The Publication History and Socio-Philosophical Significance of Ahmad Donish’s Scientific and Literary Heritage

Ahmad Donish (1827–1897) is regarded as one of the most versatile and intellectually inquisitive thinkers who emerged during the final century of the history of the Bukhara Emirate. This article reconstructs the publication history of his principal works—Navādir al-Waqāʾiʿ, Meʿyār al-Tadayyun, Risāla dar Nazm-i Tamaddun va Taʿāwun, as well as his astronomical treatises—and analyzes the ideological circumstances under which these works were interpreted in Soviet scholarship. Drawing upon early editions and post-independence reassessments, the article argues that the philosophical essence of Donish’s legacy has not yet been fully liberated from the accumulated layers of Marxist-Leninist interpretations. Furthermore, the study examines the thinker’s writings within the intellectual environment of nineteenth-century Central Asia and demonstrates that his reformist ideas were shaped at the intersection of religious traditionalism, dynastic authority, and the influence of Russian scientific culture.