Atlantis Existed in Azerbaijan

(Translated into English with the help of ChatGPT)

       One of the mysterious lands of the ancient world, regarded as the first to reach the highest stage of development, is Atlantis. Authors such as Plato, Herodotus, Aristotle, Diodorus of Sicily and others wrote about it. According to these writings, it is impossible to precisely locate the island of Atlantis or obtain broader information about it through modern rational logic. Yet, if we approach the ancient texts with the logic of the sages who composed them, it becomes clear that the events of antiquity were described in great detail in the sources. For one who can read the symbols, there is no such thing as a “secret” about the past.

In our articles published in the press, we have repeatedly emphasized that all ancient writings were composed in symbols, and to comprehend them one must know Sufism — the language of symbols. This language, known in the sources as the “language of birds” (or “language of angels”) of Prophet Solomon, was the first and universal language of mankind. In this tongue, where consonants alone bear meaning, a word read from right to left or left to right conveys the same sense.

On the other hand, in his work Politicus (269c), Plato explains that all ancient writings were dedicated to only one event:

“All these things and thousands of other extraordinary matters are but the fruits of a single event. Yet with the passage of time, most of them were erased from memory, while the remainder exist in scattered fragments, each told separately.”

Thus, the mysteries of Atlantis are directly connected with some singular event — about which we practically know nothing.

In his dialogue Critias, Plato writes that when the gods divided the world among themselves by lot, the sea god Poseidon received the island of Atlantis. On this island Poseidon established his royal lineage through a mortal woman named Cleito. Plato also specifically notes that the land of the Atlanteans lay beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Herodotus (IV/184) calls the mountain where the Atlanteans dwelt “Atlas” and declares that this mountain is the very pillar of the sky. According to the exact translation of the first song of Homer’s Odyssey, Atlas holds the pillar that unites heaven and earth.

In Sufism, the “pillar of heaven” refers to Nut — the sky structured by the Egyptian god Ra-Amon — and to the earth Geb that He created there, which in the Book of Dede Qorqud is called the “Qaba Realm,” the world of spirits. According to ancient Egyptian writings, Geb (known in Islam as Ghayb, the unseen) was upheld by four pillars in the heavens of Nut. In that land, gods and the souls of deceased believers continue their existence, and every righteous human strives to reach it. In Islam, the symbol of Geb corresponds to the Kaaba, while the four pillars (Aswad, Iraq, Sham, Yemen) are known as the arkān (the “foundations”).

In the Qur’an (89:7), the symbol of “pillars” is described as the “City of Pillars” (Iram dhāt al-ʿImād) — a mystical city. According to “Al-Azif” (the secret of the Necronomicon) by the “mad poet” Abdul Hazret of Sana’a (Yemen), the city of Iram dhāt al-ʿImād was not built in the physical world but in another dimension, by the first-created beings. This place is regarded as the hidden gateway to the Great Void, where Maghreb sorcerers enter in altered states of consciousness. Legends tell us that the city of Iram dhāt al-ʿImād was built by jinn, called “Nephilim” (giants) by the Jews, at the command of Shaddad, son of Ad.

In ancient Egypt, the “City of Pillars” referred to Heliopolis, the “City of the Sun” of the pharaohs, and people prostrated before the “Heliopolis pillar” during festivals. In the Qur’an (38:12, 89:10), the pharaoh is also called the possessor of pillars — dhū l-awtād — “the one with tents and pillars,” meaning the owner of firmly established structures. In the Book of Dede Qorqud, pillars are likewise attributed to the pharaoh, where it is said that the “pharaoh’s spikes rising from the earth” (his pillars) are held up by Khan Qazan. In the sources this pillar is also attributed to Khosrow (“the Pillar of Khosrow”), whose symbol [XZR] is identical in meaning to Khidr [XZR], the immortal one. Thus it follows that Heracles, Atlas, Khan Qazan, Khidr and others are, in essence, representations of the Egyptian pharaoh.

