April 2, 2026 is the 60th birthday anniversary of Alexey Alexandrovich Khismatulin, Candidate of Sciences in History, Leading Researcher at the Department of Middle and Near Eastern Studies, specialist in Iranian studies, Islamic studies, Sufism and medieval Persian literature.

Being a master of sports and a member of the USSR national swimming team, Alexey A. Khismatulin left his sports career in 1984 and began studying at the Department of the Near East (Afghanistan History section) of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Leningrad/Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1991 with honours.

From 1991 to 1995 Alexey A. Khismatulin was doing his postgraduate studies at the Saint Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS (at present, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS). Supervised by outstanding scholars of Oriental studies, Oleg F. Akimushkin (1929–2010) and Stanislav M. Prozorov, he prepared his Candidate of Sciences in History (PhD) dissertation on the topic “Pragmatic Sufism of the Naqshbandi Brotherhood (Based on Persian Written Sources from the 12th–16th Centuries)” [Прагматический суфизм в братстве Накшбандийа (на основе персидских письменных источников XII—XVI вв.)] and defended it successfully in 1997.

Since 1997 he has been diligently working at the Sector of Middle Eastern Studies (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, IOM RAS), gradually advancing in his career from Junior Researcher to Leading Researcher, and making important contributions to Russian Oriental studies.

Alexey A. Khismatulin is a recognized expert on Islamic mysticism in Central Asia, Central Asian and Iranian mediaeval historiography and source criticism, Muslim textology and translation theory. His research focuses on Persian written sources and critical analysis of didactic literature of the Saljuqid period.

Alexey A. Khismatulin is the author of more than 50 research works, including fundamental monographs and translations of classical texts. In 1996 he published the monograph “Sufi Ritual Practices (A Case Study of the Naqshbandi Brotherhood)” [Суфийская ритуальная практика. (На примере братства Накшбандийа)] and in 1999 the monograph “Sufism” [Суфизм] (“Oriental Studies in Saint Petersburg” [Петербургское Востоковедение] Publishing Company), which was reissued several times and acknowledged as an important contribution to Russian Islamic studies. A special place among scholarly publications by Alexey A. Khismatulin is taken by his Persian-to-Russian translations of works by outstanding thinkers and poets, including “Kimiya-yi Sa'adat” (The Elixir of Happiness) by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and “Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi” by Jalal al-Din Rumi.

Alexey A. Khismatulin is a supervisor of several scholarly projects. He prepared an anthology of translated theological treatises and lives of Sufi sheikhs of the 14th–15th centuries entitled “The Wisdom of the Sufis: Shihab al-Din, Muhammad Parsa, Mahdum-i A’zam” [Мудрость суфиев. Шихаб ад-Дин, Мухаммад Парса, Махдум-и Аʻзам] (2001), dedicated to his teacher O.F. Akimushkin. As a token of profound respect to his teachers, he created the indexes for the multivolume encyclopedic dictionary “Islam on the territory of the former Russian Empire” [Ислам на территории бывшей Российской Империи], a largescale project initiated and carried out under supervision of S.M. Prozorov.

A.A. Khismatulin is the author of the book series “Didactic literature of the Saljuqid period in Persian: originals and forgeries” [Назидательная литература эпохи Салджукидов на персидском языке: оригиналы и подделки] which consists of four books published in 2017, 2020, 2024 and 2025. These fundamental studies offer critical analysis of medieval Persian texts and discuss the issue of distinguishing genuine works from later forgeries and compilations. For the first two books in this series, “The Works of Imam al-Ghazali” [Сочинения имама ал-Газали] and “Amir Mu'izzi Nishapuri. The Siyasat-nama/Siyar al-muluk” [Амир Муʻиззи Нишапури. Сийасат-нама/Сийар ал-мулук], in 2021 A.A. Khismatulin received a prestigious award at the 12th International Farabi Festival for humanities and Islamic studies (Iran) which recognized his contribution to international Oriental studies.

A.A. Khismatulin generously shares his deep knowledge and rich experience with young researchers of our Institute, offering them invaluable help in mastering complicated texts, research methodology and intricacies of working with Persian manuscripts. His guidance and readiness to help have earned A.A. Khismatulin the sincere respect and gratitude of his colleagues.

We would like to thank Alexey Alexandrovich Khismatulin for many years of diligent work and significant contributions to the development of Russian Oriental studies.

Irina F. Popova, Corresponding member of the RAS, Doctor of Sciences in History
Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS