Various Islamic legends

Or, the Tales of Alexander, Solomon, Semiramis, Balkhis and their ilk . . .

A tale of Alexander the Great: near what is now Galata (a suburb of Constantinople) Alexander chained down a number of magicians and witches from the land of Gog and Magog, by piling mountains upon them. He ordered them to go to sea in brazen ships during the forty winter days, and to guard the waters surrounding the city of Constantinople. But these magicians carved a passage right through the mountains encircling the Black Sea, opening a mouth between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and creating the Bosphorus--and the rush of the waters flooding into the strait drowned them then and there. (From Evliya Celebi, a historian of ancient Istanbul.)

Legend of Elwund Mountain (south of the Caspian Sea) the Mount Orontes of Diodorus; a mountain rising twelve miles to a snowy summit, near which is a lovely valley perfumed by a thousand sweet-smelling flowers. Famed in the east for its mines, waters, and herbs. The Indians suppose that it contains the philosopher's stone; the people of nearby Hamadan say that some of its grasses have the property of transmuting base metals into gold, and these grasses also cure any illness known to man. The author observed upon this mountain, an inscription on a rock, called Gunj-Hauma, or history of the treasure; the local belief is that the writing is an account of a treasure buried nearby. "This inscription is in the same character as those at Tukti Jumsheed, Maudir i Solimane, and on the Babylonian bricks." (From Freya Stark, Valley of the Assassins.)

Legend of Semiramis: she left an inscription on Mount Bagistan in Media, saying that she had ascended from the plain to the summit of the mountain by laying the packs and fardles of the beasts that followed her one upon another. Here too she made a great garden, above which on the mountain she had carved her image surrounded by the images of a hundred of her guards. From Diodorus Siculus. (There are figures carved on Mount Bugistan, possibly Sassanian.)

Legend of the Assassin's fortress (Elburz Mountains). The lower parts of the castle are inaccessible without climbing shoes; there, legend says, seven black dogs guard Hasan-i-Sabbah's treasure; they breathe fire, but fly when challengers approach. (From Freya Stark, Valley of the Assassins)

Legend of the Throne of Solomon, Takht-i-Suleiman, a peak south of the Caspian and north-east of Elburz. This is the third highest peak in Persian, and the highest west of Demavend. The story has it that King Solomon, having married the Queen of Sheba, could in no wise contrive to make her love him. He was old and she was young, and though he tried every wile in vain, he failed to win her heart. At long last, he sent out the birds of the air, commanding them to tell him where was the coldest place in the world. Next morning at dawn all returned but the hoopoe, who remained absent all day ... but as dusk fell, he flew fainting into Solomon's throne room, and fell to the floor before the throne. He had found a summit so cold, he said, that when he alighted his wings were frozen to the ground; only when the midday sun melted him free could he come flying back. And the mountain he had found was the Throne of Solomon.

On this wintry peak, King Solomon built his bed, and took Belkeis the queen to live there with him. When the cold of night descended, she could not bear the pain, but crept into her husband's tent; come morning, the great king struck the rocky slope and a warm spring gushed out for her to bathe in.

The spring is the hot spring of Ab-i-Garm, the Queen of Sheba's bath. And so it remains to this day; pilgrims still go to the hot spring to be cured where Belkeis bathed. (From Freya Stark.)

Alternate version: long ago, great Solomon, wisest of kings, found himself burdened with more wives than even a sage among sages could endure. Thus he removed to live on Takht-i-Suleiman, the coldest place in the whole world. Every night, he sent for a different wife to share his bed; every morning, she would be left frozen like a statue, slain by the mountain air. Thus King Solomon managed his harem; and the nails and wooden fragments of his bed are still to be found, scattered over the summit of the mountain. (From Freya Stark)

Legend of Gessar Khan. This concerns a small half-ruined mausoleum in the Tsaidam salt-marsh, a place called Nomogon Khoto. In the days when Kesar Khan was at war with the Khan of Shiragol, the latter was helped by an invincible sorcerer, whose prayers were all-powerful. So Damdin, Kesar's guardian spirit, resented to the stratagem of sending two celestial crows to quarrel on the sorcerer's roof - distracting the latter so such, that he broke off his incantations. Thus Kesar was made able to attack the chapel, and the sorcerer was killed by the falling bricks. (From Tsybikof's Journey to Lhasa)

An Alexander legend, from Arabic sources: during his visit to the Foetid Sea at the uttermost ends of the Earth, Alexander built a tower with a pillar or stele upon which he carved a figure of himself wearing two horns upon his head, and holding a key (or trident?) in his right hand. Above his hand was engraved an inscription in Greek, saying, "Let whosoever cometh to this place with the intention of sailing over this sea know that I have locked it up, and behold the key is in my hand."

