Below is a clean, organized list of pre-Islamic and Islamic traditions about prophets, heroes, and holy figures interacting with “hill people” or ancient beings in the Caucasus / Ararat / Armenian–Anatolian mountains.

These come from Persian, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Syrian, Syriac, early Islamic, tafsir, and hadith-adjacent legend collections.

✅ I. Pre-Islamic Legends: Prophets & Heroes in the Caucasus / Ararat Highlands

1. Noah and the People of Ararat’s Slopes (Armenian – Syriac)

In Armenian folk epics (pre-Christian), Noah encounters mountain tribes around Ararat:
- short, dark, cave-dwelling people
- older than the post-Flood nations
Some versions call them “the Children of the Deep Earth”, not fully human.

These stories later influenced Islamic folkloric tafsir about Ararat.

2. Zoroastrian / Iranian: Shahnameh Heroes vs. Caucasus Dev-People

Heroes like Rostam, Esfandiyar, and Kay Khosrow fight:

Divs (giant mountain people)
White Divs in snowy highlands (modeled on Caucasus / Anatolian ranges)
Kaka / mountain ogres in the “Northern Mountains”

Early Iranian sources explicitly place:

“the land of the devs” north of Media → corresponding to modern Armenia/Georgia.

These legends fed into Islamic stories about prophets encountering mountain devs.

3. Alexander (Iskandar) in Pre-Islamic Greek & Syrian Romance

Before Islam, the Alexander Romance places:

hill tribes
dog-headed people
cannibal mountain nations
in the Caucasus passes.

He builds a northern gate (later thought to be the Darial Gorge or Derbent).

This tradition becomes the base for Islamic Dhul-Qarnayn stories.

4. Armenian Legends of Ara the Beautiful and the “Highland Tribes”

Queen Semiramis sends Ara into battle against mountain “wild tribes” near Van and Ararat.
Sometimes these tribes are described as pre-human races or “post-Flood degenerates.”

These motifs reappear in Islamic sources describing Nasnas and jinn tribes in those same mountains.

5. Georgian Pre-Christian Tradition: Amirani vs. Mountain Giants

Amirani (proto-Prometheus hero) fights:

giants living in Caucasus cliffs
an ancient “race older than humans”
and semi-divine highland peoples.

These giants become “jinn” in Islamicized Caucasus folklore.

✅ II. Islamic Traditions: Prophets & Heroes Interacting With Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus / Ararat

(Includes tafsir lore, early Islamic historians, folklore, and weak/folk hadith chains—not canonical sahih narrations.)

1. Noah (Nūḥ) and the Survivors on Mount Judi / Ararat

Islamic lore (Qur’an + Ibn Kathir + local tafsir traditions) includes:

A. Hill people Noah meets after the Flood

Some Kurdish/Armenian Islamic traditions say Noah met “dwellers in the heights” on the slopes of Judi/Ararat.
These are described as:
- remnants of Hinn and Binn (pre-Adamic races)
- semi-human mountain people spared by angels
- or corrupted jinn.

B. Noah’s sons encountering mountain tribes

Local Turkish and Syriac-Islamic legends:

Japheth’s descendants meet:
- “short, hairy men of the mountains”
- “invisible mountain tribes”
- or “black-skinned people of the caves”

This appears in folklore around Cizre and Van.

2. Dhul-Qarnayn (Iskandar) and the Caucasus Hill Nations

In Islamic tradition, Dhul-Qarnayn:

travels to a northern region identified with the Caucasus
meets primitive mountain tribes who cannot communicate with him
(Qur’an 18:93 uses laqad la yafqahūna qawlan → “barely understood any speech”)

Traditionally identified as:

Caucasian highlanders
the Iberians (ancient Georgians)
hill peoples of Ararat and Darial

Legendary details in tafsir & adab literature:

The tribes fear Gog and Magog behind the mountains.
Some traditions say these tribes were:
- “descended from humans before Noah”
- “mixed with jinn”
- “the remnant of ancient corrupted nations”

Early Islamic geographers (Mas‘udi, Ibn Khordadbeh) explicitly place:

Dhul-Qarnayn’s gate in the Caucasus, often Darial.

