When Allah Almighty wanted to create Adam, he said to Gabriel – peace be upon him – “Bring the surface (adīm) from the earth. When the angel came to the earth and began to gather the surface, the earth asked him with a mimic language: “What are you doing? Gabriel described to her the course of the matter. The earth adjured him by Almighty Allah, saying, “Take not from me; for in the future, of the children of Adam, after they have multiplied, which shall be disbelievers, which shall disobey Him, which shall be hard-hearted, which shall be sinners; for this the Almighty will punish them, and I shall have no strength to bear the wrath and punishment of the Almighty.” Gabriel left the surface, returned to Allah Almighty and told him the words of the earth. Then Allah sent Michael – peace be upon him – but he too returned and narrated the same words. Then He sent Israfil, peace be upon him, and he returned saying that he also heard. Finally Allah sent Azrael (peace be upon him) and the earth began to afflict him with incantations, but Azrael said, “The command of Allah is higher than yours: “Allah’s command is higher than your supplications and incantations”, and took the surface (adīm) from the place of the earth where the Kaaba stands today. For this reason, Allah instructed Azrael to take the souls out of man. Thereupon Allah Almighty, by His Almighty Word, made a dough from the surface dough of the earth and formed the image of a man and placed it between Mecca and Taif; and this lasted for thirty-nine days. On the fortieth day God gave him a soul. The fact that Iblis, from the Greek word for devil, did not worship Adam, and that Adam went to Paradise and returned from there to this world, do I need to recount? It is clearer than the moon and brighter than the sun.
After Adam had lived in this world for a thousand years, he passed on to that world. The word Adam is an Arabic word. The Arabs call the surface of the earth adim; Azrael did not get his fingernails from within the earth but from its surface, hence the name Adam was given to him. His nickname is Safi-ullah (“pure God-fearing”). Adam had forty thousand children when he died. When he died, he put his son Seth in his place.
The Almighty made Seth, Adam’s messenger, his prophet. After he had lived nine hundred and twelve years, he entered the kingdom of heaven. The name Seth means “gift of God”, hence his nickname was Gibyat-ullah. Moreover, at his death he put his son Enos in his place.
Enos, who fulfilled the law of his grandfather Adam, lived to be nine hundred and twelve years old. The name Enos means truthful, so he is called Sadiq. When he died, he put his son Kainan in his place and gave him many advices and commands.
Kainan walked in his father’s footsteps for eight hundred and forty years and then, leaving his son Malelel behind, went over to God.
Under Maleleil, the sons of men multiplied. Maleleiel founded a city in the land of Babylon and called it Susa. He taught how to build houses and establish villages. Before him they did not build houses, but lived in the mountains and caves; and he advised the people to settle in the land and to sow bread and build villages wherever they found good land, which the people did. Maleleil, after living nine hundred and twenty years in this world, passed on to another world. When he died, he put his son Jared in his place.
After Jared had lived nine hundred and sixty years, he put his son Enoch in his place and went on to succeed his father.
The name Enoch is a Syriac word. The Arabs express their knowledge in faith, philosophy and healing with the word dars, which is why they call him Idris (“many-knowing”). The Most High appointed him a prophet for his contemporaries: For eighty-two years he was a prophet and set the people on the right path. Then Azrael came at God’s command and took Idris, peace be upon him, on his wings and carried him to Paradise; from that day to this he is in Paradise.
And when Idris went to Paradise, his son Methuselah succeeded his father and dedicated himself to the cause of justice. The years of his life are not known. After many years, he put his son Lamech in his place and passed on to eternal life.
Lamech also lived many years in the world, but the number of years of his life is not known; at his death he put his son Noah in his place.
When Noah was two hundred and fifty years old, Allah chose him as a prophet and sent him to the people of his time: for seven hundred years he persuaded the people to accept the religion; only eighty men and women believed. For seven hundred years he came to the people of peace and said, “Believe in God; but none believed except these eighty men. Noah was very angry with the unbelieving people and prayed to Allah for their destruction. The archangel Gabriel appeared to him and said: ‘Almighty Allah has heard your prayer, he wanted to drown all the people on earth with water at that time. Allah ordered the construction of the ark and taught how to build it. Prophet Noah, together with those who believed in him, built the ark. Then water came out of the earth and rain fell from the sky. Prophet Noah took a pair of all the winged birds and animals that walk on their feet, and together with those who believed, they entered the ark; and everything that lives on the earth sank into the water. Finally, at the command of the Most High God, the earth took on water, and the ark stopped on Mount Judah in the land of Syria near the city of Mosul. They entered the ark on the first day of the month Rajab, and on the tenth day of the month Moharrem, after six months and ten days, they left the ark. They lived at the foot of the mountain. They all became ill: Noah the Prophet and his wives, his three sons and his three daughters-in-law became well, and the rest of the people returned to the mercy of Allah.
