TRACES OF THE QALAM ON THE WINDS OF THE QAZAQ STEPPE: ISLAMIC TRADITION AND WRITTEN MEMORY IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of Arabic script (Arabography) on Qazaq literary and intellectual culture across history, especially during the Middle Ages. The Arabic script was initially employed during the dissemination of Islam and quickly acquired the status of a critical medium for the recording of religious, legal, and poetic texts in both Turkic and Arabic languages. Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Mahmud al-Kashgari, and Yusuf Balasaguni's seminal works emphasize their contributions to the development of an Islamic-Turkic literary amalgamation in the Qazaq Steppe. Throughout the era of the Qazaq Khanate, Arabic script maintained its role in historical and cultural contexts, while oral traditions like zhyrau poetry and the Qazaq Khanate's legal system remained intricately linked to Islamic written culture. The study asserts that the development of Arabography in Qazaqstan evolved naturally, serving both as a tool for modernization and as a means of cultural connectivity, thereby impacting access to national memory and identity.