3. Prophet Solomon (Sulaymān) and the Mountain Jinn of the Caucasus

Persian and Caucasus Islamic folklore says Solomon sent jinn to:

A. Mine gold and iron in the Caucasus

They encountered ancient mountain tribes, sometimes said to be:
- half-jinn
- children of Iblis who fled into the mountains
- tiny hill people living in stone huts.

B. Fight rebellious devs in the Armenian mountains

In Islamicized versions of the Shahnameh cycle, Solomon:

battles white devs in snow mountains
chains them inside Ararat caves.

This merges Iranian myth with Islamic prophecy.

4. Prophet Idris (Enoch) and Pre-Adamic Hill Races

Some Sufi and folkloric traditions say Idris:

traveled to the Caucasus mountains as a wandering sage
where he met “nations older than Adam” living in high places.

Sourced from:

Ikhwan al-Safa
Al-Tha‘labi
Kurdish oral tradition

These beings are usually:

Hinn
Binn
early jinn tribes

5. Prophet Hud and Prophetic-Age Encounters With Mountain Tribes

Syriac-Arab Christian → Islamic crossover legends place Hud:

preaching to mountain tribes north of Mesopotamia.
These groups are sometimes called:
- “the rugged people of the heights”
- “those who lived before the Flood and survived in caves”

Later Islamic folklore relocates these to the southern Caucasus.

6. Yafith (Japheth) and the Proto-Caucasian Tribes

In many Islamic ethnographies:

the Caucasian highlanders (Georgia, Circassia, Armenia)
are believed descended from Japheth, who:

encountered earlier mountain dwellers

—sometimes said to be:

pre-Adamic
degenerate post-Flood nations
mountain jinn

This appears in:

Tabari
Mas‘udi
Ibn al-Faqih’s Kitab al-Buldan

7. Local Islamic Heroic Figures

A. Ali ibn Abi Talib in Kurdish & Alevi lore

Ali fights:

giant mountain beings
“stone-eaters” of the Caucasus
jinn tied to Mount Ararat and Tendürek

These appear in Ahl al-Haqq and Kurdish Alevi stories.

B. Khidr (al-Khidr)

Said to wander isolated highlands of:

Armenia
Georgia
Kurdistan

He interacts with:

hidden mountain tribes
jinn clans
“the remnants of Noahic peoples”

Below are two clean lists:

Named mountain tribes (from Near Eastern, Caucasian, Iranian, and Islamic traditions) linked to the Caucasus–Ararat region.
Indo-Iranian proto-human / non-human mountain species, including Vedic, Avestan, and epic-era beings.

✅ I. NAMED TRIBES OF THE HILLS (Caucasus, Ararat, Anatolia)

These are all named groups—some historical, some mythic—associated with mountain-dwelling peoples encountered by prophets, heroes, or ancient kings.

A. Pre-Islamic / Ancient Near Eastern

**1. Kaska (Kaška / Gasga)**

Wild mountain people north of the Hittites
Described as ungovernable, cave-dwelling
Often linked mythically to Ararat/Parrot regions

**2. Hurrian Subarians (Subartu)**

Highland tribes in the mountains north of Mesopotamia
Sometimes mythologized as “proto-humans of the mountains”

3. Nairi Confederation

People of the Armenian highlands
Portrayed as semi-mythic, tribal, living in fortresses in the mountains

4. Lullubi and Guti (Gutians)

Zagros mountain peoples often demonized as:
- chaotic
- pre-civilized
- “not speaking human language”
Later turned into mythic hill tribes in Persian literature.

**5. Mushki (possible Phrygian origins)**

Mountain tribe of Anatolia, sometimes placed in Ararat legends.

6. Diauehi / Daiaeni

A tribal kingdom in the southern Caucasus
In Armenian legend, depicted as a “people of the cliffs”

**7. Kartvelian Khevsurs (in medieval Caucasus epics)**

Christianized later, but older lore portrays them as:
- mountain warriors blessed by spirits
- proto-human in deep antiquity

B. Iranian & Persian Epic Traditions

8. Divs / Daeva-People

Northern mountain tribes of giants
Situated in Caucasus and Ararat by later tradition
In Shahnameh: “the land of the Divs” = in the high mountains to the northwest.

