SACRED TEXTS ON WEAPONS IN THE ARABIC MANUSCRIPT TRADITION (BASED ON THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to conduct a source-critical and epigraphic analysis of sacred texts inscribed in the Arabic script on samples of weapons and armor from «the Weapons and Protective Equipment» collection of the National Central Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This study introduces into scholarly circulation, for the first time, a selected group of artifacts from the museum collection, which comprises more than one thousand objects. The artifacts bearing inscriptions in the Arabic script constitute valuable historical and epigraphic sources that reveal a previously insufficiently studied aspect of the spread of Islamic culture and the Arabic language in the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, namely, their manifestation in the tradition of manufacturing weapons and armor.

The study demonstrates that texts written in the Arabic script are not invariably Arabic in language or religious in content. Furthermore, it has been established that inscriptions on weapons served not only sacred and apotropaic (protective) purposes but also fulfilled additional functions, including the communication of information, the indication of ownership, and the representation of military and social status. The findings make it possible to refine our understanding of the geographical spread of Islam and Arabic writing, as well as the cultural, ethnographic, and social functions they performed. The analysis of the epigraphic texts enriches previous scholarship by offering new insights into the influence of Arab-Islamic civilization on the spiritual and material culture of the peoples of the East. Moreover, the interdisciplinary study of these epigraphic sources, situated at the intersection of history, ethnography, cultural studies, Islamic studies and linguistics, underscores the continuing relevance and significance of Oriental Studies as a field of academic research. 

Keywords: epigraphy, Arabic manuscript tradition, weapons and armor, Qur’an, sacred texts, Arab-Islamic civilization, Arabic language, Arabic script.