Legend of Alexander and the Dragon: Alexander and his army, marching across the ends of the earth, reached a lofty mountain but were warned by its dwellers: "O king, march no further, for on his mountain dwells a mighty god in the form of an immense serpent, which prevents anyone from going in to him." The dragon lived in a mountain overlooking the river. After the destruction of the monster, Alexander marched on to another mountain and another river. He was warned by the dwellers in that land not to approach the mountain "for there are mighty gods therein." He climbed the mountain, and discovered it to be made of crystal, and it shone with the brightness of silver; and there were many springs and cascades and rivulets of water on that mountain. He then founded a city upon the peak, calling it the 'Second Masqama' (Alexandria, Queen of the Mountain) at the uttermost end of the earth. Over its gate he set a large pillar, from the top of which the Ocean could be seen.

A Saharan legend of the Amazon kingdom: "In the Jami'-al-Hikayat it is related that on one side of this desert there is moving sand, across which is but a single road, and this road is only open one day in each week, namely on the Saturday. In the middle of these sands stands a city where all the inhabitants all women, and if a man should manage to get there, by the effect of the climate his manhood goes from him, and in a short time he dies. Among these women the act of generation is affected by means of a certain spring, in which when the woman has sat she becomes pregnant and bears a daughter. For if at any time a boy is born, he dies in childhood. .... Now, by the ordinance of God, these women feel no desire; and this to such a point that if a woman from there comes into our lands, and a man goes in unto her, she is greatly offended. After a time, however, our climate has its good effect, and she comes to have love for a man." The account goes on to claim that the city of women is an Utopia, where there is no private possession, disputes between people, station or rank. (From Hamdallah Mustawfi of Qazwin, Nuzhat al-qulub, 1340 AD, entry on the Maghrib desert.)

Account of the adventures of Uqba b. Nafi by the Arab historian Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam (a story strangely reminiscent of the Alexander Romances): the hero marches through the Fazzan, repeating the question to all the peoples he meets: "Does anyone live beyond you?" He halts at the Horse's Fount, where his dying companions are revived by his mare's discovery of hidden water in the sand ... in dire need of food and drink, an angel provides him with clusters of grapes to nourish his soldiers and their beasts. (There is also an echo of a Hercules legend: Hercules, thirsty after his labor to fetch the apples of the Hesperides guarded by the serpent-dragon Ladon, stamps his foot and causes a spring of water to gush forth. This same water later saved the lives of the Argonauts when they were cast on to the Libyan desert!) Finally, Uqba b. Nafi is seen driving his mare into the sea in the uttermost west, seeking yet remoter lands unconverted to Islam, that he might discover them and conquer.

Alexander "the two-horned conqueror" in Asia, discovered among the Huns that some of them had blue eyes, and their women had one breast apiece. Also among these peoples, who included Gog and Magog and who were imprisoned by Alexander beyond his great Gate, were dog-men and others. There were also Amazons or Martas, who had one breast like a man's and the other like a woman's; they lived on an island in a sea or river called Meznikos, where there was only one crossing-place. Their husbands lived on the other side of the water; once a year the couples met, and conceived their offspring. (The term 'two-horned conqueror' is Islamic shorthand for a militant king, a righteous king, a king who spreads the true faith; someone rather like Arthur of Britain.)

A 'two-horned' king who reached the Wadi 'l-Raml, 'the sandy river of the Sabbath'--the river in the furthest reaches of the desert, which ceased flowing only on Saturday--and, on that day, sent his commander to cross it with his companions. They never returned. As a record of this tragedy, the king had a statue set up on a rock, inscribed with the warning: "I am the king of Himyar, Yasir Yan'am al-Ya'fari; there is no way beyond the limit which I have attained. All who cross it, perish." (This same Yasir Yan'am was the husband of Balqis or Balkis, the Queen of Sheba, who herself was the sister of Shams, the Sun; her father was al-Hadhad, her mother was a jinn whom her father rescued when once she took the form of a gazelle.)