That the pharaoh is also called the “master of tents” reminds us of Prophet Moses, who brought the divine fire from heaven. According to the Torah, when Moses built the “tent of revelation,” God went before them as a pillar of cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night (Bible, Ex. 3:21; 40:39,40; Num. 9:15–23). If we take into account that revelation is associated with an ecstatic state, we may agree that the “tent of revelation” refers to a tent woven from the divine fire (the primordial matter) in an ecstatic state. According to the Qur’an (37:97; 2:125–128; 27:8), this fire is in the House of the Kaaba, and God has made it a secure and blessed land. The famous Sufi Ibn Arabi declared that “On the Day when the Shin shall be uncovered” — that is, on the Day of Judgment when the secrets of God will be revealed to all — the believers will enter this divine fire and find bliss, while the unbelievers will meet the recompense of their deeds.

According to ancient sources, the place where this “tent” (the “tent of revelation”) was established was Heliopolis — the City of the Sun — which was given to the family of Prophet Jacob. The Torah recounts that Jacob, having placed a stone beneath his head, dreamed a divine dream. On awakening, he named the place “Bethel” (al-Bayt), declaring: “This is none other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven!” In the land of Canaan, after acquiring a field and pitching “his tent” there, Jacob built an altar and called upon God (Bible, Gen. 28:2–4; 27:17–19; 33:18–20). Furthermore, one night Jacob wrestled with God until dawn, and God named him Israel (Osiri/Azer Eli) (Gen. 32:30). Jacob’s vision of the “house of God” and “gate of heaven” in Bethel, along with his wrestling with God, symbolically expresses Jacob’s creation — in a state of ecstasy — of the realm of Geb (Ghayb) in heaven from the sacrificial spirits, and his bringing of primordial matter (the Osiri-Azer fire) down to earth. I have explained this in greater detail in my book The Inner Quran. Ancient Egyptian writings likewise directly associate the symbol of Osiris with the pillar, affirming that in the afterlife he will be established upon his pillar, and so forth.

From all this, we may conclude that Atlantis is in fact the symbol of the world of spirits created in the heavens by the Egyptian pharaoh. It should be emphasized that in ancient Egyptian texts, life in the invisible spirit-world is described as if it were tangible material existence (History of the Ancient East, Vol. 2, Moscow 1988, p. 378). This is why researchers often struggled to discern which “world” the sources were describing.

The symbol Atlas [TLS] in Sufism is identical to the symbols Tilos/Delos [TLS/DLS], expressing the meaning “Tala issi” — “the spirit of God Tala.” The symbol Tala itself, in Sufi terms, signifies the “Divine Father’s realm,” the place of God’s dominion on earth and in heaven (the Lower and Upper Heliopolis). According to the researcher Peter Cornwell, Tilos was the ancient name of Bahrain, also known as Tilmun/Dilmun.

According to Ibn Khordadbeh’s Masalik al-Mamalik, Yaqut al-Hamawi’s Mu‘jam al-Buldan, and other works, the place mentioned in the Qur’an (18:60–65) as Majmaʿ al-Bahrayn — the meeting of the two seas — was located in the region of Shirvan (A. A. Bakikhanov, Gulistan-i Iram, Baku, 1991, p. 35). Al-Bakuwi also describes the place associated with Moses and Khidr (Khizr), where the dead fish came back to life, as Shirvan, with its sea being the Caspian Sea. However, Al-Bakuwi identifies the Bahrain where the two seas meet as Andalusia (Al-Bakuwi, Compendium of the Monuments and Wonders of the Mighty King, Moscow, 1971, fol. 23b). Al-Bakuwi’s naming of Bahrain as Andalusia means that the symbol of Andalus carries the same sense as the symbols Delos/Tilos. Indeed, Andalus [N-DLS] in Sufi interpretation is explained as Nun-Delos [NN-DLS], where the symbol Nun represents the primordial matter encircling the earth. Thus, Andalusia is symbolically the island of Delos within the primeval waters of Nun.

That Bahrain is the place where the dead fish was revived, and that it is associated with Khidr — the prophet who attained immortality — indicates that this island represents the world of the immortal, the realm of the souls of the believers.

The other name of Bahrain, Tilmun/Dilmun [TL-MN], in Sufi interpretation means Tala-Amon — the homeland of the Egyptian pharaoh Ra-Amon. David Rohl, in his research on the search for Paradise, writes that Dilmun was the place where the souls of the dead tasted bliss in the other world. According to the famous researcher Samuel Kramer, Dilmun — the monastery of the gods — was located beyond the Zagros mountains, in the land of the sunrise, within Iran. Based on his translation of the Sumerian myth, Kramer describes Dilmun as a “pure,” “radiant,” and “shining” land, and calls it the “Land of the Immortals” (D. Rohl, Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation. From Where Do We Come?, Eksmo, Moscow, 2002, pp. 267, 271).

