Baba tukles

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Contents 1 Background Information 2 Origin of the Name Baba Tukles 3 Summary of the Conversion Tale 4 References

[edit] Background Information

In the early portion of the 1250’s Franciscan monk William Rubruck embarked on a Christian crusade through the “lands of the Mongol khan Batu in what was to become known as the Golden Horde” ^[1]. The goal of this campaign was simple: he would attempt to convert the people of this region to Christianity ^[2]. However, suspecting that these people would be comprised largely of nonreligious people, he presumed that his crusade would be easily won. However, in 1253, William Rubruck remarked that while in the “Golden Horde,” he “encountered Muslims where he may well not have expected” ^[3]. At one portion of his trip through the area of the “Bulghars of the Volga,” William Rubruck stated that these people “are the very worst kind of Saracens, clinging more firmly to the law of Mohammed than any others” ^[4]. Questioning how these Islamic practices had spread to this region, the Missionary wondered “what devil carried the law of Machomet there” ^[5]. Through his book Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde, author Devin DeWeese has been the first to claim that his “devil” is most likely the mysterious figure of Baba Tukles.

Baba Tukles was the leading character in a popular conversion tale found in the area of Central Asia commonly referred to as the Golden Horde. This conversion tale is thought to have brought the Islamic religion to this area ^[6].

[edit] Origin of the Name Baba Tukles

The prefix “Baba” was a common “Turkic honorific applied to Sufi saints and other holy personages” ^[7]. “Baba” also meant “grandfather” or “old man” ^[8].

In Otemish Hajji’s account of the story, the audience is given an explanation for the second part of this figure’s name: Tukles. The story states that this man was called Baba Tukles because “all of his limbs were covered with body hair (tuk)” ^[9]. It is thought that “tu” was “the older form of the word for ‘body hair,’” and “tu appears to have been superseded by the form tuk” ^[10].

[edit] Summary of the Conversion Tale

This particular summary is centered around Otemish Hajji’s Account of The Story of Ozbek Khan’s Conversion to Islam ^[11].

The conversion tale opens up with the scene of Ozbek Khan and his other non-believers during a worship ceremony. These men are preparing a “kumiss vessel and pitchers” ^[12]. One day, during the worship, the men were not able to drink the mixture of honey and milk. One of the shaykhs thought that is was because a “[[Muhammad[an]]] has come near, and this is his sign” ^[13]. Ozbek then sends out the men to go find any Muslim in his “royal reserve” ^[14].

When the men return, they bring with them four Muslims who had been waiting outside the royal reserves ^[15].When asked of their purpose, the men said that “We are Muhammadans, and we have come by the command of God most high in order to make you a Muslim” ^[16].

At this declaration, Ozbek’s shaykhs cry out “These are bad people; one should kill them rather than speak [with them]” ^[17]. However, Ozbek disagrees with their plan and declared that “I have no cause for alarm from any of you. Whoever’s religion may be true, I will be with him” ^[18]. After the two sides (the Muhammadans and the shaykhs) discussed it, they came up with a plan. “They would dig two oven pits and fire up each one with ten cartloads of tamarisk [wood]; one person from among the sorcerers would enter one oven, and one person from among these [saints] would enter the other oven. ‘Whoever emerges without being burned, his religion will be true'” ^[19].

Baba Tukles was selected from among the Muhammadans, and he entered into the oven along with one of the shaykhs. After the two men had been in the fire for a long time, those watching went to retrieve what was left of the men who had gone into the fire. Obviously, the shaykh did not survive the fire’s rage. However, it is claimed that when they released Baba Tukles, it was “by the power of God most high (that) not a hair of the Baba’s body was burned” ^[20]. After witnessing this tremendous event, those watching “at once grasped hold of the hems of the shaykhs’ [garments] and became Muslims; praise be to God for the religion of Islam!” ^[21].

After witnessing this event, “the great Ozbek Khan became a Muslim, and since then the Islam of the Ozbek nation has not wavered” ^[22].

[edit] References