"Imitation of the Koran", Pushkin: analysis. Poem "Imitation of the Koran"

The poem "Imitation of the Koran" is considered by many to be one of the most ambiguous works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The poet's reasoning touches on the most painful topic - religious. He tried to convey to the reader that blind adherence to dogmas, a lack of understanding of the essence of faith leads to the belittling of personality, that someone can manipulate the consciousness of impersonal people.

The history of writing the poem "Imitation of the Koran" (Pushkin)

The analysis of the work must begin with the history of its writing in order to understand the motivations of the poet. On his return from the southern exile, Pushkin had to spend another 2 years in the voluntary exile in the Mikhailovskoye estate. Voluntary, because to look after a stubborn poet, his father volunteered.

Alexander Sergeevich was a man of inquiring mind and could not simply be bored in prison. He developed a violent activity, visiting neighbors and bothering them with conversations. They were honest people, with many of the poet behaving discreetly and deigned to reason on politically incorrect topics. Including - religious.

Conversations with Praskovya Osipova

Perhaps the most interesting interlocutor for Pushkin was Praskovia Aleksandrovna Osipova, a neighboring landowner. She liked Pushkin's lyrics, poems about nature, thoughtful poems. The woman possessed a subtle mind, was inquisitive and, to the poet's joy, deeply religious. Interlocutors could spend hours hot debating on the topic of faith. In the end, Pushkin decided to express his arguments in poetic form, writing in 1825 the 9-chapter poem "Imitation of the Koran".

Pushkin analyzed religion based on the interpretation of texts from the Koran - the holy book of Muslims. Each chapter is based on a specific story from the life and deeds of the prophet Mohammed. It is not known whether the brilliant literary writer Praskovia Aleksandrovna persuaded him to be right, but he certainly achieved a heated debate among his colleagues.

Short resume

Although the author prudently chose foreign faith as critical reasoning, the work caused a resonant response. There was a rare case when there was no unambiguous compromise with the conclusions of the poet. Did Pushkin presume such a turn? "Imitation of the Koran" affects too intimate feelings, important for believers.

At first glance, this is a creation about the deeds of the prophet. But it is enough to think about the text, and it becomes clear that the narrative is about simple people forced blindly obey the once-accepted dogmas and the laws of the Muslim faith. Why should a warrior of Islam draw his sword and go to death without even knowing the causes of the war, in the hope that "blessed are the fallen in battle"? For the sake of what young Muslim women, becoming "wives pure prophet", are doomed to celibacy?

After reading, the motif of the work "Imitation of the Koran" becomes clear. The verse warns that while true believers tirelessly follow the commandments, there are people who use their feelings to achieve their own selfish goals.

Pushkin is an atheist?

"Rise, fearful," - calls the poet. "Everyone has a personal answer to this" - this is the argument disagreed with Pushkin's peremptory appeal. To this the believers have a suitable saying: "Caesar's things are Caesar's, but God's God's."

Having written "Imitation of the Koran", Pushkin analyzed the contradictions in the religious environment. Everyone understood the allegorical meaning of the text. Although we are talking about Islam, any faith (orthodox including) is implied. Involuntarily there is an idea that Alexander Sergeevich is an atheist (which in tsarist times was considered sedition). However, this is not so. It is known that Pushkin respected pious people and was tolerant of all religions. He firmly believed that blind worship does not contribute to spiritual enlightenment. Only realizing yourself as a person, you can reach out to God.

Correspondence of the poem text from the Koran

So, how do you do the analysis? "Imitation of the Koran" among writers is considered a difficult work, because the text relies on the Koran. It is not enough to know excerpts from the sacred book that Pushkin used when writing the poem, it requires an understanding of the subtleties of Islam. Numerous studies show that part of the quatrain follows the logic of the Qur'an quite accurately and is based on an accurate interpretation of the text from this book. However, Pushkin would not be himself, not introducing freedom in the interpretation of the sacred text for Muslims, especially since the essence of the poem itself implies certain changes, rebirth, rejection of dogmas.

To understand the incredible complexity of the interpretation of the work, we will not consider Pushkin's entire poem "Imitation of the Koran", but at least a few quatrains. The cycle, written in 1824, consists of nine chapters. It opens with the first chapter "By the Cheath and Odd ...", consisting of four quatrains:

I swear by the couple and the odd,

I swear by the sword and the right battle,

I swear by the morning star,

I swear by evening prayer:

No, I did not leave you.

Who is in the shade of calm

I entered, the head of his loving,

And he hid from the vigilant gong?

I did not drink on the day of thirst

Are you desolate waters?

I did not give your tongue

Mighty power over the minds?

Be of good cheer, despise deceit,

Stairly follow the path of truth,

Love the orphans and my Koran

Tell a trembling creature.

General analysis of the first chapter

The essence of the work of researchers of the genius poet's creativity consists in the search for correspondence of lines written by Pushkin, with lines from the Koran. That is, in search of what information base the poet relied on when composing the work "Imitation of the Koran". The verse is difficult to learn, so specialists are extremely interesting.

