In the literature of Turkism (Turcology), there are various works such as the collection of biographies, the myths(tales), legends which narrate the process of being Muslim of Turks. In these works, the historical events that have taken place have gained a legendary style from time to time, and they have also been diversified by being transferred from generation to generation through the genre oral culture. In particular there is a work called "Four Imams" which is legendary among Uyghur Turks in East Turkestan. In this work, four imams named Nasreddin, Zuhureddin, Kıvâmeddin, Muineddin are told that they have islamized he Kashgar, Yarkent, Hoten and Uçatlık cities in the time of Yusuf Kadir Khan, the ruler of Karahanid. These four imams made the city of Madâyin the capital and engaged in activities of conquest of Kashgar and its vicinity, muslimized(islamized) the region as a result of many wars they did. This great effort which Imams have shown to spread Islam has been legendary after a while, and has occasionally been separated from its historical reality and embodied in extraordinary forms. A total of four copies of the Four Imams legends writtenin Chagatai Turkish and New Uyghur Turkish have been determined. In this study, a copy written in chagatai Turkish will be handled and the others will be introduced at the entrance. The aim of the study is to contribute both to the understanding of the historical events related to the Muslim formation process of the Turks and contributing to the literature of Chagatai Turkish by revealing a text in respect of its language features in this field. Study language analysis is composed of the sections of transcription and to the transfer of Turkey’s Turkish. In the section of language study, the voice and shape information features that are highlighted in the text will be examined. In the transcription section, the transcription of the text will be carried out, and then in other part,  the text will be transferred to Turkey’s Turkish.
 
STRUCTURED ABSTRACT
Introduction Many works that are about the Islamization process of the Turks have been put down on paper throughout the history of the Turkish language. The work called “Four Imams” which has been studied on is one of them. The events described in the work carry an epic character in some places as they were dealing with the struggles to spread Islam. However, the differentiation, enrichment and occasional extraordinary qualifications of the events in the imagination of the people make the work a “legend”. The work was formed around four people named Nasreddin, Zuhureddin, Kıvameddin and Muineddin, who were greatly respected by Joseph Kadir Khan and the people in the region because of their heroisms and religious sciences during the reign of Yusuf Kadir Khan (1026-1032). These four people made a great contribution to the Muslimization of the Kashgar, Yarkent, Hoten and Uçatlık cities of the Karahanid state.  There are four copies available written by Chagatai Turkish. In addition, the work was translated into the new Uyghur Turkish and published in the magazine of Uyghur Public Legendary Narratives, Kök Yalılık Böre by the Xinjiang People's Publishing House in 2006. The copies written by Chagatai Turkish are in the Turkish Writings section in the Oxford-Bodleian Library in England. Based on the language characteristics of these manuscripts, it can be said that they were written out in XVIII. centuries. In other words, it is considered that these copies were put down on paper in the post -classical period of Chagatai Turkish.  