Ahmad Donish

Ahmad Donish (also spelled Danish: 1827–1897) was a writer, reformer, historian and poet in the Emirate of Bukhara.^[1]

Donish was a Tajik and native of Bukhara,^[1] the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara.^[2] Despite being the son of a imam, he found street stories more engaging than his study of the Quran. While attending a madrasa, he taught himself astronomy, calligraphy, geometry, medicine, history, literature, and music. He subsequently became a pupil of the court architect, who was interested in his artistic abilities. In c. 1850 he became a painter and calligrapher of the Bukharan emir Nasrullah Khan (r. 1827–1860). He later rose to the position of court astronomer and acted as a mediator between the clergy and the emir.^[1]

Nasrullah Khan and his successsor Muzaffar bin Nasrullah (r. 1860–1885) wanted to utilize Donish's skills while keeping him out of the court, despite his unpopularity as a freethinker at the Bukharan court. As a result, in November 1857, October 1869, and January 1874, he was dispatched to Saint Petersburg three times as a secretary of the Bukharan embassy.^[1]

• Foltz, Richard (2019). A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1784539559.
• Fourniau, Vincent (1993). "Dāneš, Aḥmad Maḵdūm". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation. ISBN 978-0710090959.
• Wilde, Andreas (2020). "Manghit dynasty". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.