Attar Neishabouri and His Intellectual Heritage in Central Asia A Study of the Influence of Attar Neishabouri's Intellectual Heritage in Uzbekistan Based on Amir Alishir Navaee's Works

Central Asia, during the development of civilization cores in it, has been one of the main cultural centers of Iran. People of this region stepped into the world of science by means of Persian language; in a way that all of the cultural people of this region used to be familiar with this language. Since the 9th century AH, the translation of Iranian poets and author's works has had a significant role in spiritual education of people besides the first language. Amir Alishir Navaee (1441-1501) is among those who raised the cultural appearance of Iran in this region. In this article, for the first time, the influence of Attar Neishabouri on the formation of Navaee's thoughts, and thus, of the mind and language of Uzbek-speaking people of Central Asian in two sections of “Navaee & Persian literature” and “Attar’s intellectual heritage & Uzbek language and literature” was analyzed, using the French Comparative literature, with reference to authentic, fake and translated works of Attar Neishabouri (?537-? 627) in Uzbekistan (the handwritten, lithographic and printed versions). The results of this study revealed that Attar's Manteq oṭ-Ṭayr, in addition to being popular in its original language among people, had an influential role among Uzbek-speaking people under the title of Lessan oṭ-Ṭayr, translated by Navaee. Furthermore, being among the textbooks of the central Asian Maktabs, Pand-nameh, which was attributed to Attar, had a great influence on the life of people living in that region, and also increased the popularity of Attar's works there. That influence increased after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the independence of Central Asian Republics.