A thousand years later, the Shahnameh has been recognized at both the state and national levels.
Author: Professor, Dr. Yaqub Yasna
The culture and literature known today as Persian-Tajik were founded and developed by the Samanids, true Tajiks of Greater Khorasan who highly valued the language, literature, and cultural heritage of their ancestors. It was thanks to their interest in national epic heritage that the national-heroic narrative of Persian-Tajik literature emerged after the advent of Islam.
The Samanids were native to Khorasan and the surrounding region, speaking the Persian-Tajik language, and were deeply committed to preserving their language and culture. They supported the language, literature, poetry, and national-heroic narratives of the Tajiks, Persian-speakers, and Aryans.
If the Samanid state had not emerged after Islam, Persian-Tajik literature, the national-heroic narrative, and what we call Iranian culture would not exist today on such a scale. After the arrival of the Arabs, there was an attempt to replace the local language and culture with the Arabic language and culture, as detailed by Professor Zarrinkub in his book Two Centuries of Silence.
With the rise of the Samanids and the establishment of their state, the process of Arabization was halted. Attention to the Persian language, poetry, and Aryan culture increased. Libraries appeared in the Samanid court, and literary and poetic gatherings were held in Persian-Tajik. Except for avant-garde movements, almost all classical genres of Persian-Tajik poetry — qasida, ghazal, rubai, qit’a, masnavi, and others — were formed and spread under the Samanids.
The national-heroic epic and the tradition of reading the Shahnameh also emerged thanks to the support of the Samanids. The Samanid shahs officially commissioned poets, including Dakiki Balkhi, to create the national-heroic epic. Thus, the composition of the epic and the Shahnameh became an official state tradition at the Samanid court.
After Dakiki wrote a thousand couplets, he was killed, leaving his work unfinished. Ferdowsi took up the banner of the national epic and completed the Shahnameh during the Samanid era. It is incorrect to consider Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh a product of the Ghaznavid period: Sultan Mahmud and other Ghaznavid shahs showed little interest in creating the epic or the national narrative of the Tajiks and Iranians. The tradition of epic creation and writing the Shahnameh is a cultural legacy of the Samanids, which weakened after their state fell.
The Shahnameh was written thanks to the development of the epic tradition under the Samanids, but its wider dissemination coincided with Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi’s rise to power. Unfortunately, neither he nor his court supported its publication or copying, leaving the poem in Ferdowsi’s hands. At that time, courts were usually responsible for publishing and distributing works, as one person could not manually copy dozens of manuscripts. Ferdowsi worked on the Shahnameh for thirty years and completed it in his old age.
Thus, copying and publishing the Shahnameh should have been carried out at Sultan Mahmud’s court, but this did not happen. Ferdowsi passed away without being certain his poem would be published and disseminated. Nevertheless, the Shahnameh made its way into history even without Ghaznavid support.
The source and foundation of the linguistic and cultural identity of the Tajiks and Iranians is the statehood of the Samanids. Just as they revived the Tajik and Aryan language and culture a thousand years ago and created national and heroic narratives, today the national state of the Tajiks once again protects these values.
After the fall of the Samanids and until Tajikistan gained independence in 1991, a national Tajik state did not exist, and the epic and cultural traditions received little attention. Only with the creation of a modern national state were the values established by the Samanids revived.
At the head of the state stands the distinguished leader Emomali Rahmon, who, like the Samanids, loves and protects the national, cultural, and heroic traditions of the Tajiks and Aryans. He revived, created, and strengthened a modern national state and national identity, completing what remained unfinished in the Samanid era.
The Samanids began the tradition of epic writing and the composition of the Shahnameh to strengthen the national narrative, but it was not fully realized. Ferdowsi dreamed of state support for the publication and dissemination of the Shahnameh, which did not materialize. Today, it is a matter of pride that Emomali Rahmon, a thousand years later, completed the program of supporting epic writing as a means of strengthening national identity and the national narrative, fulfilling Ferdowsi’s dream. For the first time since its creation, the Shahnameh received state-level support: it was published, printed nationally, and distributed free to all Tajik families in the country. This is a historic example of state and national support for the Shahnameh.
Ferdowsi, who devoted enormous effort to culture and national identity, dreamed that his book would receive official, state, and national support. Fortunately, this support was provided by the respected Leader of the Nation, Emomali Rahmon. This cultural policy is carried out not only to fulfill Ferdowsi’s dream but also to strengthen the national identity and narrative of the Tajiks. After all, if a nation does not have its own identity and narrative, it cannot be fully independent.
Independence is not only territorial integrity but also peace, security, and culture. Emomali Rahmon, in preserving Tajikistan’s independence, simultaneously focused on peace, security, and culture. After independence, he first ensured peace and national unity among the Tajiks, saving the country from crisis and civil war. He then strengthened security nationwide while simultaneously reinforcing the national narrative and identity of the Tajiks based on the cultural values of their ancestors.
He gave new significance and international recognition to Nowruz, Mehregan, and other Aryan and ancient festivals, while also promoting national and cultural models in architecture, exemplified by the construction of the “Kurush” Garden.
The latest cultural achievement in strengthening the national identity and narrative of the Tajiks is the publication, printing, and nationwide distribution of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh with the support of Emomali Rahmon. For every Tajik, Persian-speaker, and Iranian, this initiative by His Excellency is a source of pride.