On the territory of Iran, the Dilmun [DLMN] symbol is known as Deylam and Delum [DLM]. Abū al-ʿAlā Ibn Khasṣūl, in his work “On the Superiority of the Turks over Other Warriors and the Value of the Existence of the Great Sultan”, based on Ibrāhīm ibn Khalīl al-Ṣābi’s “al-Tājī”, emphasizes the genealogy of the Deylamites, their states, their virtues, and highlights the secrets of their attainment of complete happiness and their ability to surpass their own time. When Khasṣūl speaks of the Deylamites, he attributes divine qualities to ʿAḍud al-Dawla, which means that the Dawl [DL] symbol is directly associated with God Himself. By “attaining complete happiness,” Khasṣūl directly refers to their life in paradise.

For in ancient Egyptian texts, the “land of happiness and peace” is nothing but the kingdom of Osiris (Oziri/Azar), which in other texts is also called the “Island of Bliss.” According to Egyptian writings, if a person lived all his life “with Maat in his heart,” then he is pure and innocent, and after resurrection will dwell joyfully in the Fields of Iaru — paradise itself.

According to Kramer, the Sumerian Noah — Ziusudra — also dwells precisely in this “land of happiness.” That is why he can be referred to with the symbol “Lu-ti-la,” meaning “man of life” (V. K. Afanasyeva, Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Moscow, 1979, pp. 94, 115). The symbol Lu-tila literally signifies “the Land of Tala,” which in turn means that the heavenly realm of God Tala consists of life-giving light.

In the Qur’an too, the symbol of “happiness” is associated with paradise, where it is said that for the believers flow rivers of wine and rivers pure as honey, gardens planted with trees bearing diverse fruits. There is also a lake of milk whose taste never changes. For the faithful, there are pure spouses, and men and women live there in eternal bliss (Qur’an 4:57; 9:72; 47:15–17).

The Atlas/Tilos symbol also appears in sources as Delos, Adulis, etc. In Greek mythology, the island of Delos is the homeland of the god Apollo. In ancient Egyptian sources, Apollo, depicted in the image of the Messiah, is called Mandulis and is identified with the Sun-god Ra. This means that the Mandulis [MN-DLS] symbol — “Amon-Delos” [MN-DLS] — points to Delos Island as the spiritual world where Amon dwells. In these texts, however, the image of Mandulis is also equated with the god Horus of Egypt, depicted both as a child and as the Father — symbolizing that the Messiah who comes at the end of time is likewise an image of God Himself (E. Y. Kormysheva, Religion of Kush, Moscow, 1984, pp. 224, 216–217, 212, 214). In other texts, the Delos [DLS] symbol appears as Adulis [DLS], denoting the underworld.

From what has been written, it follows that the island of Atlantis is, in fact, the world of spirits, created in the primordial waters (the primordial matter) in the form of an island in heaven. Upon this island, Poseidon established his royal lineage, born of the mortal woman Cleito. The symbol Cleito [KLT] in ancient sources appears as Celt, Gilad, Galaad, Khilat, Khuld, etc., expressing the meaning of Gel-Ata. But in Sufi tradition, this same symbol can also be read as Tala-Agha [TLĞ], signifying the divine connection of God Tala with the Gel-people.

According to sources, in Xelat (Cleito/Gilad), the Turkic mamlūk Sökmen (Nasir al-Din Muhammad Sökmen II) proclaimed himself Shahi-Arman, which translates as Er-Aman — that is, Ra-Amon. This same Khilat was also the burial place of Georgian kings (K. Gandzaketsi, History of Armenia, Moscow, 1976, pp. 282, 234). Z. Bunyadov reports that the ruler of Khilat and Erzincan, Shah-Arman Nasir al-Din Muhammad Sökmen II, married the daughter of Atabeg Jahan Pahlavan, and after his death, Khilat became an estate of the Atabegs of Azerbaijan (Historical Geography of Azerbaijan, Baku, 1987, p. 95).

