1000 Manat Ruhnama - The second book

Ruhnama — "Book of the Soul" — was written by Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan's self-styled president-for-life who ruled under the title Turkmenbashi. He declared it a sacred text equal to the Quran, mandated its study for school examinations, driving tests, and civil service appointments, and had it projected onto mosques by laser. This coin commemorates the second volume, published in 2004. Niyazov died in December 2006, the same year of issue, rendering both the cult and its coinage artifacts of one of the more extreme personality cults of the post-Soviet period.