56
Working with a text and dictionaries
Textbook: p. 90
GoalAn extract from Navoiy’s Majolis un-nafois: replacing attributes and retelling the text briefly.
New words
Gatherings of Delicate Souls · Majolis un-nafoisgreat scholar · allomaIslamic jurisprudence · fiqhdervish lodge · xonaqoh
Explanation
Majolis un-nafois is Alisher Navoiy’s tazkira (biographical anthology) of the poets and scholars of his time. The extract describes Khoja Fazlulloh Abullaysiy of Samarkand: a great scholar in fiqh, counted as a pupil of Sayid Sharif, who also had a liking for poetry and riddle verse. Navoiy studied with him for two years and the teacher called him “son”. The khoja died in Samarkand and was buried in the tomb of his grandfather in his lodge. The language of that period differs from today’s: “bila” — bilan, “erdi” — edi, “aytur” — aytadi. Replace the words serving as attributes with synonyms, then retell the text briefly in three sentences.
Worked examples
Old forms: “bila” → “bilan”; “erdi” → “edi”; “ayturg‘a” → “aytishga”.
Three-sentence retelling: Fazlulloh was a scholar of Samarkand. Famous in fiqh, he taught Navoiy. He died in Samarkand.
Class activity
Condensing: put each paragraph into one sentence, then merge the three into one simple sentence.
Practice
1
What does Navoiy say about his teacher in the extract?
He was a great scholar of Samarkand and called Navoiy “son”.
2
What is a tazkira?
A collection about the lives and work of poets and scholars.
3
Find the attributes in “Shoir Navoiy go‘zal g‘azallar yozgan”.
Shoir — appositive attribute; go‘zal — descriptive attribute.
4
Convert the old “ulumi dars ayturg‘a” to present-day language.
To teach lessons of the sciences.