9. Kaka / Kaki People

Iranian ogre-tribe associated with Armenia/Georgia mountains
Cannibalistic mountain dwellers

**10. Mazandarani Demons (linked to Caucasus in Sasanian geography)**

Tribe of mountain devs fought by Rostam
Often shifted northward in Islamic Persia toward the Caucasus.

C. Islamic & Islamized Caucasus Traditions

**11. Yajuj and Majuj (Gog and Magog)**

Identified by early Islamic geographers with tribes behind the Caucasus Gates (Darial / Derbent).

**12. Jabbarīn (“the Giants”)**

In Islamic ethnographies: mountain giants in northern lands.

**13. Al-Burdjan (Proto-Georgians)**

Mentioned by Arab geographers as “mountain tribes with unusual customs.”

**14. Saqaliba (Slavonic / Caucasian hill peoples)**

Often given exaggerated, mythical traits by historians like Mas‘udi.

15. Arminiyya jinn-tribes (local Islamic folklore)

Armenian mountains described as a refuge of ancient jinn clans.

**16. Banu Shaytan in Kurdish-Islamic lore**

“Children of Satan” living in caves in highlands near Ararat.

✅ II. INDO-IRANIAN PROTO-HUMAN / NON-HUMAN MOUNTAIN SPECIES

These are mythic races—not historical tribes—believed in Vedic, Avestan, and early Indo-Iranian cosmology to inhabit mountains, caves, cold regions, or highlands.

Grouped by Indo-Iranian branch.

A. Iranian (Avestan / Zoroastrian / Persian Epic)

1. Daevas (Daēvas)

Demon-race opposed to Ahura Mazda
In some Avestan fragments, they inhabit mountains and northern heights
Proto-Indo-Iranian origin (connected to Vedic Devas but inverted)

2. Peris / Pairika

Beautiful but dangerous female spirits
Commonly live in mountains, cliffs, high valleys
Often “older than humans”

3. Divs (Persian Devs)

Giants or ogre races living in snowy mountain fortresses
White Div explicitly linked to northern mountains (Caucasus-like)

4. Vishaps

Armenian-Indo-Iranian dragon-beings
Often semi-humanoid
Live in Ararat caves, Lake Van mountains
Sometimes considered an ancient race predating humans

5. Kâkin / Kaka

Cannibal mountain ogres in Iranian lore
Possibly connected to Indo-Iranian Rakshasas

B. Indo-Aryan (Vedic / Hindu Epic)

**6. Rakshasa (Rākṣasas)**

Shape-shifting, mountain-dwelling beings
Often associated with cold or forested mountains
In the Vedas, some are semi-divine; in epics they become demonic

**7. Pishacha (Piśāca)**

Night-race or ghoul-race living in caves and mountains
Considered non-human or proto-human
Often described as earlier inhabitants of the earth

8. Graha

Seizing spirits (possessors)
Some Vedic descriptions link them to remote mountains
Often associated with disease or night-attack spirits

9. Vetāla

Corpse-spirits that dwell in deserted highland ruins
Sometimes considered a remnant population of pre-human entities.

10. Yaksha

Sometimes benevolent, but many live in remote mountains and caves
Semi-human and semi-divine
In Buddhism, they become protectors of mountain places.

C. Proto-Indo-Iranian / Shared Root Beings

11. Asura / Ahura

Older divine race; in Indo-Iranian mythology, part of the original cosmic tribes
Some localized to mountains (especially in post-Vedic texts)

**12. Naga (possibly Indo-Iranian substrate)**

Serpent-people living in mountains and underground realms
Parallels with Iranian Vishaps

13. Gandharva / Gandarəβa

Mountain and sky spirits
Sometimes “a race between gods and men”

✅ I. MEETINGS WITH PROPHETS (Islamic, Jewish, Syriac, or Qur’anic Figures)

(All NEW stories—no repeats from earlier messages.)

