Mufti Notebooks: Two ǧung Manuscripts from Late Nineteenth-Century Bukhara

Ğung manuscripts from Muslim Central Asia are comparatively numerous, but have not, as yet, been studied in sufficient numbers. In this contribution, two such manuscripts are presented, the thesis being that ğung manuscripts differ strongly among themselves. The two under scrutiny here are personal notebooks containing a great deal of legal content (due to their compilers being active in the judiciary), but many other texts and notes. The latter content refers to the professional and social activities of muftis and qadis outside the judiciary. These and many other ğung manuscripts contain compilations of legal texts, excerpts, quotes, and drafts of original documents, but these collections have been made within notebooks and thus in manuscripts written in the compiler's own hand and for his own use.