In another version of the same legend, beyond the river of sand is the copper city with its cupola of lead, called the city of the baht stone which drew men like a magnet--but those who dared enter this treasure-city were bewitched by the baht stone, and laughed madly as they hurled themselves off the city walls to their dooms. The two-horned one sends his wise commander across the river of sand, telling him to return after a week spent on the other side.

In a myth of Dionysus or Hercules, the latter is overcome by thirst crossing the desert; he invokes his father Zeus-Amon, who sends a ram who paws a water-hole in the sands. Alexander crossing the desert to the Siwa oasis is also lost, bereft of water; a divine rain-shower intervenes, after which the expedition is guided to its destination by two crows or a pair of serpents. Likewise in Arabic fables, it is a ram which guides the heroes to the hidden Saharan treasure-cities; these cities are perhaps echoes of the hidden city of Dionysus which no man could find twice.

The legend of the Gleaming Mountain: Arab mariners sailing to Sicily are blown off course and sail without compass for a whole month, after which they reach a great mountain in an unknown land. This mountain is inhabited only by half-naked negros, whose king speaks Arabic and welcomes them; he says that they were pagans, but a prophet named Abbas al-Khadir taught them to worship Allah. The name of the mountain is 'the Gleaming Mountain' and it is a trap, for its gleaming appearance is caused by masses of scitalis-like serpents, with scales of a blinding metallic gleam; those who climb it, die by the venom of the snakes. This black mountain looms over a sea called 'the Sea of Darkness' and its stones are evil lodestones, by means of which ships are wrecked--every nail of every plank being drawn forth by the mountain's virtue; and the name of the stone which pulls ships apart is the bahit stone, the irresistible human-magnet, that 'laughing stone' that lures all save God's chosen to destruction.

In the negro kingdom, the sailors are entertained in many ways, and finally taken to the beach, where they watch fisher-folk casting their nets; one fisher brings in a copper bottle sealed with Solomon's seal. When the bottle is opened, a giant jinni appears; the sailors are terrified, but the negroes think nothing of it; the king says that such bottles are often found.

When the grandson of one of these sailors tells his tale to the fifth Umayyad Caliph, the latter writes to the Arab governor of north-west Africa, commanding him to seek out and collect these Solomonic bottles. An expedition is mounted into the Sahara. It discovers the fabulous City of Brass, behind whose walls lie magical contraptions and dire enchantments; those who dare enter, burst into wild laughter and leap off the walls. Finally the survivors, still searching beyond the terrible city, stumble upon the beach and mountain and negro kingdom of the original tale. For three days they are entertained by the guests of the negro King, during which time divers bring bottles from the bottom of the sea; finally, in an exchange of gifts, the Amir who leads the expedition is given fishes in human form (ie dugongs?!) which make an even greater impression than the Solomonic bottles. Finally, bearing his gifts as proof, the expedition travels east to Damascus, the seat of the Caliph. (From Saharan Myth and Saga, by H T Norris.)

The legend of the Sulaiman mountain range, at or about the city of Kabul in Afghanistan. Its range is east of Quetta, overlooking the plain of the Indus. The highest peak (11,295 feet) is called Takht-i Sulaiman, Solomon's Throne; Battuta names it Kuh Sulaiman. Of this it is related, that the Prophet of God Sulaiman (peace be upon him) climbed this mountain and looked out over the land of India, which was then covered with darkness - but he turned back without descending into this new frontier, and left only the mountain which is named after him. (From ibn Battuta)

The legend of Solomon and the Angel of Death: a man, walking in the streets of Jerusalem, saw the Angel of Death staring at him in what he thought a significant way. He went to King Solomon for advice about this, and then decided to quit the vicinity, claiming that wherever that Angel was, he wanted to be as far away as possible; and he departed for distant India that very day. Now, the Angel himself used to come every now and then to visit the king, and when next he stopped by they spoke of this and that, and Solomon remarked:

"I would be obliged if, when you walk about in the streets of my city, you would take a little care to hide your face. My people are apt to recognize you, and your expression frightens them." And he told the Angel of the man who had been afraid.

"Indeed," said the Angel of Death, "I will remember and take more care. But as for that man, I was looking at him in surprise, astonished to see him here in Jerusalem--for I have been ordered to fetch him from India in three weeks' time." (From Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia.)