The copy that is subject of this work is available in the among the 50th to 65th varakas (thin, bright leaves) of the work registered as Tezkire-i Satuk Bugra Hân in Ms. Ind. Inst. Turk 8 in Turkish Writings, England Oxford-Bodleian Library. The writer of the work is Molla Haci Method In the first part of the study, the language features determined in the work will be discussed, in the second part, the transcription of the work will be carried out, in the third part, the work will be transferred to Turkey’s Turkish. In addition, the facsimile of the work will also be given so that the transcriptional text can be compared with the original Arabic text. Through this work, it was aimed at both contributing to the information about accepting Islam of Turks and expanding the information about Chagatai Turkish by revealing the language characteristics in the work. Findings and Discussion The language features that stand out in the work are as follows: 1. The phonetic substitution of the “b, p, f” lip consonants: It is seen that the consonants of the lips in the text are substituting: The words that the “b > p” change is seen are as follows: pik “mister” 13b/13; Pildiler. “They knew.” 9b/5; Pitdiler. “They wrote” 2b/4; pi-huş “unconscious, fainted” 15a/10, 16a/1; pi-takat “weak, powerless” 8a/13. The words that the “p > f” change is seen are as follows: Taftılar. “They found.” 7a/13; tofraklar “lands, soils” 15a/8; Feyda boldı. “Appeared, emerged.” 3b/15; fulad “steel” 6a/11. 2. e> i: It is not possible to determine the vowel which is expressed as a closed e- vowel from spelling in the Turkish language literature. The vowel in the first syllable of the words was written as (?) in some words, no markers were used in some words. The spelling in the transcript of the text, has been preserved as it is, and no markings were also used. The examples that are considered to have been completed the  phonetic substitutions are as follows: Bar idi. “He arrived.” 8a/1; Hub imes. “Not beautiful.” 2b/5, 3a/10, 8b/5, 6; Didiler “They said.” 2a/3; ilçini “the ambassador” 9a/8; Kiter. “Goes.” 16b/14; tive “camel” 12a/2. The examples that are considered to have not been completed the phonetic substitutions are as follows: keçe “night” 9b/12; Keldi. “He came.” 2b/11; Ketti. “He went.” 9b/12; ne “what” 2a/15, 2b/1; yetti. “Reached.” 2b/1.  3. Shortening of long vowel in Arabic and Persian words: The long vowels in some Arabic and Persian quotation words were shortened: firler < pirler “the old ones, elderly people”, “13a/15; pi-huş < bi-huş “fainted, unconscious” 15a/10, 16a/1; tarafdın < tarafdın “from the side of” 5a/10, 10b/7, 11a/4 4. The preposition of suspicion “ekin”: The prepositions of “e(r)ki ~ e(r)ki ~ i(r)kin” which have been used since ancient Turkish and have not been related to Persian “ki” have been encountered in two sentences in the text: Kelürler mükin ya yok mu ikin? “I wonder whether they will come or not?” 3b/14; Leşker-i İslam hem-rah bolur mukin? “I wonder whether or not the Islamic army sets out?” 2a/1, 2. 5. The view of the “-dur/-tur” or “durur/turur” auxiliary verbs: The annexed, dis-annexed and omitted forms have been taken place in a mixed way in the text: The examples that have been annexed are as follows: Asandur. “It's easy.” 11a/9, 12a/11; Bardur. “Available.” 3a/9, 10a/11; Kafirdür. “Non-muslim.” 10a/12; Müşküldür. “It is difficult.” 11a/9. The examples that have been dis-annexed are as follows: Evladları tururlar. “They are their own sons.” 8b/8; Kaşkar halkı turur. “Inhabitant of Kashgar.” 7a/3; Kıvamu’d-din tururlar. “They are Kıvameddin.” 8b/9; Mirasımız turur. “We are our inheritance.” 3a/11; Ne turur? “What is it?” 2a/15; Yok turur. “Not available.” 2b/12. The examples that the verb has been omitted are as follows: Alimsin. “You are a scholar.” 16a/5; Kılıç gılafıda yalımleklik. “The sword is stuck in the case.” 14a/12; Uçat dip bir pare halk bar. “There is a group of people named Uçat.” 11b/3, 4; Üzengi yok. “There is no stirrup.” 14a/12; Yaynıñ cillesi yok. “There are no broadcast circles.” 14a/12. 6. The appearance of the “er- / ir-” auxiliary verb: The “e” vowel in the beginning of the verb has been completely transformed into the “i” vowel in the text. In some cases, the consonant “r” in the verb has been preserved but omitted in some examples. The examples of “ir-” are as follows: Andag irdi. “It was so.” 2b/6; Bar idi. “He arrived.” 10b/6; Medayin’de idiler. “They were in Medayin.” 1b/11, 12; Yok irdi. “He was absent.” 