The symbol Atabeg in Sufi tradition signifies the “fathers” of those who unite with the primordial matter — those who have become one with God. In the oldest Egyptian writings, this symbol is associated with Ra-Amon (Ra-Aman — “the Merciful”), the Father of all gods. The fact that Khilat was simultaneously the estate of the Atabegs of Azerbaijan, considered the realm of the Arman kings, and the burial place of Georgian monarchs, indicates that the kings of Khilat were indeed descendants of the god Poseidon.

In the Qur’an (25:15), the symbol Cleito [KLT] appears as Khuld [XLD], directly given as a name of Paradise. The fact that the Khuld symbol, identical in meaning to Khilat/Cleito, is associated with paradise means that Atlantis was created upon Tilos — the Talysh Mountains. J. Frazer notes that when the founder of the Silvian dynasty died, he transformed into a god and took his seat in the heavens above the Alban mountains (J. Frazer, The Golden Bough, Moscow, 1986, p. 147). This implies that the Talysh Mountains are the Alban Mountains, and that the celestial realm of Qeb/Qayb was created precisely there.

In Turkic sources, the Tilos symbol also appears as Tolis. In the “Moyun Chor” inscription we read: “The wise (sage) khagan, who was with God, created the El (the people)... Tolis...” (A. Rajabov, Y. Mammadov, Orkhon–Yenisei Inscriptions, Baku, 1993, p. 134). Here, Tolis is depicted in the image of the Egyptian god Ra-Amon, who transformed primordial matter into the heavenly El. In other sources, the Turks living in the Talysh Mountains are identified with the Talas Turks living at the sacred Mount Barkal. In ancient Egyptian texts, Mount Barkal is considered the sanctuary of Napatan Amon, which in the sources is called the Golden Opet (Pta). The fact that the sanctuary of Japheth (Yapet/Opet/Pta), ancestor of the Turks, is called “golden” is explained by the tradition that all its objects were made of gold and silver.

According to Plato, in the very center of Atlantis, homeland of kings, stood the sacred temple of Cleito and Poseidon, surrounded by a golden wall. Its outer surface was of silver, its acroteria of gold. The roof was made of ivory, decorated with gold, silver, and precious ornaments. Inside stood the golden statue of the god in his chariot, along with countless other statues and objects of gold. If we consider that Atlantis was located “beyond the Pillars of Heracles,” then we must agree that this is also the same as the “City of Columns” (Iram dhat al-Imad) built by Shaddad, son of ʿAd, of golden and silver bricks. In other words, Atlantis is the hidden underworld — the kingdom of death in ancient Egypt known as Sokar (Aid/Qades) — projected into the heavens.

In the Qur’an (54:48; 74:26–28, 43), the Sokar symbol appears as Sakar [SK-R], meaning “the fire of hell.” In other sources, it is written as Arsak [R-SK], directly connected to the place where the divine fire (Nuri-Azar) is preserved. According to al-Kufi, this place was located 45 km from Ardabil, within the land of the Kadus (Kuddus — “the holy”), which corresponds to the territory of the Talysh Mountains.

It must be emphasized that when speaking of the Talysh Mountains, we should not confuse them with the present-day ethnic group living in the southern region. As we have explained in earlier publications, God created two types of mankind: the first are the sacred ones — the descendants of Osiris/Azar — the Turkic begs, pirs, sayyids, shaykhs — that is, the Kadus/Kuddus lineage. The second type are ordinary humans, whose languages God confused and scattered across the world. The fact that within today’s Talysh ethnic group there are still sayyids, shaykhs, and other Azeri sacred lineages means they have intermingled with the Kadus.

All of this leads us to the conclusion that Atlantis is nothing other than the spiritual world created in heaven by Pharaoh Ra-Amon (Ra-Aman — the Merciful). The Atlanteans are the ancestors of the sacred race of Osiris (Azar) — the Turkic begs, pirs, sayyids, shaykhs, and saints — the first rulers of the world. These giants, created as a race of titans, sinned, and thus, as it is said, “God laid His hand upon them and made them small,” causing them to lose their original power.

Further details and irrefutable evidence of this truth can be found in my book Batini-Qur’an.

Firudin Gilar Beg

Sufi-batini scholar