A MASNAVI WRITTEN IN CAGATAY TURKISH, INCLUDING TWO STORIES OF JESUS: HIKAYET-I MIHTER-I ISA

There are common acceptance of Christian and Islamic beliefs regarding some attributes of Prophet Jesus and his being the messenger of God. These two beliefs also have completely opposite beliefs and admissions regarding Jesus. It is possible to see the information about Jesus in the holy texts of Christianity and Islam in the literary works of the societies that accept these beliefs. In the literary works of Muslim societies, many features such as the birth of Jesus, his speech in the cradle, healing the sick, resurrecting the dead, ascending to heaven, the needle on his ascent to the sky, being a Mahdi, and having wisdom are mentioned. Jesus is mentioned in literary and religious texts both in Anatolia and in the areas of Harezm and Çağatay. The 205-couplet masnavi named "Hikâyet-i Mihter-i Isa" in the National Library of France, whose author is unknown and written in Chagatay Turkish, tells the two stories of Isa. These stories in the work have not been found in any other source for now. In the first of the stories, there is the miracle that Jesus gave life to the dead. In the second, he prayed to God and contacted God and helped the needy. In addition, a striking point in these two stories is that the confusion of events and the reason for the chaos is caused by the mischief and disloyalty of women. In the stories, Jesus has the characteristics of the Islamic belief. In this study, the mesnevi in question has been transcribed, translated into Turkey Turkish, a brief assessment has been made on its content and the current manuscript was introduced.