First of all, it became clear that the central images of the first chapter: "sharp-sighted persecution" and "powerful power" of the language "above the minds" - are absent in the Qur'an. Meanwhile, the textual dependence of the first verse of the last stanza of the poem from the Qur'an is beyond doubt. As if anticipating the interest of critics to this work, Pushkin left a few remarks, which helped specialists to make a more accurate analysis. "Imitation of the Koran", for example, contains the poet's note to the first stanza: "In other places of the Koran, Allah swears by the hoofs of mares, by fig fruits, by the freedom of Mecca. This strange rhetorical turn is found in the Qur'an every minute. "

The closest to the first stanza is chapter 89. The commandments that Allah gives in the poem to his prophet are scattered throughout the text of the Koran. All the researchers of the work note the particularly close connection of the last stanza and the first line of the second quatrain with the 93rd chapter of the Koran: "Your Lord has not left you ... Do not hurt the orphans, you have not removed the crumbs of the latter from the poor, declare mercy to you God." In the 2nd and 3rd stanza, the direct dependence on the Quran is no longer so obvious.

Analysis of the second quatrain of the poem "Imitation of the Koran" (Pushkin)

Analysis of this part is difficult. It deals with a miraculous salvation from persecution, but Pushkin scholars do not quite understand the history of the Koran. Researcher Tomashensky, for example, claimed that there is no similar text in the Quran. However, his colleagues point out that in the Qur'an, mention of the chase is present, for example:

• Chapter 8: "God and his prophet brought the faithful to a place of safety and sent down the host to punish the infidels."
• Chapter 9: "Hardly both of them took shelter in a cave, Mohammed consoled his clerk:" Do not complain, God is with us. "

However, the persecution of the infidels of Mohammed is mentioned in the Quran very fluently. Fomichev suggested that Pushkin could use the life-story of Mohammed from the text of the Koran translated into French, found in the library of Dushkin. This edition describes in some detail how Mohammed and his partner took refuge in the cave during the flight from Mecca, and Allah raised miraculously at the entrance to the cave tree. Looking into the cave and seeing that the entrance to it is tightened with cobwebs and that the dove laid eggs there, the pursuers decided that no one had entered there long ago, and passed by.

Unification of religions?

Perhaps Pushkin's poem "Imitation of the Koran" is difficult to interpret for the reason that the poet introduced into the work of the legend, not only from the Koran, but also from the Old Testament. Pushkin respected all religions. The words about the "zeal of gonion" make one remember another pursuit - the persecution of the Egyptian pharaoh Moses and his tribesmen during the exodus from Egypt.

It is possible that in the creation of his poem Pushkin had in mind the Biblical narrative of the passage through the Red Sea, identifying the prophet Mohammed with the prophet Moses. The grounds for such identification are already laid down in the Quran, where Moses was bred as the forerunner of Mohammed: Allah constantly reminds Mohammed of his great predecessor, his first prophet - Moses. It is no coincidence that it is to the book "Exodus", in which the deeds of Moses are described, that most of the stories borrowed from the Bible in the Koran come up.

Analysis of the third quatrain

The first lines of this quatrain researchers correlated with verse 11 of chapter 8 of the Qur'an: "Do not forget ... how did he bring water from heaven to wash you, that he might be cleansed and be delivered from the wickedness of the devil." However, Pushkin is talking about quenching thirst, and not about purification, about "desert waters," and not about water sent from heaven.

Perhaps Pushkin hinted at another legend: how once on the road between Medina and Damascus Mohammed could barely scoop up a bucket of water from the drying creek, but, pouring it back, turned it into a plentiful source, watering the whole army. But in the Quran this episode is absent. Therefore, a number of researchers compared the first lines of the third verse with the well-known biblical account of how Moses gave people drinkers who were exhausted from thirst in the desert, striking a rod on a stone from which he had hammered a source of water, for God had so commanded him. In the Qur'an, this episode is mentioned twice (chapters 2 and 7).

And yet - the Bible?

Let's return to the prehistory. What did Pushkin want? "Imitation of the Koran" was born in disputes with the landowner Osipova about the influence of religion on the minds of people. The poet in a poetic form expressed his point of view. Perhaps Pushkin took into account that Osipova closer biblical stories, or it seemed to him interesting to combine several religions or show that all religions are inherently similar.

It is known that it was during the work on the cycle "Imitation of the Koran" that Pushkin had a need to address the Bible. "I work for the glory of the Koran," Pushkin wrote to his brother in a letter that dates from the first of November 1824. A little later, at the beginning of the 20th of November, he asked his brother to send him a book: "The Bible, the Bible! And French certainly. " Apparently, working on the cycle, Pushkin was carried away by both Muslim and biblical motives.

Conclusion

The admirers of poetry are inspired by Pushkin's lyrics, verses about trembling love and colorful nature. But Pushkin, first of all, a citizen, a philosopher, a thinker. A fighter with injustice, tyranny, oppression. The work "Imitation of the Koran" is filled with the spirit of freedom, with the call "Rise, timid!"