Iskandar Ding

I'll be teaching Chaghatay literature at this upcoming summer school, designed to offer an opportunity for students of Persian, Turkic, and Urdu literatures to be acquainted with the shared Persianate literary tradition interlingually and intertextually. ferdowsi.org/ferdowsi-summe…

This is a wonderful opportunity for those interested in Ottoman & Mediterranean history, especially with its strong language component and no tuition fees. Plus, it’s in Crete, hard to imagine a better setting.

Prepping for sumanak, the Tajik way. The sabza of Nawroz is pounded, mixed with water, and squeezed to produce the base. Not sure if there actually is a link, but I can’t help but think of the pounding and squeezing of haoma in Zoroastrianism.

These accounts by the author are themselves intriguing.

A rather unfortunate opening sentence to the only monograph on the general history of Myanmar’s Muslim communities. I’m genuinely shocked. (Yegar, Moshe 1972. The Muslims of Burma, A Study of a Minority Group)

Eski Uygurca Bibliyografyası isimli kitabım yayımlandı. Bu kitapta dünyanın dört bir yanında farklı tarihlerde Eski Uygurca üzerine yapılmış 4400den fazla çalışma bir araya getirilmiştir. Bu vesileyle değerli hocam Prof. Dr. Ferruh Ağca'ya sonsuz teşekkürlerimi sunarım.

@Kyangs_Thang I know. I didn’t say it wasn’t problematic.

But the problem is that, by doing so, the word "Tibet" is entirely erased in the Chinese English media. Tibet is not just Ü-Tsang or TAR. When one speaks Chinese, 西藏 is the norm, which isn't much of an issue. But the directive to use Xizang instead of Tibet in English is an aim to kill the usage of the word Tibet.

The call for international replacement of 'Tibet' with 'Xizang' is certainly problematic. But what many outsiders don't know is that in Chinese, the name for the Ü-Tsang part of Tibet is 'Xizang' bc the 'zang' part isn't Chinese, but the very 'Tsang' in Ü-Tsang.

I rarely post about student politics, but I must repost this article to inform you that, since the usurpation of its management by a Zahhak and his minions in 2020, the university once famous for its niche subjects and revolutionary spirit is no more. soasspirit.co.uk/who-do-these-b…

The “Syriac dominance” thesis presupposes that the Qur’an’s theological lexicon is primarily derivative of Syriac Christian usage. Suleyman Dost argues that premise is unstable when South Arabian epigraphy is treated as primary comparative evidence (1/25)

The Armenian church of Yangon testifies to a history much neglected by the outsiders. The last Armenian of Yangon apparently left in 2010. The church is being looked after by a local Catholic groundskeeper. Donations for maintenance have come from Russia and Serbia.

@fullfistbeard @tungusia_pr Many Hui people have ancestry from Khurasan and Central Asia, but not all.

@iskdin @tungusia_pr Aren't the Hui people Persian, A hui friend told me so

The word Hui come from Uyghur (ancient Uyghur, not modern Uyghur). Hui are Turkic people, descendant of Uyghur Khanate.

@MohebMudessir I did think it sounded odd

@iskdin This poem is not Mawlana’s though، it is attributed to him .

Moved by this voice singing Mawlana’s verses in a village near Yangon. گهی خندم گهی گریم  گهی افتم  گهی خیزم مسیحا در دلم پیدا و من بیمار می گردم  بیا جانا عنایت کن تو مولانای رومی را غلام شمس تبریزم قلندروار می گردم

Didn’t expect to find ᠰᠠᠴᡳᠮᠠ sačima (chak chak in the ex-Soviet world) in Myanmar, where it’s called မရွေး maywe.

@tonnsurtonn @sogultuna Muslim Han is not Hui, either to the Hui or the Muslim Han themselves. Hui is by no means Han.

@iskdin @sogultuna Hui in Mandarin is the name for Muslim Han.

Hui (locally known as Panthay) mosque in Yangon. Some say that the Burmese word for ‘China’, written as တရုပ် tarup or တရုက် taruk, came from the word ‘Turk’.

Mogul Shia Masjid in Yangon, founded by Iranians.

@CarlZha She’s post-Chinese, a post-modern existence.

How do you write your own name in Chinese like a 1st grader???