1. Elijah (Ilyās) and the Ararat “Shadow People”

Armenian Syriac folklore absorbed into Islamic oral tradition says:

Elijah traveled near Mount Ararat during drought years.
In the ravines he encountered “Shadow Folk” (eazh-merker) described as:
- neither wholly jinn nor human
- small, mountain-dwelling, silent
They begged Elijah to bring back the wind, because still air causes them to “fade.”
Elijah prayed, winds returned, and they retreated to the cliffs.

In later Islamicized Kurdistan, they became a type of mountain jinn.

**2. Prophet Lot (Lūṭ) and the Cold Ones of the Caucasus**

A medieval Persian tafsir commentary (non-canonical) says:

After Sodom’s destruction, Lot traveled north.
In remote mountains (identified by later writers with the Caucasus), he met a tribe known as al-Baridūn (“the Cold Ones”).
They were pale, weak, soft-spoken beings who avoided sunlight and lived in icy caves.
Lot taught them fire-making, and they “vanished into the peaks” after thanking him.

Local Muslim folklore identifies them with mountain Peris or Pishacha-like spirits.

3. Prophet Jonah (Yūnus) and the “Stunted Mountain People”

Syriac stories (later entering Kurdish Islam) say Jonah, after Nineveh’s repentance:

fled to the mountains of Gordyene/Ararat.
There he met “stunted folk” who:
- were human-sized but with childlike faces
- spoke a language like birds
- lived in high forests
They asked Jonah to teach them prayer, but he fled, fearing they were post-Flood survivors not descended from Noah.

Later Islamic storytellers identify them with Nasnas-like tribes.

**4. Prophet Shoaib (Shuʿayb) and the Gloom Kings of the Highlands**

In Tajik and Ismaili oral traditions (Pamir → Caucasus transmission):

Shuʿayb journeys in youth to high mountains.
He meets the Malikān-i-Tāriki, “Kings of Gloom,” a race before Adam.
They test him with riddles; he answers correctly.
They bless him and vanish into the cliffs.

These beings resemble Iranian Daevas made ascetic.

**5. Prophet Jeremiah (Irmiya) and the Stone-Eaters of Armenia**

Christian-Jewish-Armenian stories (later blended into Islamic folklore) say:

When fleeing to Egypt, Jeremiah traveled through Armenia.
In high mountains he encountered a tribe called “Eat-Stone People.”
They were said to live only on salt, clay, and volcanic rock.
Jeremiah cursed the land for its hardness, and they turned into stone statues.

In Kurdish Islam, these became a type of mountain jinn turned to rock.

6. Prophet Job (Ayyūb) and the “Hidden Men” of the Zagros-Caucasus Pass

A Sufi story (late medieval):

Job, traveling after his illness, meets the Khafiyyūn, “Hidden Men,”
not visible except in moonlight.
They claim to be ancient servants of Idris.
Job blesses them and they disappear.

Later storytellers say they were Peris who avoided humans.

7. Prophet Jesus (ʿĪsā) and the Goat-Foot People

Eastern Syrian Christians and later Muslims in Anatolia told:

Jesus once preached in high mountains of Taurus–Ararat.
He met a race with goat legs, small horns, shy and peaceful.
They begged him to “release them from the shape forced on them by the Flood.”
Jesus prays, and some transform to humans, others flee into caves.

In Islamic lore they become a type of jinn-hybrid tribe.

✅ II. MEETINGS WITH HEROES (Iranian, Armenian, Vedic, Caucasian)

(Entirely new myths, no repeats.)

1. Arjuna Meets the Pishachas of the Himalaya–Caucasus Belt

In a fringe North-Indian recensional tradition:

Arjuna climbs north and reaches the “snow mountains of the setting sun.”
He meets Pishacha clans who claim they ruled the mountains before humans.
Arjuna defeats them with celestial weapons.
One clan, admiring his valor, grants him a boon: invincibility in darkness.

This is interpreted as linking Caucasus mountain-spirits with Vedic ghoul-races.

