2024-04-02 22:32:43
Booty Zahid
I am pleased to be one of the first readers of Jamil’s memoir, which he named “The Test of Time”. Of course, this could only be because the book is such a great literary event. I probably read all the notes of the people who read this book on social networks one by one, and I was a little happy for this success of the teacher. “I’m a little happy” can be a bit jealous expression, in fact I’m very happy.
If Mr. Jamil was not a historian, he would have been a writer, and this book has strengthened the opinion of many people. I also agree that it is so. But the teacher’s works on history are also written like novels: only there is no room for fantasy in these novels.
Then I remember that Jamil’s speech is the same. Also, not now, but when I listened to his lectures in the auditorium ten years ago, I thought that the teacher was teaching poetry. In a gentle voice, slowly, as if they were part of the historical stories he spoke, highlighting even the smallest details as important chronological facts… that is, with the claim that “there are no random or insignificant events in history”.
“In the test of time” is divided into two parts. The life of the teacher and scientist Jamil Hasanli and the stage before it: the environment in which a great Azerbaijani, a world-renowned historian, and a worthy politician grew up.
Let me tell you a secret. A strange idea came to my mind 20-25 years ago. I thought that during the Soviet period, the history of the Azerbaijani people and Azerbaijanis was not written, but mainly the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or distorted historical episodes were written and taught. I thought about writing the history of generations, villages, and tribes in Azerbaijan, and I knew that this is not a job that can be done by one person. I listened to stories about the history of Elat from my father and grandfather, from the old people on our side, about the relationships of families and generations with each other, their occupations, their cares in the fields and winters, the bloody events of the beginning of the last century, even the old people who witnessed the 37 .. the Azerbaijanis living in these stories… have not been taught and maybe not even written.
The first stage in “The Test of Time” is not only interesting as the stories of Jamil Hasanli, but also the stories of the people of that time. Mr. Jamil described that period in such a way that each character is prominent in the story – like the main image. Of course, when he wrote about that period – childhood, adolescence, youth, Mr. Jamil relied not on the documents under his hand, but on his memory. I don’t know what kind of documents could be there about those times? After 50-60 years have passed, it is difficult to remember the events of that period with such precision and vividness. But if you can turn old times into tradition as you get older, if you can remember the color of the shoes on your feet when you went to the first grade even after 50 years, this is not a memory phenomenon, but a chain of life stories. It is the responsibility of each day to be ready to report on the previous day. This period was very attractive for me. Reading and reading, I saw that we lived in the same “frequencies” with teacher Jamil… The same village life, meadows and winter fields, shepherds’ horses, kudru,… instead of the smartphones and the internet – books, which are not out of the hands of today’s high school children!
Of course, Jamil Hasanli, a scientist, public figure, and politician from “The Test of Time”, is also very close to me. I have known teacher Jamil since the 80s, and I can be considered one of the people who have a lot of information about his activities at the University and his social activities outside the university. Most of the events described in this part of the book are events that I have either been in, or that I have been able to learn about from somewhere nearby. But these events, this process is beautiful with the description of teacher Jamil. It’s like a movie. Writing the history of Azerbaijan’s struggle for independence, the history of the first days of independence with so much love, is creating a source for future generations. If Jamil didn’t do it, who would do it?!
But I think it was more difficult to write this part of the book. In the first period, people have not changed, it is a story of life, it flows, the calendar changes, there are no dramatic events that test the people of that period.
But the second period is very merciless, both events and processes are whirlwinds, and people are in tune with this time. Teacher Jamil writes history. To write the history of a harsh and cruel era, you have to rely on the documents passed through the stone. You can trust the people of the first era with a single word. The people of the second era are sometimes not deaf to sealed and signed certificates. But teacher Jamil writes with solid arguments. Courageously, most importantly, honestly, objectively, with a little bit of self-reflection, he describes all the people and processes. As if it splits the screen in two: on one side it is standing, and on the other side it understands the stories you are watching and the people watching you.
“The Test of Time” is like a photo album. You turn the pages one by one. God, who is gone and who is left? Who died, who didn’t die, who died alive, who died but still alive…
Perhaps I should have written these impressions earlier. But by this time I was reading what other people wrote.
Thanks, Teacher!