THE SOURCES THAT INSPIRED MAGTYMGULY

When you thoroughly study Magtymguly Pyragy’s work scientifically, you realize that the works of the master of the word are connected with the social life of his time and Islamic teachings. The poet’s work originates from the inexhaustible literary treasure of Eastern literature. Magtymguly turned famous figures of the East, prophets into literary heroes of his works. More specifically, the great thinker improved his works by enriching them in terms of content and artistry by referring to the famous people of the East. But if we find that Pyragy’s choice of famous personalities as literary heroes is because the poet used them only as an artistic means to perfect his works. It would be more appropriate if we look for the main reason why the Thinker turned the famous personalities of the East into literary heroes, because the Turkmen had become a vanguard people among the peoples of the East until that time. Therefore, there is a need to study the great thinker Magtymguly’s inseparable connection with Eastern literature by dividing it into different topics. Pyragy made very appropriate use of the content and philosophy of the works, which consist of a set of legends about the lives of prophets and famous personalities known from “Kissasyl-enbiya” in Eastern literature. In the East, until the 18th century, several authors wrote works under the name “Kissasyl-enbiya”. Although several people wrote the work “Kissasyl-enbiya”, the events described in those works were often similar. Although the historical events described by the authors who wrote “Kissasyl-enbiya” are similar in many respects, the authors who wrote this work, when describing the lives of prophets and famous personalities, commented on the events in accordance with the worldview of their people and added their personal views. Therefore, the description of each “Kissasyl-enbiya” work is different from each other.

Magtymguly Pyragy affirms that his literary legacy is connected with his work called “Kissasyl-enbiya” in the poem “Atly, ýaranlar” dedicated to Prophet Yusuf.

Depderler içinde bir kitap gördüm,

       “Kasasyl-enbiýa” atly, ýaranlar… [3, 24.]

 Magtymguly mastered the work “Kissasyl-enbiya” and skillfully described the events of this work in his poems. But what author’s work “Kissasyl-enbiya” was written by the master of words, which inspired him to write several other poems ” Atly, ýaranlar”, ” Ýusup diýe-diýe”, ” Arap tilli söwdügim” served as a source of information for him? The question naturally arises.

It should be noted that from the early Middle Ages until the time of Magtymguly, dozens of works called “Kissasyl-enbiya” (“Stories of the Prophets”) were written in Turkish, Arabic, and Persian languages. Some of the works are in the form of poetry, and they are written with a narrative. We should also mention that many of the plots of the work “Kissasyl-enbiya” are found in the folk tales and folk works of the Eastern peoples. In the East, one of the most famous of the Narratives is the Narratives of the Prophets by the medieval historian and writer Ibn Kathir. The famous scientist gave information about the life of the prophets in his work “Kissasyl-enbiya” and increased the popularity of the prophets among the people. Based on the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad and the verses of the Holy Qur’an, he strengthened the credibility of Ibn Kathir’s work “Kissasyl-anbiya”. In this work, the author brings legends describing the lives of a few prophets, but nevertheless, one can get a general idea about the teachings of the prophets, the works they completed, and the situations they experienced from the beginning from Ibn Kesir’s work “Kissasyl-enbiya”.

Ibn Kathir’s work “Kissasyl-enbiya” has been translated into several languages, including Russian. In this work of Ibn Kathir, the lives of about 30 prophets, their teachings and the importance of their actions, starting with Adam, are described in the Holy Quran.

Wahb ibn Munabbah (655-738 AD), a well-known theologian and muhaddithist (hadith collector), was one of the authors of the “Prophet Stories”, which gained great popularity in the Middle Ages in the East. The speaker was born in the city of Damar, Yemen, and spent most of his life as an imam in one of the mosques of the country’s capital, Sana’a, but later he also worked as a judge. Wahb ibn Munabbah’s descent is confirmed by many sources as being a descendant of Persian kings, and according to some sources, his father Munabbah converted to Islam during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Some of his contemporaries suggested that Wahb ibn Munabbah was a representative of the Jewish people because of his knowledge of the Jewish and Christian religions and various legends related to them. But medieval Eastern historians such as al-Nawawi and Ibn Khallikan did not confirm the Jewishness of this word master in their works. As scholars have pointed out, Ibn Munabbah wrote an important work called Kitab al-Israilyyat, in which he compiled the ancient legends and folklore of the Jewish people. According to our opinion, because Ibn Munabbah knew the traditions and folklore of the Jewish people well, the assumption about his Jewishness must have arisen. Even some scholars put forward the opinion that the first copy of the holy work “Zebur” written in imitation of the Holy Quran belongs to Munabba. [7, 332, 333 pp.] As far as we know, Ibn Munabbah’s works served as a valuable source for prominent medieval historians such as al-Tabari and Masudi. One such work is his work called “Kissasyl-enbiya”.