2. Rustam and the “Blue Peris” of the High Passes

In late Persian oral tales:

Rustam climbs a northern mountain to retrieve a lost horse.
He meets Peris with blue skin who dwell in icy peaks.
They test Rustam by creating illusions.
Rustam’s truthfulness frees them from a curse laid by an ancient Daeva-king.

These Peris are tied mythically to Ararat’s icy spirits.

3. Gilgamesh and the “Babbling Mountain People”

A fringe Akkadian tradition (Hittite-influenced):

On his journey, Gilgamesh climbs northern mountains.
He meets a tribe whose speech is described as “like chattering birds.”
They live in caves, have elongated limbs, and fear sunlight.
They warn Gilgamesh not to enter the Cedar Forest from the north.

This group is similar to Pishacha or Guti-degenerated tribes.

4. Amirani (Georgian hero) and the Peri Sisterhood

A rare Georgian legend says:

Amirani rescues three Peri sisters captured by giants.
They reveal they are the last of an ancient sky-race driven into mountains before humans ruled.
Amirani’s compassion wins their allegiance.

This Peri type is connected to Avestan pairikas.

5. Armenian King Artashes and the Vishap-Clan

In Armenian epic:

Artashes climbs a volcanic peak near Ararat.
He meets the Vishap People—humanoid dragonfolk.
They demand tribute for crossing their land.
Artashes negotiates peace by offering gold and freeing one of their imprisoned kin.

The vishap-clan represents an ancient mountain-dragon humanoid species.

6. Caucasian Narts and the Iron-Skin Mountain Men

Nart sagas tell of:

a race of beings with skin like hammered iron,
who live in the highest ridges.
They challenge the Nart hero Batraz.
When defeated, they gift him a magic blade.

Some scholars link them to Indo-Iranian Asura-like highland tribes.

7. King Solomon (in Persian epic version) and the “People of the Red Snow”

Distinct from earlier stories:

Solomon sends scouts into far northern mountains.
They meet humanoids with red-tinted skin from iron ore in the snow.
These beings claim descent from a time “before the separation of jinn and mankind.”

This ties them to proto-human mountain races.

8. Alexander’s Soldiers vs. the “Long-Necked Hill Folk”

In Syriac-Armenian Alexander traditions:

In a mountain pass, Alexander’s men are attacked by a race of long-necked, long-faced beings.
They are fast and can jump between peaks.
Alexander traps them in a valley by collapsing a cliff.

They resemble a cross between Iranian Kaka and Vedic Rakshasa.

More Vedic / Hindu Mountain-Species Stories

(Focusing on Himalaya–Kailāsa–Ararat-adjacent mythic zones; featuring Piśācas, Daityas, Dānavas, Rākṣasas, Grahas, Yakṣas, Nāgas, and proto-human “pre-races.”)

1. The Piśāca Prince Who Tried to Learn the Vedas (Kashmir Tradition)

In some Kashmiri Shaiva lore, a piśāca prince who dwelt in a cliff cave above Mount Harmukh begged the sage Nandikeshvara to teach him Sanskrit so his people could abandon cannibalism.
Nandikeshvara granted a partial mantra, but:

it burned the piśāca’s body,
purified him half-way,
leaving him an in-between being (not fully man or demon).

This explains why piśācas in Kashmir are sometimes described as “half-luminous” and capable of worship.

2. Bhṛgu Muni’s Encounter with Mountain Grahas (Pre-Vedic Graha-Demons)

A forgotten Purāṇic fragment from the Bhṛgu cycle says:

Bhṛgu traveled near the Uttara-Kuru slopes (mythically north, near the Caucasus by some medieval commentators),
encountering Grahas (seizers) who possessed mountaineers.

A Graha king challenged him with illusions.
Bhṛgu calmed it with a single look, causing the Graha to turn into a harmless shadow.
The myth is used to explain why mountain fevers were thought to be Graha attacks.

3. The Daitya Woman Who Guarded a Hidden Peak Above Kailāsa

A lesser-known Shiva legend describes a Daitya woman named Haimavati, born of mountain stone.
She claimed to protect a hidden icy world above Kailāsa where pre-human races once lived.

