Shared regional heritage from Herat to Konya
By Mehdi Mirmohammadi
Director of Research Institute for Strategic Studies
Although Abdullah Ansari was born and lived in Herat, his legacy is now considered part of the cultural and intellectual heritage of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. This shared heritage extends beyond Ansari to include luminaries such as Jami, Rumi, Magtymguly Pyragy, Nezami Ganjavi, Rudaki, Ferdowsi, Attar of Nishapur, and many others, who are revered in the regions. Nearly all countries in the “Nowruz region” consider these figures part of their cultural and intellectual heritage. What is even more remarkable is the intellectual similarity among many luminaries of this region, forming a cohesive cultural system. This interaction has occurred both among contemporaries, such as the meetings between Ansari and Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani or the relationship between Rumi and Attar, and through the systematic influence of members of this cultural system on each other through the study of their works and ideas.
This systematic interaction has led to a unity and similarity of minds among intellectuals and ordinary people in this region. The spiritual teachings of Ansari, with slight variations, are recognizable in Samarkand, Bukhara, Nishapur, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Ganja, and Konya. This unity extends beyond intellectuals to the social and pragmatic nature of thought in this cultural system, leading to a similarity in general culture and even daily life among ordinary people. Thus, the Nowruz region possesses a common mental framework, which, if considered in foreign policy by member countries of this region, would be the best basis for cooperation and peacemaking.
However, researchers and political leaders of this region have paid little attention to this concept and have overlooked this unique opportunity for developing more collaborative and peace-oriented regional arrangements. It seems that the continuous organization of “Nowruz diplomacy” events with the participation of university researchers and intellectuals from all parts of this intellectual region, from the subcontinent to Anatolia, would be the best initiative to utilize this common mental framework for establishing cooperative structures. Nevertheless, researchers of this region, in constructing theoretical structures based on this common system, must observe the following principles.
First, they must avoid nationalistic appropriation of personalities and their ideas. These figures had identities transcending their birthplaces or lives, symbolizing a regional intellectual identity. Confining them to a modern geographic or land-centric framework diminishes their influence and reduces their potential for creating peacemaking arrangements.
Second, governments should strive to represent all these figures as part of the common cultural heritage of the region, with the involvement of all countries in this region. For example, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known as Rumi, is not just a Turkish or Persian figure but a shared cultural heritage of the people of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
Based on these principles, it is proposed that the role of this cultural system in shaping regional arrangements be examined and studied in the form of a collection of articles, with the joint collaboration of Iranian, Turkish, Afghan, Tajik, and Azerbaijani researchers.