Cultural, Social, and Community Psychology

Intercultural Transmission and Psycho-Cultural Reception of Qissa-i Jumjuma across Islamic Literary Traditions: A Comparative Study

https://doi.org/10.61838/ijbmc.v13i8.1690
Islamic Literature Intercultural Transmission Cultural Memory Religious Narrative Reception Studies

Authors

  • Zhylbek S. Kerimbek PhD, Senior Lecturer, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
  • Alibek S. Shegebay PhD Student, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
  • Akzharkyn T. Abuova PhD, Senior Lecturer, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
  • Zhanar Suinzhanova
    suinzhanova.zhanar@proton.me
    Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Lecturer, Ahmet Yesevi University, Faculty of Philology, Turkestan, Kazakhstan.
  • Nazgul A. Ryskulova Master, Senior Lecturer, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Institute of Sorbonne-Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
  • Toktar Kerimbekov PhD, Senior Lecturer, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Vol. 13 No. 8 (2026): August
Qualitative Study(ies)

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Objective: This study aimed to examine the intercultural transmission and psycho-cultural reception of Qissa-i Jumjuma across Arabic, Persian-attributed, Turkic, Kazakh, Pamiri, and Southeast Asian literary traditions, focusing on narrative continuity, local adaptation, and cultural meaning-making.

Methods and Materials: A qualitative comparative literary design was employed, combining historical-literary contextualization, motif-based textual comparison, reception history, and source criticism. The corpus consisted of published texts, translations, manuscript studies, and documented performance materials. Nine focal version clusters were selected as analytical anchors, including Arabic, Persian-attributed, Turkic, Kazakh, Pamiri, and Southeast Asian traditions. Comparative analysis focused on narrative structure, encounter scenes, identity of the skull, representations of kingship, causes of punishment, eschatological imagery, literary form, and evidence of audience reception.

Findings: The analysis demonstrated substantial continuity in the narrative structure: Jesus encounters a skull, divine permission restores speech, a former ruler recounts death and punishment, and the story transforms eschatological fear into moral instruction. However, local traditions modified settings, royal imagery, infernal descriptions, literary forms, and performance styles. Kazakh/Turkic versions emphasized rhythmic repetition, direct exhortation, and communal recitation, while Malay versions expanded courtly imagery and royal spectacle. The evidence did not support a direct-copy relationship between Turkic traditions and the Persian text attributed to Attar; instead, a model of shared and multiply mediated transmission was more consistent with the available evidence.

Conclusion: Qissa-i Jumjuma represents a transregional narrative tradition whose durability resulted from the interaction of textual mobility, cultural adaptation, collective memory, and affective reception.