The artistic image of an angel in the Turkic world: yesterday and today
Authors: R. Abilkhamitkyzy , L.B. Begalieva 
Published: September 2022

Abstract. The angel is a mythological character common to the Turkic peoples. Along with the spread of Islam and the glorification of God, its angels also became popular and praised. The duties and responsibilities of the four great angels given in the Qur’an, as well as people’s views and understanding of them, have been mentioned in the works written over the centuries and have become synonymous with kindness and honesty, purity and chastity. The article focuses on the use of everyday religious legends, fairy tales, and mythological stories about an angel in Turkic peoples and Kazakh poetry. There is a myth at the beginning of every fairy tale and song, that is, today’s fairy tales and songs can be carefully considered, based on certain rules, sorting and separating the ancient ideas about greed.The names of the angels «Gabriel», «Azrael», and «Munkir-Nankir» are found in epics and myths. Angels were messengers between the prophets and Allah, who sent down the Koran from heaven to earth. In this article we mentioned the nature and characteristics of the angel in folklore and literature with the character of «angel» in the Holy Qur’an. Specifically, in the ayats of the Holy Qur’an, Muslims should believe in angels as much as they believe and not question them. They are to be regarded as executors of the command of the Most High. However, in the folklore that arose after the spread and assimilation of Islam, the image of the angel Azariel began to be portrayed in a negative, deadly way. In other words, people adapted to their understanding and way of life. The singing of angels in the image of a beautiful woman and a newborn child is commonplace in Turkic poetry.It is well known that the literature of Turkic peoples has many common characters, similar and recurring plot lines, mythical legends, and folklore genres. One of the important topics is the study of the concept of «angel» common with the Islamic world, the nature and similarity of angelic religious epics in the transmission in the literature of Turkic peoples, the reflection of the image of «angel» in the understanding of people in literature. It is the development of the concept of «angel» that moved from mythology to folklore, from folklore to literature, turned into a motive network of numerous fairy tales and legends, epics, in the process of development the acquisition of individual character traits and descriptions inherent in each of the Turkic peoples, a topic requiring a comparative study. The article, as far as possible, noted the changed version of Әzireil into Esrel, Esrel, Esrelĕ, Esrelĕ; also noted the angels Harut and Marut, which God brought down to earth to help the people who are so strongly endowed with magic; the display in fiction of the angels Mănkүr-Nүkіr and Israfil asking many questions.The artistic image of the mythic hero-Angel, common to the Turkic peoples, is a viable subject. Therefore, it is important for us to understand their essence and meaning. The presentation of the characters common to the mythology of Turkic peoples is a complex and fascinating task.Such research is born only as a result of many years of research. In the future, we will continue our research on the common characters in the mythology of Turkic peoples.