2b/7. The examples related to “i-” are as follows: Bar idi. “He was available.” 8a/1, 11a/6; Hub imes. “Not beautiful.” 2b/5, 3a/10, 8b/5, 6; Kelip irdük. “We had come.” 3b/3; Küfr-dalaletde idük. “We were in curse and deviance.” 2b/7, 8. 7. Use of the accusative suffix: The suffix in the text has been used in three places after the tense suffix: cenk kılurnı “He will fight, make war” 10a/10; iman keltürürni “He will have faith, pray, worship” 10a/10; Ne dirni pilmesmen. “I can’t /do not understand what you say.” 9a/4.  8. Adjective clauses, the determinant of which is plural number: In the Adjective clauses where the plural number is determinant  in the Turkish language, the noun in designation is not the plural but the singular. However, its reverse use is found in the text: tört imams “four imams” 2a/10, 11. 9. The pronoun “n”: The use of pronoun “n” in Chagatai Turkish is not found except for a few examples seen through the influence from Western Turkish. The pronoun “n” has been seen in those following words in the text: Bunlar “these are” “2b/3; içinde “in” 4b/9, 5b/6; munça “so, so much” 8a/13, 9a/3, 15a/12; munda” here” 8b/1, 10b/4, 12b/13; mundag “so so” such as, “8b/1; mundın “from this” 2b/12; şunda “here, there” 10b/1; üstünde “on, top” 9a/7. 10. The functions of the “-GAy” suffix: as well as the future tense and the imperative / subjunctive mood functions known up to now in the text, the function of present tense has been encountered in one place: Her kim bu imamlarnıñ tezkirelerini okup işitip köz yaşı kılıp du?a ve tekbir kılsalar bu dünyadın ahiretge iman-ı ab-ruy birle bargaylar. “Whoever reads, hears, tears the collection of biographies of these imams and prayers for them will go to the Hereafter from the earth with a firm belief.” 16b/15, 17a/1, 2. 11. The present continuous tense established with the “(I)pdUr” suffix: The structure of -p(dUr) + subject pronouns in Chagatai Turkish is used for the past tense learned. However, this structure has been coincided with the present continuous tense function as well: Ey Kaşkar halkı! Hazret-i İmam-ı Nasıru’d-din başlıg tört imamlar kırk miñ leşker pilen Kaşkar’nı feth kılgalı Maveraü’n-nehr’din kelipdürmiz. “Dear, people of Kashgar! We come from Mawarau’n-nahr to conquer Kashgar with forty thousand soldiers together with four imams under the leadership of his holiness Imam-i Nasreddin.” 2a/11; Ne mikdar kişi kelipdür? “How many people are coming? “How many people are there?” 3a/6; Ey halayık! Nime dipsizler? “Hey people! What do you say? “7a/8; Yarkend’ge yetip kördiler kim bir neçe üylük kişi germ aytıp olturupdurlar. “When they arrived at Yarkent, they saw that a few families were sitting down and regretting.” 7b/8; Şehr körünüp turunup turup. “The city keeps appearing.” 8a/15; Tive kuyrıgını tebregençe kösniñ avazı çıkıpdur. “As the camel shakes its tail, the drum makes noise.” 13a/8  12. The future tense function of the “sa kerek” structure: It has been seen that the structure which is usually in the function of necessity in Chagatai Turkish has been used in the function of future tense in a place in the text. Furthermore, it added the meaning of probable to the additional sentence in the future tense: Şayed ki Müselman bolsa kerek. “May be he will be a Muslim.” 11a/9. 13. The function of the “-sA” conditional mood suffix: The conditional mood suffix added directly to the verb in Chagatai Turkish sometimes makes conditional on the main verb in the period of present tense. There are many examples available in the text: ?aciz kelseñizler “if you are incapacitated” 2a/5; ceng kılsak “if we fight” 9a/1; iman keltürmesek “if we do not have faith in God” 2b/1; iman keltürmeseñizler “if you do not have faith in God” 2a/13; iman keltürsek “if we have faith in God” 2a/15; iman keltürseñizler “if you have faith in God” 2/12; ?inayeti bolsa “if he helps” 2a/2; mededi bolsa “if he helps” 3a/14; Munıñ suyını bermesek alurmız. “We'll get it if we cut the water of this place.”  