Tale told to Freya Stark in a garden in Hamadan, by the Mirza who was teaching her Persian (this tale is familiar across the East): men spoke, one day, in King Alexander's hall, and recounted the legend of the wells of life in the Lands of Darkness; and the King asked all where they lay. None could say, no one at all, till a stripling named Elias (a newcomer at Alexander's court) stood up and spoke of those waters, white as milk and sweet as honey, that rise through six hundred and sixty springs out of the darknesses of the utter west. Whoever washes there and drinks will never die.

Alexander thought of the vastness of the world and the vast territories there yet unconquered, unexplored; he knew he wished to drink of the water of life. Thus he prepared for one more journey. He asked what he should ride and Khizr Elias bade him mount a virgin mare, for their eyes are made of light (and in truth, said the Mirza to Freya, I have noticed that a mare which has never foaled sees better than any other) and both Alexander and Elias took along a salted fish, to test the miracle of the waters when they reached their goal.

Now when they came to the western darkness, Elias wore a jewel; by its glow he saw on every side the milk-white wells of water, and threw his salt fish in, and it swam away alive; and Elias washed and drank and lives for ever. But Alexander of the Two Horns missed the path and wandered, until he came out by another road, and lived out his days and died like other mortal men. Unto God we return; Allah foresees all. (From Freya Stark, Alexander's Travels)

Alexander the Great said, "If there were five men like me, the world would know no trouble." But his friend said, "If there were just two people whose hearts were as one, they would do with the world as they liked." (From Freya Stark, Beyond Euphrates)

From lake Issuk-kul in the Tien Shan or Alexander mountains, a legend of the Ossounes: once they were ruled by a good and wealthy king. This fortunate king dwelt in a splendid palace, and his hospitality and charity were proverbial; the only strange thing was, he demanded a new barber every single day! Every morning yesterday's barber was executed, and a new one summoned; at last there was only a single barber left in the whole kingdom. This one had to be spared, for he had no replacement. But he was wracked by torments, and eventually fled, going for advice to a hermit in the mountains. He told the hermit he was tortured by a secret he could never reveal ... The hermit pondered, and advised him to whisper the secret down a well, late at night, shutting the well-cover carefully afterward. This the barber did. He went to the city well, and cried into it three times over: "Our king has ass's ears!" after which he fled into the night--but he forgot to shut the well. Then the water in the well rose and rose and drowned the splendid palace and flooded the whole kingdom. And now the king's country has become the great lake, Issuk Kul, known the world over!

Note: other legends of Issuk-kul claim that as many as four drowned cities lie beneath the waters of the lake, which never freeze over no matter how harsh the winter is. (From Turkestan Solo, by Ella Maillart)

A story: the valley of Meshid in Badakhshan was so lovely that the kings of that country used it for a summer residence. However it was also once so infested by scorpions, that one king (and Suleiman was his name) built his palace atop the mountain which is now named for him. His meals were prepared in the valley, and carried to the Takht, or throne, by a line of men standing side by side, who passed every dish with great speed to the king's table. However a scorpion got into a bunch of grapes meant for the king's delectation, and Suleiman died of its poison--stung by the very insect he dreaded. (From Journey to the Source of the Oxus, by Captain John Wood)

The tale of the wise queen, Zaynab of Morocco: in the year 1067 AD, north Africa was ruled by the great Amir Abu Bakr b 'Umar of the Sahara (a two-horned hero!). He heard tales of a beautiful woman named Zaynab al-Nafzawiya, whose renown was nosed throughout Africa; sheikhs and princes used to seek her hand in marriage, but she refused her consent saying, 'Only he who rules the whole of the Maghrib will marry me.' They used to pour scorn and hate on her; she was one about whom strange and extraordinary tales are told, like the tales of wise women and soothsayers, and some called her another Kahina. When the Amir learned of her beauty, he betrothed and married her. Then she made him enter a cave, blindfolded, and when she let him open his eyes, he saw a treasure of gems beyond description--a miracle, glimpsed by the light of the candle in his wife's hand. She said to him: 'All this is your wealth now, God has given it to you by my hand, and I shall deliver it to you.' Then she took him blindfolded away, and he knew not how or where he had entered the treasure-cave ... Later, when he was compelled to return to his homeland and reconquer it, the Amir was concerned over the fate of his wife Zaynab; he divorced her, either at her urging or else himself suggesting to his cousin that he marry the woman in the Amir's stead. Anyway, she at once aided her new man to supreme power, and when her first husband Abu Bakr returned, he found his cousin had become the ruler of Morocco.

