>Kim (2004), pp. 265-266</ref> was written in the [[Chagatai language]]—the old literary language of Central Asia, which can be thought of as an ancestral form of today's [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] and [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]] languages. According to modern scholars, the Chagatai of Musa Sayrami's manuscripts had been influenced by "modern" Uyghur language (i.e., the vernacular of Sayrami's own era).<ref name=pref/>

Soviet researchers suggested that the title of Musa's work also alludes to the name of one of his friends, Dadhah Muhammad Amin [[Baig|Bai]] [[Aqsaqal]]; thus, it can also be read as "History dedicated to Amin". Amin was the elder (''[[aqsaqal]]'') of the Russian subjects in Aksu and Uqturpan, and maintained correspondence with the Russian consul in [[Kashgar]], [[Nikolai Petrovsky]]. The Soviet researcher K.A. Usmanov thus suggested that Petrovsky, known as an avid collector of materials related to the history of the region, may have been instrumental in encouraging Musa to undertake his work.<ref name=pref/>

''Tārīkh-i amniyya'', which has survived in several manuscripts, consists of the following parts:<ref name=kim194/>
* the introduction, which surveys the history of Xinjiang from [[Noah]] to [[Chengiz Khan]] to the beginning of the [[Dungan revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Rebellion]]
* Part 1, which discusses the early stages of the rebellion, under leadership of the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khojas]]
* Part 2, which discusses the [[Yaqub Beg]]'s regime, and the reconquest of the region by the Chinese troops in 1877.
* Conclusion

''Tārīkh-i amniyya'' was first published by the Russian scholar N.N. Pantusov in [[Kazan]] in 1905.<ref name=kim280>Kim (2004), p. 280</ref>
(Pantusov had apparently a special interest in the history of the region; he had earlier published a Russian translation of another work on the same topic, Mullā Bilāl's ''Ghazāt dar mulk-i Chín'' ("Holy War in China"), originally written in 1876.<ref>[http://www.thenewdominion.net/1749/pantusov’s-introduction-to-mulla-bilal’s-holy-war-in-china/ English translation of N.N.Pantusov's introduction to ''Ghazāt dar mulk-i Chín'']</ref>)

A modern [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] translation was published in [[Urumqi]] in 1988 as ''Tärikhi äminiyä''.<ref name=kim265/><ref>{{cite book|first=Musa |last=Sayrami|publisher=Shinjang Khălq Năshriyati |year=1989
|isbn=7-228-00220-2|title=Tarikhi ăminiyă|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qO_CAAAACAAJ}}</ref>

''Tārīkh-i ḥamīdi'' (History of Ḥamid) is a revised version of ''Tārīkh-i amniyya'', completed in 1908. A modern Uyghur translation by [[Enver Baytur]] was published in [[Beijing]] in 1986.<ref name=kim265/><ref>{{cite book|first=Musa |last=Sayrami
|publisher=Mlletler Neşriyatı |year=1986|title=Tarih-i Hamidi|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6Y3yPgAACAAJ}}</ref>

==Modern assessment==

In the view of the modern expert on the period's history, [[Kim Hodong]], Sayrami is "one of the best historians that Central Asia has ever produced", and his books are the most important locally produced source on the Dungan Rebellion and the Yaqub Beg regime.<ref name=kim_xvi>Kim (2004), p. xvi</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{cite book|authorlink=Kim Hodong|first=Ho-dong |last=Kim|publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2004
|isbn=0-8047-4884-5|title=Holy war in China: the Muslim rebellion and state in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AtduqAtBzegC}}

==External links==
* [http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/10845180?n=11&printThumbnails=no Sairami, Musa, 1836-1917. Taʼrikh-i emeniyye. Qazān : Ṭabʻkhāne-i Medrese-i ʻUlūm, 1322] Harvard University Library.

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayrami, Musa}}
[[Category:Uyghurs]]
[[Category:Uyghur writers]]
[[Category:Historians of China]]
[[Category:History of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:1836 births]]

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