12a/8; Piz iman keltürürmiz eger nesl-evladımız bolsalar. “If they become like our children, we have faith in God.” 2b/2, 3; Şol leşker neçe kün munda tursa men şehrni yaşuray. “However long these soldiers stay here, I hide the city.” 8b/1.  14. The gerund (verbal noun) function of the “-GAn” participle (verbal adjective) suffix: the “-GAn” in the function of participle can be transformed into gerund by taking some suffixes on it in Chagatai Turkish: kalganlar “the remains” 15a/7; kelgeni “the fact that he comes “3a/9, 3a/10; kılganlarını “What they “did” 3a/15. 15. The “verb base + the tenses / mode suffixes + the irse” structure: The verb base + the tense / mode suffix + the irse structure in the text is not the functional conjunction (optative) or conditional compound verb, but it has been determined to be used in the function of verbal adverb which contains the notion of tense: Kettiler irse kafirlerniñ kurganıdın nekkare avazı kelür irdi. “After he went, the sound of the drums was enhancing from where the disbelievers (heathens) lived” 13a/5, 6; Ol küni ötti irse hazret-i imamlar ervah-ı tayyibege teveccüh kıldılar “Immediately after that day, the imams were directed to clean spirits.” 9b/7, 8; Şubu beşaretni taftılar irse Hazret-i Hızır Baba yıglay yıglay be-taraf-ı Kaşkar revan boldı. “After he received this good news, Hazrat Khidr (father hızır) set out to Kashgar weepingly cryingly.” 15b/12, 13; Tañ attı irse hazret-i imamlar namazdın farıg bolgunca kafirler saf rast kıldı. “After the dawn broke and hazret imams performed the worship, the unbelievers (heathens) took a stand.” 13b/5, 6. 16. The use of the second plural subject suffix in conjugation and as a possessive suffix: The examples about imperative inflection are as follows: Barıñızlar. “Go, let you go.” 2a/5; Beriñler. “Give it, let you give it.” 11a/1; Çagap barıñlar. “Summon and come.” 3a/5, 6; Diñizler. “Say, let you say.” 3b/8; Koyaberiñler. “Slack up and release.” 10a/4; Koyuñlar. “Release / set free.” 11b/10; Tekbir kılıñızlar. “Say Allahu ekber.” 16b/1, 16b/4; Tutuñlar. “Hold, let you hold.” 10b/6, 10b/10; Yar boluñlar. “Help.” 15a/15; Yörüñ. “Walk away.” 13a/10. The examples of conditional inflections are as follows: ?aciz kelseñizler “if you are incapacitated” 2a/5; andag bolsañızlar “if so” 3b/8; iman keltürseñizler “if you God” 2/12; iman keltürmeseñizler “if you do not have a faith in God” 2a/13. The examples about the function of the second plural subject possessive suffix: Ne haliñizler? “How are you?” 5b/13; himmetiñizlerga “to / for your efforts” 12b/5. 17. The Word Count: The total number of words in the text is 4533. 2375 of them are Turkish, 1318 are Arabic, 804 are Persian, 19 are Persian + Arabic, 17 are Arabic + Persian. The proportion of Turkish words in the text in the total number of words is 52%. Arabic in the quotation words ranks first with the usage rate of 29%. Farsi (Persian) ranks second after Arabic with the usage rate of 18%. The fact that the text is partly a religious text is effective in being high of the Arabic word rate. The field where the Chagatai Turkish has been used and the proximity of the Persian geography led to become high proportion of the Persian quotation words in Chagatai Turkish. Conclusion As a result, the work called “Four Imams” which has been studied on was put down on paper and published in the last period of Chagatai Turkish. It can be said that it has been a unique (original) work describing the Islamification of Kashgar, Hoten, Yarkent cities et al, it was put into writing in an precisely unknown history while it was being narrated verbally among the people. This copy of the work which has been studied on contains important details both in terms of language features and its issue. The fact that the transcriptions and translations of such works that are important for Turkish language and history have been made will provide their recognitions in Anatolia as well. The original language features in the work will also contribute to language accumulation related to Chagatai Turkish.

Keywords: Chagatai Turkish, Chagatai, Four Imams, Being Muslim of Turks.