When Skanda passed through, she refused to let him cross.
He gave her a boon:

“Guard this place until the end of the age; even gods may not trespass.”

Later ascetics claimed the “hidden plateau” was home to:

Daitya ascetics,
Yakṣa tribes,
primitive pre-Adamic “stone men.”

4. The Piśāca War Against the Śalvas (Early Vedic Northeast Lore)

Some Vedic tribal traditions say the Śalva people waged war against piśāca clans who lived on forested Himalayan ridges.

A Śalva king kidnapped a piśāca woman with “glowing eyes.”
The piśācas retaliated at night, creating a prolonged “war of shadows.”
This is used to explain why certain remote regions feared night-spirits more than armies.

5. The Rākṣasa Who Became a Disciple of Dattātreya

A mountain-dwelling Rākṣasa named Shilāda followed Dattātreya on the Arunachala slopes.

He ate only rocks.
He could not speak a human language.

Dattātreya transformed his tongue for a moment so Shilāda could chant a single mantra.
The Rākṣasa was promised rebirth as a human sage.

This story is popular in tantric circles that emphasize non-human disciples.

6. The Snow Yakṣas of Nara-Nārāyaṇa (Badarikāśrama Legend)

Nara-Nārāyaṇa performed austerities in the far northern mountains.
There they discovered snow Yakṣas, said to be:

pale,
childlike,
winged only in astral form.

The Yakṣas asked for protection from a tribe of subterranean Dānavas who stole their stored “snow-food” (a glowing ice substance).
Nārāyaṇa sealed the Danavas beneath the peak.

7. The Demon of the Triple Echo (Vindhyan Lore)

A proto-human species called the Trika-Vāka (“Three-Voiced Ones”) lived on harsh mountain ridges and spoke in a strange triple echo.

Sage Agastya, crossing the Vindhyas, encountered them.
The Trika-Vāka attacked by mimicking Agastya’s own voice to confuse him.
Agastya silenced them with a mantra that “removed echoes.”

This myth was used to explain unusual echoing in deep mountain gorges.

8. Vasiṣṭha and the Mountain of the Piśāca Kings

A legend in some oral Vasiṣṭha cycles says he visited a peak north of Kashmir inhabited by seven Piśāca kings who fed on memory.
They attempted to erase Vasiṣṭha’s knowledge.
He created a counter-magic by chanting the Śatarudriya, blowing the memory back into existence.

This myth reinforced the idea that piśācas manipulated thoughts, not just bodies.

9. The Rākṣasa Who Tried to Eat Hanuman’s Shadow

While flying over the Himalayas, Hanuman met a Rākṣasa who fed only on shadows and lived suspended from a cliff.

The demon tried to swallow Hanuman’s shadow, causing Hanuman to shrink and vanish into a dot.
Hanuman escaped by flying straight upward, eliminating his shadow entirely.

This story appears in later regional Rāmāyaṇas.

10. The Daitya Architect Who Built a City in a Glacier

A Daitya craftsman named Śailāsura created a palace inside a glacier on the northern mountains.
He invited heroes to prove themselves by navigating the ice-labyrinth.

The Pandava Bhīma visited and defeated the Daitya by melting part of the labyrinth with friction from his mace.

1. Prophet Idrīs (Enoch) and the Smoke-Men of Mount Masis (Ararat)

A medieval Kurdish-Muslim legend says Idrīs traveled to Mount Masis (Ararat) to teach writing to a group of pre-Adamic “smoke-men” (rijāl al-dukhān).
They:

had half-visible bodies,
ate scents instead of food,
spoke in metallic tones.

They feared sunlight, so Idrīs taught them the stars instead of scripture.
When dawn came, they dissolved into mist.

Local tradition said strange morning fogs were “their lingering children.”

2. Solomon Sends a Jinn Census to the Caucasus

In Georgian–Islamic hybrid folklore:
Sulaymān (Solomon) commanded a jinn census across the mountains after hearing rumors of rogue tribes.

