The article provides detailed information about the life of a prominent historian and poet
Mirza Muhammad ‘Abd al-‘Azim Sami Bustani (1838-1908), who lived and worked in
Bukhara in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his two historical works, “Tuhfa-yi
shahi” and “Tarikh-i salatin-i Manghitiya”. Although these works have rich factual data and
devoted to the history of the last dynasty of Bukhara – the dynasty of Manghit, they are
poorly studied. Both works, in particular the details of events that the author himself
witnessed – the events of the Central Asian occupation by the Russian Empire, are original
and these materials are of historical importance in covering the history of the region. The
article explains the historical significance of these sources by comparative analysis of
them. Also, the defeat of the Bukhara army by the Christian army during the occupation
aggravated the political and economic crisis in Bukhara, which led to loss of reputations of
Amir and officials. The works of Mirza Sami expose the horizons of the study of the
attitude of the local intellectuals to the rulers of Bukhara and the Russian invasion during
this crisis.

Mirza Sami,, Bukhara,

Ayni, Sadr al-Din. (1923): Tarikh-i amiran-i manghitiya-i Bukhara. Tashkent:

Turkestanskoe gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo.

(2007): Buxoro safarnomasi. Translated from Persian for Uzbek by I. Bekdzan. Tashkent:

Makhpirat nomidagi Orta Osiio khalqlari instituti.

Danish, Ahmad. (1967): Traktat Akhmada Danisha. Istoriia Mangitstkoi dinastii [The

History of the Manghit Dynasty]. Translated by I.A. Nadzhafova. Dushanbe:

Danish.

Danish, Ahmad. Mi‘yar al-tadayyun. Manuscript of the Academy of Sciences of the

Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2187.

(1998): Katalog arabograficheskikh rukopisei Bukharskoi oblastnoi biblioteki imeni Abu Ali

ibn Siny [Catalog of Arabographic manuscripts of the Bukhara Regional Library

named after Abu Ali ibn Sina]. Compiled by G. Kurbanov, F. Schwartz. Bukhara.

(1960): Katalog vostochnykh rukopisei Akademii Nauk Tadzikskoi SSR [Catalog of Oriental

manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR]. Vol. I. Stalinabad:

Poligrafkombinat.

Kugelgen, Anke. (2004): Legitimatsiya sredneaziatskoi dinastii Mangitov v proizvedeniiakh

ikh istorikov (XVIII-XIX vv.) [The legitimization of the Central Asian Manghit

dynasty in the works of their historians (XVIII-XIX centuries)]. Almaty: Dyke Press.Khasanova, Z.S. (1976). Sami i ego teoriia epistoliarnogo stilia v tadzikskoi literature ХIX

v. [Sami and the theory of the epistolary style in Tajik literature of the nineteenth

century]. Auth., Ph.D. in Philosophy, Dushanbe.

Makhdum, Sh. Tarikh. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of

Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2241.

Makhdum, Sh. Muntakhab al-tavarikh. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of the

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 1304.

Muhtaram, K. N. Tazkirat al-shu‘ara. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of the

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2252.

Salim Bek, Mirza. Tarikh-i Salimi. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of the

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2016.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. (1962): Tarikh-i salatin-i mangitiya [History of the Mangyt

sovereigns]. Translated and edited by L.M. Epifanova. Moscow: İzdatel’stvo

Vostochnoi Literatury.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Mir’at al yaqin. Manuscript of the Bukhara State Library.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Dakhma-yi shahan. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies

of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2188.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Mafatikh al-abr fi tarjumat masabikh al-fikr. Manuscript of

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of

Uzbekistan, No. 2194.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Mir’at ul-khayal. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of

the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2188.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Tazkirat al-fuzala. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of

the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 3396.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Tanzih al-insha. Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of

the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 293.

Sami, Mirza ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Tuhfa-yi shahi, Manuscript of Institute of Oriental Studies of the

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, No. 2091.

Satoru, Kimura. (2011): Sunni–Shi‘i relations in the Russian protectorate of Bukhara, as

perceived by the local “ulama”. In: UYAMA Tomohiko (ed.), Asiatic Russia: Imperial

power in regional and international contexts. London, pp. 189–215.

(1952): Sobranie vostochnykh rukopisei Akademii nauk Uzbekistana [Collection of oriental

manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan]. Vol. III. Tashkent: Fan