“Kissasyl-enbiya” by Ibn Munabbah has been translated into Tatar language, and about this publication on the first page of the book: ” Kissasyl-enbiya” written by Rabguzi, some errors of the book “Kissasyl-enbiya” written by Rabguzi have been corrected, edited. In particular, Mongolian words in the story of Prophets Harut, Marut and David were replaced by literary words of Tatars living in Kazan, and this work was translated [7, 5 p.]. The first chapter of the book is called “The Seven Layers of Sky”, and in this chapter, the color, characteristics and differences of the seven layers of the Sky are described. The second chapter of “Kissasyl-enbiya” is about angels and demons, detailed information is given about them, and the characteristics of angels and demons are revealed.

Ibn Munnabah’s “Kissasyl-enbiya” contains information about 50 prophets and their companions, prominent religious leaders and martyrs, starting from Adam.

One of the “Kissasyl-enbiyas” that has survived to this day belongs to Nasireddin Burhaneddin Rabguzy. Rabguzy writes this work on the order of Nasyreddin Tok Bugan, a beg of a province of Khorezm. Tok Buga orders Rabguz to collect stories about the prophet from various sources and write a book in a way that is understandable to the reader. Rabguzy is enthusiastic about this work.

Nasireddin Rabguzy’s work “Kisasy Rabguzy” consists of 72 stories (chapters), in which not only the life paths of the living prophets, but also the works of their companions, religious leaders who left an indelible mark on the Islamic religion, and important events are artistically described. In general, the works of “Kissasyl-enbiya” are a treasure of oriental literature, and this work was written by writers who are very famous among the people.

Magtymguly Pyragy’s “depderler içinde gören kitaby” is what kind of “Prophets”? Let’s go back to the natural question. None of the above-mentioned authors are mentioned in the poems of the great sage, as well as in the legends about him that have come down to our days. If this is the case, the book that Magtymguly is referring to is perhaps one of the “Kissasyl-enbiyas” that has not reached us until now and is unknown to us due to some reasons like Novai’s “Tarykhyl-enbiyas”? It could be. But when Pyragy’s work is carefully analyzed, one can find an artistic commentary on important events that describe the prophets’ life path or are only mentioned and alluded to (mysterious for the reader) in the work “Kisasy Rabguzy”. Moreover, if we take into account that there is no other work that can serve as a scientific reference except “Kisasy Rabguzy”, then the belief that Magtymguly is the author of the book called “Kissasyl-enbiya” is even stronger.

The life of religious representatives in the work “The Story of Rabguzi” by Nasireddin Rabguzi is described in a certain sequence through legendary stories. The author’s appropriate citation of the Qur’anic verses and the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad during the poem adds to the artistry of the work. At the same time, the references to holy scriptures in the mentioned work enriched the plot in terms of content and strengthened the clarity and impact of the expressed idea.

We have repeated the uniqueness of each of the works called “Kissasyl-enbiya” written by different authors at different times, but the following can be said about the commonalities of all “Kissasyl-enbiya” works. Regardless of the language in which the authors of this work wrote “Kissasyl-enbiya”, they used the same source – the Koran, Hadith and other holy books, inscriptions, legends about them among the people, they knew the mentioned works very well. What we have said is immediately proven when we examine the “Prophets”. Also, one of the main commonalities of “Kissasyl-enbiya” is that all the authors actively use the Qur’anic plots and information to describe the work of “Kissasyl-enbiya” from the perspective of Islamic teachings. The plots of the legends mentioned above in “Prophets’ stories” do not contradict the description of the events related to the prophets and personalities mentioned in the Qur’anic verses. Also, a certain idea advanced in the Qur’an through the image of each prophet, developed in the humanitarian appeal “Prophets” and found its artistic reflection in full.

The legends and stories in the works affect the mind and emotions of the reader, showing that their teaching and educational service is very high. For these reasons, our great thinker Magtymguly Pyragy also paid great respect to the works of “Kissasyl-enbiya” and read them appropriately from this work. Thus, Magtymguly is going to put forward a specific scientific opinion that the “book he saw in the notebooks” was the work of Nasyreddin Rabguzy “Kisasy Rabguzy”, which is more popular among the Turkic people, and put an end to our article.

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