Haljand Udam (May 8, 1936 – December 17, 2005) was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

orientalist and translator.

Early life and career

Udam was born in

Rakvere Rakvere is the administrative center, or county seat, of Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia, about 100 km southeast of Tallinn and 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Rakvere boasts a distinctive architectural feature: th ...

in 1936 and graduated from

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

university and

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

Initially specializing in

Indology Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

, he became interested in

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

alist philosophers like Guénon. In Moscow, Udam defended his

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

's thesis in 1971 (“On the Special Semantic Aspects of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

Terminology”). Udam has translated several works from

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

(

Ibn Tufail Ibn Ṭufayl ( – 1185) was an Arab Andalusian Muslim polymath: a writer, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, and vizier. As a philosopher and novelist, he is most famous for writing the first philosophical nov ...

(

Rudaki Rudaki (also spelled Rodaki; ; – 940/41) was a poet, singer, and musician who is regarded as the first major poet to write in New Persian. A court poet under the Samanids, he reportedly composed more than 180,000 verses, yet only a small p ...

, Saadi, Ali Safi),

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Tajik Tajik, Tajikistan or Tajikistani may refer to. Someone or something related to Tajikistan: Tajik * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik alphabet, Alphabet u ...

, and other languages into

...

, including

Omar Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) (Persian language, Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar ...

's Rubaiyat. He also worked as an editor and contributed to

Estonian Encyclopedia ''Estonian Encyclopaedia'' () is an Estonian encyclopaedia which was published from 1985 to 2007. From 1985 to 1990, its title was ''Eesti nõukogude entsüklopeedia'' (abbreviated ENE; English: Estonian Soviet Encyclopaedia) and thereafter its t ...

(''Eesti Entsüklopeedia''). Some of his articles on orientalism have also been published in foreign language magazines. Just before his death, Udam managed to finish the translation of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

into Estonian. It was published on 19 December 2007. Udam was also known as one of the few Estonian intellectuals who aligned with the

Conservative Revolution The Conservative Revolution (), also known as the German neoconservative movement (), or new nationalism (),; . was a German national-conservative and ultraconservative movement prominent in Weimar Republic, Germany and First Austrian Republic, ...

. Udam was the leading scholar of Islam in Estonia. He died in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 2005.

Footnotes

References

*''Haljand Udam in memoriam'' http://www.ekspress.ee/viewdoc/A99CF9B6F0552EC5C22570DD003C25C0 *''Haljand Udam - inimene kõrvalteelt'', Arter, April 22, 2000 https://web.archive.org/web/20080109084947/http://arhiiv2.postimees.ee:8080/leht/00/04/22e/lugu12.htm

Bibliography

*''Orienditeekond'', Tallinn 2001, (see a review http://20th-century-history-books.com/B0008DAQUI.html )

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070623230402/http://www.eao.ee/01tekstid/intervjuu_udam.html (Interview with Udam, in Estonian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Udam, Haljand 1936 births 2005 deaths Estonian academics Quran translators University of Tartu alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Estonian orientalists Translators to Estonian Translators from Arabic Translators from Persian Translators from Urdu 20th-century Estonian translators People from Rakvere Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 5th Class