And Noah the Prophet sent his three sons into the land, each in his own way; and he sent his son Ham into Hindustan, and his son Sim into Iran, and his son Japheth into the north country, and said to them all: Except you three there is none left of the seed of Adam; therefore ye three shall inhabit the three countries of the earth; when your generations have multiplied, then each of you shall inhabit his own land.
Some call Japheth a prophet, others say he was not a prophet. Japheth went over to the banks of Idil and Yaik at his father’s command (from the mountains of Judah), lived there two hundred and fifty years and died. He had eight sons and his descendants are numerous. These are the names of his sons: Turk, Hazar, Saclab, Rus, Ming, Chin, Kaimari, Tarikh. Japheth, who put Turk, the eldest son, in his place, said to the other sons: You shall acknowledge Turk as ruler and obey him.
Turk was predominantly called Japhet. He was an educated and wise man. When he went exploring after his father, he liked one of the lands very much and settled there: this land is now called Issig-Kül. He invented the construction of entertaining dwellings. Some of the customs existing in the Turkic tribe have survived since his time. Turk had four sons: the first Tutuk, the second Hakyal, the third Bersajar and the fourth Amlak. When Turk died, he made Tutuk ruler and set out on a long journey himself.
Tutuk was a great king, wise and rich; he introduced many customs into the life of the Turks. He may have been a contemporary of Keumurs, the first Persian ruler. One day he went hunting and caught a wild goat; when he had roasted and eaten it, a piece fell out of his hand on the ground; when he picked it up and began to eat, he felt something pleasant in his mouth; and this was because there was salt in the place where the food was prepared. So Tutuk began to salt his food, and with him began the use of salt. After he had lived two hundred and forty years, he put his son Ilcha-khan in his place and moved to the city from which, it is said, no one returns who enters it.
Ilcha-khan ruled for many years; after drinking and living, he succeeded his father and left his place to his son Dib-bakui-khan after his death.
Dib-bakuy, in whose name the word means either a lower place, or Bakuy, the eldest of the people, was also ruler for many years: he saw the smiles of friends, he saw the tears of enemies, and after a happy and long reign he left his place to his son Kiyuk-han and went to a city from which no one returns who goes there.
After Kiyuk-khan ascended his father’s throne, he performed righteous deeds for a few years, and after installing his son Alancha-khan in his power, he went to the land where all men go.
Alancha Khan ruled the region for many years. Since the time of Noah – peace be upon him! – Before the time of Alancha Khan, all the descendants of Japheth were Muslims; under Alancha, the yurt improved, people became richer; but an Uzbek proverb says: a dog, when it gets fat, bites its master. When a loved one died, his son or daughter or brother made a statue resembling him and set it up in his house, saying, “This is so-and-so of our countrymen; for love of him they set the first part of their meal before the statue, kissed it, rubbed ointments over his face and eyes, and bowed down to it. Idolatry has arisen from such lost acts.
Alancha Khan had two twin sons: the elder was called Tatar, the younger Mongol. When Alancha Khan grew old, he divided his properties among his sons. Both brothers spent their lives in prosperity and happiness and did not do anything bad to each other. If Allah wills it, we will speak first of the Tatars and then of the Mongols.
Tatar Khan and his seven successors.
Tatar Khan, who ruled for many years, died. His son Buka-khan took his father’s place, ruled for many years and died. After him, Ilindcha-khan took his father’s place and died after ruling the country for several years. His son Atlii-khan, who was appointed ruler after his father, lived in pleasures and amusements for several years and succeeded his father. His son Atsiz-khan, who had taken his father’s place, spent some years in wars with enemies and hunting animals, and then succeeded his father. Then his son Orda-khan, who became the ruler, drank wine and koumiz in the course of some years, sewed clothes from the Chinese lump, and through the deep waters of death followed his father. After him ruled his son Baidu-khan, who was autocratic for several years.
From the time when Mongols and Tatars were rulers until the time of Baidu, there was no enmity between these peoples. The descendants of the Mongol Khan ruled over their people; the descendants of the Tatar Khan ruled over their people. Baidu was an unwise, reckless young man: he was at enmity with the Mongol Khan’s descendants and began to plunder their possessions, but then death came and seized him at the gate and went after his father.
After that, Suyunch Khan took his father’s place; under Suyunch Khan, the fire of enmity between the Mongol and Tatar peoples flared up so strongly that it could not be extinguished even if water from the river Amu was poured on it. The Mongols have always remained the victors. If it pleases God, we will retell the deeds of Suyunuch Khan after the history of the Mongols.