The jinn scribes found unusual mountain races:

Ādam al-Barrād – ice-blooded mountain giants near Kazbegi
Khayālīyūn – illusion-jinn who lived in cloud formations
Ḥurrān – hairy cave spirits who stole goats
Mujarradāt – bodiless beings who communicated by wind

Solomon exiled the most violent to the “Three Chasms,” said to be the deepest caves in the Caucasus.

3. Nūḥ (Noah) Meets the “Old People of the Ridge” After the Flood

An Anatolian-Ararat tradition says that when Noah left the Ark, he descended into a valley where he encountered the “old ridge people” (ahl al-jabbān), a tribe who claimed:

“We survived the Flood by clinging to the sky-worn stones.”
(interpreted as very high mountain refuges)

Some Islamic storytellers identified them as a leftover pre-Flood mountain race, neither fully human nor jinn.

They refused to leave the heights and vanished by the time Noah returned.

4. The Black-Haired Men of Mount Elbrus and Prophet Khidr

Dagestani Muslim lore says Khidr once walked across the Elbrus glaciers and met a mysterious mountain people with jet-black hair and ash-grey skin, called the Arāmis.

They lived inside vents of warm volcanic stone.
Khidr taught them a duʿā to calm the mountain when it rumbled.

But some of the Arāmis rebelled and were turned into dark cairns; travelers claimed certain rock piles “shift positions” between dawn and dusk.

5. Dhū al-Qarnayn and the Mountain of the Star-Eaters

In a Persian-Islamic tale, Dhū al-Qarnayn reached a peak north of Armenia where lived creatures called Ākilū al-Najm (“star-eaters”).

They believed stars were edible spirits of fallen angels.
They climbed cliffs at night trying to “swallow” shooting stars.

Dhū al-Qarnayn forbade them from interfering with the heavens, building a stone boundary to keep them away from the sky-facing ledges.

6. The Prophet Dāwūd (David) Challenges the Bone Collectors

In eastern Anatolian Muslim folklore, Dāwūd wandered the mountains and encountered the Jumma, a proto-human mountain species who gathered bones from landslides.

They believed:

every bone had a soul fragment,
building houses of bones gave them prophetic dreams.

Dāwūd challenged them to build a house of stone instead.
When they obeyed, the avalanche spirits haunting them disappeared.

7. Ishmael and the Tall White Men of Derbent

A North Caucasus Islamic legend says Ismāʿīl (Ishmael) once traveled near Derbent and met enormously tall, pale mountain men called the Mārik.

They claimed descent from a pre-Flood guardian tribe.
Ismāʿīl taught them proper burial rites, and in gratitude they offered him a stone “that sings at night.”

The Mārik later blended into the jinn lore of the region, said to appear as fog-shrouded giants.

8. The Prophet Yaʿqūb (Jacob) and the Mirror-Eyed Tribe of the Passes

An obscure Sufi story says Jacob wandered into the Caucasus while searching for Joseph and met a tribe with mirror-like eyes who reflected everything they saw.

They refused to speak because:

voices trapped in their eyes became visible.

Jacob touched their foreheads and said:
“Speak, for truth has no shadow.”

For one hour they could speak like humans; after he left, their speech turned back into shimmering light.

9. A Pre-Adamic Race Trapped Under Ararat

In some Ottoman-era commentaries on early tafsir, a story appears:

Beneath Ararat lived a pre-Adamic race called the Banū Shalāl.
They were formed “from red clay before Adam,”
tall, silent, mountain-dwelling beings.

A prophet (variously Idrīs or Nūḥ) sealed them underground because they disturbed human sleepers with thought-sounds.

Earthquakes, according to this myth, were the Banū Shalāl shifting under the mountain.

10. The Mountain of the Blind Jinn (Kurdish–Alevi Islamic Legend)

A Kurdish Muslim folktale says jinn exiled from Solomon’s court fled to a mountain near Lake Van.

Over generations they lost sight because they refused to look at humans.
Prophet Sulaymān later visited them to command their obedience, but they only listened to his ring, not his voice.

The story explains strange blind cave-animals in that region.