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ABDURAUF FITRAT'S VIEWS ON LITERARY STUDIES
Rakhmonova Umida
Master student of Samarkand State
University under named Sharaf Rashidov
Abstract:
This article highlights the literary and aesthetic views of Abdurauf Fitrat, a prominent
figure in 20th-century Uzbek literature, science, and culture, based on his "Rules of Literature"
and other literary works. The article analyzes the scientific heritage and treatises of the
prominent scholar on literary studies.
Keywords:
manzum poems (system poems), mansur poems (sochim poems), "Rules of
Literature," "Terminology of Literary Currents," currents, article “Poetry and Poesy”, “About
Aruz”, stringed words.
Fitrat is a major representative of 20th-century Uzbek literature, science, and culture. He
was an encyclopedic scholar, a literary theorist, a sharp linguist, a unique playwright and poet, a
militant publicist, publisher and journalist, and a talented statesman and public figure.
According to Abdurauf Fitrat's autobiography, he was born in Bukhara in 1884 (S. Ayni
states that he was born in 1886, and current textbooks and scientific research repeat this date).
Fitrat is Abdurauf's pen name, meaning "innate talent."
Fitrat's concise and melodious lyrics, multifaceted dramaturgy, combat journalism, and
extensive in-depth scholarly research testify to his versatile and prolific creativity.
Fitrat is a great literary scholar, a strong theorist, and a sharp linguist; he is the author of
"Uzbek Language Grammar" ("Sarf," "Nahv," published six times in 1924-1930), "Tajik
Language Grammar" (1930), and dozens of articles on language. His books "Rules of
Literature" and "About Aruz" have not lost their scientific and theoretical value even today.
Fitrat's major research, such as "Examples of Old Uzbek Literature," "A General Overview of
Uzbek Literature after the 16th Century," "Chagatai Literature," as well as books and articles
about Omar Khayyam, Ferdowsi, Yassavi, Navoi, Muhammad Salih, Bedil, Mashrab, Turdi,
Furkat, Muqimi, and Nodira, became a historical event in Uzbek literary studies of this period.
His articles and books on the history of Uzbek music and chess confirm that he is an
encyclopedic scholar. In the article "Tilimiz," he proves that it is possible to form 98 words
from one root "bil" and that the vocabulary of the Turkic language is greater than that of the
Persian and Arabic languages, but now it does not have its own status, emphasizes that it is "the
most unfortunate."
The scholar compiled the biographical dictionaries "Samples of the Oldest Turkic
Literature" (text, research, notes, 1927) and "Samples of Uzbek Literature" (text, research,
notes, Volume 1, 1928), collected and systematized examples of our national literary heritage
created from ancient times to recent times (the second volume of "Samples of Uzbek
Literature" was not published for unknown reasons).
Abdurauf Fitrat sought to obtain, study, and publish unique monuments of Uzbek
written literature, such as "Kutadgu Bilig," scattered among the people. Having first studied
major representatives of Uzbek literature, he created treatises and articles of great scientific
value, such as "Bedil" (1923), "On Navoi's Persian Poetry and His Persian Divan," "Kutadgu
Bilig" (1925), "Ahmad Yassavi" (1927), "Investigations on the Poets of the Yassavi School,"
"Hibbat ul-Haqayiq," "Uzbek Poet Turdi" (1928), "A General View of Uzbek Literature After
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the 16th Century," "Muhammad Salih," "The Persian Poet Omar Khayyam" (1929), "Mashrab,"
"About the Epic of Farhad and Shirin" (1930). With these studies, Fitrat laid the foundation for
the Uzbek school of literary studies.
Fitrat also created a number of works as a prominent scholar and literary critic. In
particular, scientific observations such as "Rules of Literature," "Examples of Old Uzbek
Literature," "About Aruz" play an important role in the history of literary studies. Furthermore,
his research on Omar Khayyam, Ferdowsi, Navoi, Bedil, M. Solih, Muqimiy, and Furqat will
undoubtedly serve as an important source for studying the history of our literature. He wrote
articles about more than ten representatives of classical literature, such as Ahmad Yassavi and
Suleiman Bakirgani. At the same time, Fitrat actively worked as a scientist, a great pedagogue,
and organizer of public education.
The last chapter of "The Rules of Literature" is devoted to "The Term 'Current in
Literature'." In this, Fitrat explains the essence of such concepts as classicism, rationalism,
sentimentalism, romanticism, symbolism, modernism, and futurism in a very simple way.
In his article "Poetry and Poetry," Fitrat divides poetry into two types:
1.Manzum poems (system poems);
2. Mansur poems (hair poems).
Just as one can recite poetry with stringed words, one can recite poetry with loose words.
For laconic poems (mansur poems), even if there is no correspondence between "measure" and
"rhyming," the artistic (artistic) nature of the words is essential." In the article, Fitrat points out
the peculiarities of two types of poetry. Fitrat's deep knowledge of aruz is evident from his
manuals and treatises such as "Rules of Literature," "Uzbek Classical Music and its History,"
the collection "Samples of Uzbek Literature," and articles such as "Poetry and Poetry."
