BELIEF IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMAL LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CULT OF ISLAMIC SAINTS

Abstract

Among the main criteria of beliefs in hunting culture, a special place is occupied by knowledge of the language of animals. Faith is framed by thoughts and rituals associated with the deity in mystical and mythological senses. The semiotic understanding that we attribute to belief in the knowledge of animal language is characterized as a form of linguistic archetype. Hunters of the ancient world totemized animals, creating the belief that they have a language, just like humans.
Knowledge of the language of animals is considered a gift from God, and mediocre sacred beings participate in this. Before the monotheistic religions, the serpent, the soldier of Erlik, the ruler of the world of the dead, performs the obreminatory mission: the meat, saliva and oil of the snake play a key role in revealing the secrets of the invisible world. Over time, polytheistic religions were replaced by monotheism, as a result of which the mythological thinking of people changed: with the advent of Islam, the function of the serpent passed to the prophets, imams, saints and Sayyids. Images that speak the language of animals acquire the status of patrons, but not all of them, but only saints, imams and sayyids are included in the cult of animal patrons. They protect animals, heal their wounds, talk to animals and relieve them of pain, take them away from hunters, punish the guilty, turn houses and courtyards into shelters for hunting animals, etc. Faith has firmly established itself in Azerbaijan, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Iraq, Central Asian Turks and Siberian Tatars, becoming one of the main factors in the formation of the cult of Islamic saints.