The Historical and Cultural Factors in The Development of Religious-Educational Narratives

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical and cultural factors that influenced the formation of the religious-educational prose narrative genre in classical Uzbek literature. The study examines five principal factors that gave rise to this genre: the influence of Islam and Quranic teachings, the traditions of oral folk literature, the spread of Sufi doctrine, socio-moral and educational needs of society, and the impact of Eastern literary traditions. The article elaborates on the lexical and literary meanings of the term qissa, the historical roots of the genre, and the pivotal role of Nasiriddin Rabghuziy's Qisas ul-Anbiya in the development of religious-educational narrative prose. The findings demonstrate that religious-educational narrative fiction emerged as a product of the interplay between Islamic doctrine, Quranic narratives, oral folk tradition, Sufi teaching, and classical Eastern literary conventions, and that it served as an indispensable medium for elevating public morality, providing ethical instruction, and transmitting the national spiritual heritage across generations.