Nevertheless, the scholar's special scientific work dedicated to the science of aruz was
published in 1936 under the title "About Aruz." The widespread struggle against aruz, which
intensified in the early 1920s, somewhat subsided, and after this meter passed through the
experience of Uzbek poets again, the need arose for a scientific treatise teaching the theoretical
rules of aruz created by Fitrat.
The treatise teaches not only the history and technique of aruz, but also the theory of
meter in general and the history of its application. The scholar considered the issue of poetic
meter as the most necessary artistic unit that creates a poetic work. It is known that the issue of
meter directly depends on the sound aspect and phonetic laws of the national language in which
the work is being created. As Fitrat wrote, in the "system" (poem), each nation resolved the
issue of meter according to the characteristics of its language. To "determine" the question of
nature's relationship to the Turkic language, the scholar emphasized the need to observe the
"historical growth of the aruz meter."
Abdurauf Fitrat, writing about aruz and aruz meter, emphasizes that he classified "ilm
ush-she'r" into three types:
1. Definition of the poem;
2. Meters of the poem;
3. Rhymes of the poem.
In "The Rules of Literature," the scholar treats works close to the style of folk literature
with great respect and gives them high praise. He emphasizes that the style of the poems of
Ahmad Yassavi, Suleyman Bakirgani, Mashrab, Andalib's epic "Yusuf and Zulaikha," and the
epics "Ahmadbek" and "Zufunun," cited by Fitrat as works of unknown authorship, is sincere
literature, free from any pomp. Based on this, he compares the styles of the two periods: he
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shows the difference between them as "as high as mountains." In his work "The Rules of
Literature," Fitrat cites examples of the works of creators with their own style as proof of his
thoughts. Naturally, the style of prose and poetry is unique. In order to show such differences,
Fitrat turns to the works of both literary types of writers. In particular, through Babur's ghazal
with the radif "Qoldimu?" and excerpts from "Baburnama," he tries to show the system and the
special style of my hair. To show the differences in the style of the period, Cholpon cites
examples from the works of Elbek.
In Abdurauf Fitrat's treatise "Rules of Literature," he writes: "The role of style in
literature is very great, very important. Thoughts and information in one work may be old,
expressed by other poets. There are views such as "The force that can express their antiquity
without letting us feel or notice it and teach it to us is in style."
Also, A.Fitrat writes: "In our old literature, there is the epic "Layli, Majnun." Persian
and Turkish poets have written about this many times. In all of them, the story is the same and
the event is the same. However, someone who knows Persian-Turkish will read Nizami from
their Persian, and then Jami. Upon arriving at Khosrow, he would certainly translate Navoiy to
them. Upon seeing Fuzuli, he puts Navoi's "Layli, Majnun" on the shelf and feels compelled to
read Fuzuli. These are the works of style."
"The first period of Jadidism in our country proceeded under the banner of pan-
Islamism," Fitrat writes in his 1936 book "About Aruz." The writing of Jadid literature in the
aruz meter corresponds to this period. Gradually, pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism, and Uzbek
nationalism diverged from each other in the form of individual actions. I have gone through all
of these and very well remember that one of the literary reflections of pan-Islamism and Uzbek
nationalism appeared in the form of support for aruz and barmak in meter" (page 20).
On September 25, 1991, Abdurauf Fitrat was awarded the Alisher Navoi State Prize of
the Republic for his contributions to the development of Uzbek dramaturgy and the
establishment of a school of realistic literary criticism and literary studies.
Fitrat's thoughts on his style are also reflected in the collection "Samples of Uzbek
Literature," in which the scholar included literary examples that had their own style and stood
out from other writers with their bright style as a practical expression of the above-mentioned
scientific views.
Abdurauf Fitrat, as a prominent scholar of his time, conducted research in all areas of
literary studies. Fitrat, as a source scholar, linguist, lexicographer, textologist, literary critic, and
theorist, created several scientific treatises and articles, and most of the scientific conclusions
reflected in this scientific heritage serve as the basis for today's research. Fitrat's contributions
in these areas are invaluable.
Since Fitrat was the first Uzbek theorist, he created serious theoretical articles and
research on art and its essence, origin and types, in particular, fiction, which is the art of words.
His manuals and research, such as "Rules of Literature," "About Aruz," and articles such as
"Poetry and Poetry," played a certain scientific role in the formation of Uzbek aesthetic thought
and have retained their value to this day.
References:
1. Abdurauf Fitrat. Selected Works. -Tashkent: Spirituality. 2009. -P. 8.
2. Fitrat. Rules of Literature /Selected Works.Volume 4. (Prepared for publication. H.
Boltaboyev) - T.: Ma'naviyat, 2006. - Б. 20-23.
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ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 04,2025
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3. A.Fitrat.About Aruz. / Selected Works. Volume 5. (Prepared for publication. H.
Boltaboyev.) - Тошкент, 2020. - P.238.
4. Portrait of Fitrat. - Тошкент, 2020.
5. Abdurauf Fitrat. About Aruz. www.ziyo.com library.
6. Hamroyeva Orzigul. Fitrat's views on literary studies [Text]: monograph / Orzigul
Hamroyeva. - Tashkent: Bookmany print, 2023. - 84 p.
7. M. Abdullayeva. Classical Historical Poetics [Textbook]. - Тошкент, 2021. - 404 p.
