Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims

sometimes mutually exclusive versions, the most credible are the fol-

lowing ones: the first mosque built by Prophet Muhammad in the

vicinity of Holy Mecca was named Quba. No less interesting is the

name Bade Firuz-Qubad given to the Azerbaijani ruler Anushirvan

in the area of today’s Guba back in the 10

century A.D. The cita-

del was named after the Sassanid King Qubad I. According to Sarah

Ashurbeyli, a recognized Azerbaijani historian, “it was mentioned by

the Arabic historian Mas’udi (943 A.D.) who wrote: ‘there is a lot of

reports…regarding magnificent constructions erected by Qubad ibn

Firuz, father of Hisra Anushirvan, in the location known as Maskat,

which present a city built of fine stone’. Speaking of Maskat, what the

author presumably means is the area of Guba and the town of Firuz-

Qubad, i.e. the modern Guba, a town named after the Sassanid King

Qubad I, son of Firuz (488-531)”. Linking these two facts together,

S.Ashurbeyli assumes that the very name Quba is related to the to-

ponyms imported into the area by the Arabic tribes from the town of

Quba, nearby Medina, upon the conquest of territories of Azerbaijan

and Dagestan back in the 7

century A.D. According to her, “the vast

range of the toponym’s dissemination all over the areas overtaken by

the Arabic Caliphate is supportive of this assumption together with

the following description of the town of Guba left by Zeyn al-Abidin

Shirvani (19

century): “In old times, an Arabic tribe moved to Guba

and settled there”. Upon coming across the name sounding similar to

ma town in the vicinity of Arabic Medina, they started calling it Quba,

exactly like in case with Maskat”. (4)

According to other versions explain place names with element

guba or quva known back in the 12

century were prevalent all over

the territory of contemporary Azerbaijan, as well as North Caucasus,

Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan and Altay area indicating an

ethnic name of Turkic origin. E.g. a well-known Kyrghyz tribe named

kuba is believed to be of the Kypchak origin. (5)

As of the 12

century, name Guba is found in a number of Arabic

sources. E.g.

Geographic Dictionary

by Hamawi (13

century) men-

tions a town named

Qubba

, whereas archives of the Safavi Dynasty

(16

century) provide affluent information regarding the area called

Gubba, also mentioned as Gubbe in some other sources.

It is generally believed that the town of Guba was founded in

the 14

century.