The tale of Kahina of Morocco: she was a half-historical, half-legendary Berber queen, the prophetess of the Aures, who fought fiercely and was victorious against the Arab conqueror Hassan b al-Nu'man (circa AD 699) but took Khalid b Yazid al-Quaysi as her adopted son; a fatal mistake, for he betrayed her and in the end she was slain by Hassan. (From Saharan Myth and Saga, by H T Norris.)

The tale of the wise wife of Balkh:

The mosque in Balkh was built by a woman famous for her good works; her husband was the governor of the city, appointed in the time of the Abbasid Caliphs, and his name was Da'ud b. Ali. It so happened that once the Caliph was angered at the people of Balkh for some slight, imagined or otherwise, and ordered a crippling indemnity to be extracted from them. He sent an agent to collect the money, at which the women and children of the city came to this woman, the wife of their governor, and begged mercy of her. Thus, she opened her treasure-chest and sent to the amir who came to collect the tax, a garment of her own - so embroidered with jewels that its value was many times that of the tax required. This message went with the garment: "Take this robe to the Caliph, for I give it to him as alms on behalf of the poor people of Balkh."

This dazzling garment was laid before the Caliph, and this story told. Then the Caliph was covered with shame, exclaiming, "Shall she, a woman, be more generous than I?" and ordered both the fine and a full year's taxes remitted for the city of Balkh, also commanding that the garment of jewels be returned to its wearer.

When the amir returned to Balkh, he went to the woman's dwelling, related to her what the Caliph had decreed, and laid the garment at her feet. Then she said to him, "Did the Caliph's eyes light upon this robe?" And when he answered yes, she said, "I shall not wear a robe upon which there has lighted the eye of any man other than those within the forbidden degrees of relationship to me." She ordered the robe to be sold, and for the price it fetched, built not only the mosque, but also a hospice and a convent. When all this way done - so high was the worth of the robe! - as much as one-third of the price still remained, and this she had buried under one of the columns of the mosque, that it might lie there safe from thieves, only coming to light in a time of dire need. When Genghis sacked Balkh, he pulled down about a third of the mosque while searching for this treasure; but he found nothing, and left off. (From ibn Battuta)

A story from Samarkhand: Bibi Khanum, the Mongolian princess who was Tamurlane's favorite wife, decided to have a magnificent throne-room constructed in her husband's absence. Tamurlane sent her prisoners from every quarter of the world, artists and masons and glaziers. Day after day, the princess visited the site ... but her Arabian architect, mad with love for her, slowed up the work with delays beyond number, to prolong her visits. At last, losing her patience, she asked innocently how to speed the work; he must tell her what he needed, and she swore she would provide it.

"Let me kiss your cheek!" he demanded.

Horrified, Bibi Khanum refused permission. But meanwhile her lord and master was returning from distant warfields, and still the work was incomplete; when the news came that Tamurlane had reached Merv, Bibi lost her nerve and granted the architect's request. At the last moment, though, she put up her hand and he kissed her palm instead. Yet so ardent was his desire, that his kiss burned right through to her cheek, leaving an imprint that nothing would wash away.

Some claim that the mark appeared because she broke faith with her husband, even under duress. But others say the spot punished her for her broken promise to the architect-prisoner, whose only sin was to love too well.

Thus the command went out: Bibi Khanum, in the name of modesty, bade all women to veil themselves. And all the women of Samarkhand took up the veil, that Bibi Khanum's shame would be concealed.

When Tamurlane returned, he found a city of veiled women. Puzzled, he inquired the reason. "It is so our modesty may be preserved," Bibi Khanum told him. But eventually he learned the truth. When he did, he ordered that Bibi Khanum be burned alive in the mausoleum already built for her, which stands opposite the mosque. The Arab architect who had ruined her with his love, fled pursued by soldiers to the very pinnacle of the minaret he had built--and as he leaped to his doom, wings sprouted from his shoulders and he escaped, flying in the direction of the holy city of Meshed. (From Turkestan Solo, by Ella Maillart)

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