Draft:Ajziy

Ajziy (real name is Saidahmad Hasanxoja ogli Siddiqiy) (Uzbek. Siddiqiy Ajziy / Saidahmad Ҳasankhauja ўghli Siddiqiy; born 1864, Halvoyi kishlak, near Samarkand, Bukhara Emirate; died 1927, Samarkand, Uzbek SSR, USSR) was a Central Asian, Uzbek and Soviet traveller, writer, polyglot translator and jadidist.

Biography
Saidahmad Hasanxoja ogli Siddiqiy was born in 1864 in the kishlak of Halvoyi, near Samarkand, Bukhara Emirate, into a poor family. He was orphaned as a child but continued to study at the local Madrasa. He was brought up by his grandfather and aunt. Later he worked with watchmakers. After growing up a bit, he went to Bukhara to study in a large Madrasa. After two or three years, he stopped his education in the Bukhara Madrasa and worked in various jobs, including as a scribe for Qadi.

In 1901 Siddiqiy sold the house and land he inherited from his father and used the proceeds to travel with a caravan to the holy Hajj in Mecca. After performing the Hajj, Siddiqiy began travelling and visited cities and countries in the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Siddiqiy also travelled to the Caucasus, cities in the Russian Empire, including Baku, Tiflis, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod. After a long journey, he returned to Central Asia. In 1900 he worked as a translator at the Russian Empire's embassy in Jeddah.

During his journey, he met the Jadidists of Transcaucasia in Baku and on his return home he and another Jadidist Ishoqxon Ibrat founded a school with a new method of teaching in the kishlak of Halvoyi near Samarkand. The school which was founded by them has been preserved till nowadays. The school works till now and it is named in honour of Siddiqiy Ajziy. In December 1913, the Imam of Ulugh Beg Madrasah called them for censure and wanted to kill them for blasphemy.

Siddiqiy Ajziy was fluent in Uzbek, Tajik, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Azerbaijani. Later he learnt Russian language to perfection as well. He translated the works of great writers, such us Turgenev and poets into the languages he knew. In particular, in 1908–1910 he translated into Uzbek and Tajik the works of Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Krylov's fables and Nikolai Gogol's story "The Overcoat".

Siddiqiy Ajziy also developed special textbooks for schools in Central Asia. In the 1880s he began to write poetry, among them such collections of poems as: "„Ayn ul-adab“" (Source of Ethics) and "Ganjinai hikmat" (Treasure of Proverbs). In 1912, his dastan "Anjumani arvoh" (Collection of Spirits), was published, and in 1914, his dastan "Mir’oti ibrat" (Mirror of Imitation). The dastan "„Mir’oti ibrat" narrates the problems and tragic state of Turkestan, as well as thoughts about preventing these problems in reality. In particular it states: Science and knowledge, state, language, law – without these things no nation has a future, the fate of a nation that lacks these four things is doom.

(Илм-фан, давлат, тил, қонун — буларсиз ҳеч бир миллатнинг истиқболи йўқ, бу тўрт нарсани қўлга киритмаган миллат ҳалокатга маҳкумдир.) Many of his stories, dastans and poems have been translated into Turkish, Azerbaijani, Persian and other languages. In his works, Ajziy tried to involve people in the universal spiritual maturation, criticised the uniform regime in the Bukhara Emirate, and criticised the Soviet authorities for their disrespect of the local peoples and customs of Central Asia. In 1914, Ajziy opened the bookshop  "Zarafshon" in Samarkand and sold books from different historical eras, which were written in Persian, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkish, Russian and other languages.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Ajziy began to participate in the people's movement. In 1918–1921 he worked as a commissar in the Samarkand regional court. In 1922, he rejected all government positions and returned to his former job and was a school teacher. Later, he was actively involved in founding the satirical magazines "Mashrab" and "Mulla Mushfiqiy", as well as the newspaper "Zarafshon" in Uzbek and Tajik. Especially for these magazines and newspapers he wrote satirical stories, such as: "Mayna", "Ginagina", "Shashpar", "Tir", "Gumnom" and "Olmos". These satirical novels contained explicit allusions to the existing regime and fears of its consequences. During the 1920s, Ajziy became one of key figures in education and culture.

In the winter of 1926 Ajziy became seriously ill and died soon after in Samarkand in July 1927.