It is difficult to say now when the legendary history began to form around the monuments of Mizdahkan . Given the availability of archaeological materials, it can be assumed that the Eastern Hill had the significance of a holy place for almost two thousand years - from pre-Islamic times to the present day.

Apparently, the architectural monuments on the Eastern Hill became objects of visits for Muslim pilgrims as early as the 12th century. It is quite possible that the community of followers of the Sufi sheikh Sulayman al- Haddadi al- Musavi (d. 1261) played a significant role in this process of forming the legendary history of Mizdahkan . It is possible that the ritual actions around the mausoleum of Shamun-nabi and the elevation of Jumart-kassab were once supported by the Sufis living in Mizdahkan .

Some of the first monuments of Mizdakhkan , the legendary history of which became the property of science, were the Shamun-nabi mausoleum, the "hillock" of Jumart-kassab , and partly the Gyaur-kala settlement. A graduate of the Department of Ethnography of Moscow State University, Yu. V. Knorozov, dedicated his diploma work to these monuments. It was partially published in the article "Mazar Shamun-nabi (Some remnants of pre-Islamic beliefs among the peoples of the Khorezm oasis") // Soviet Ethnography. 1949. pp. 86-97.
Yu. V. Knorozov noted that the ritual of visiting the mausoleum of Shamun-nabi and the legends surrounding this monument contain remnants of pre-Muslim beliefs.

In his work, he cited the story of the cemetery sheikh, according to which "Shamun-nabi was a palvan who lived long before Muhammad and fought with the kefir for the faith in the true Allah. He came from Arabia and settled on this hill. Nearby in the fortress (the settlement of Gyaur-kala) lived the infidel palvan Gyaur, with whom he often fought. Gyaur saw the wife of Shamun-nabi, fell in love with her and dug an underground passage to the dwelling of the saint. Through this passage, the unfaithful wife, in the absence of her husband, went on a date with Gyaur. One day, Shamun-nabi, returning home, did not find his wife, went to look for her, stumbled upon an underground passage and through it got to Gyaur's castle, where he found his opponent together with his wife. Gyaur began to fight with Shamun-nabi. The wife threw a handful of millet at her husband's feet, causing him to slip and fall to his knees. At that moment, Shamun-nabi's dog bit Giaur and distracted his attention. The fight ended in vain. After that, Shamun-nabi bequeathed not to bury him with his legs, but to cut them off.
The wife tried to tie her husband with ropes and even wire to hand him over to Giaour, but the saint broke all the bonds. By chance, she learned that he could not free himself if he was tied with hair from his own beard. Thus, Giaour managed to defeat Shamun-nabi. According to the will, before burying him, the saint's legs were cut off."

 Yu. V. Knorozov pointed out that there are pre-Islamic roots of the legend of Shamun-nabi, which go back to the biblical character Samson. They are manifested in the name of the saint (Shamun-Samson), gigantic stature, the theme of his wife's infidelity; the motif of hair, which plays a key role in the hero's strength.

The Jumart-kassab hill, which, as archaeological excavations show, served as a burial place for a long time (3rd - 14th centuries), later turned into a sacred place associated with the cult of fertility. Legends claim that under the hill there is an underground mausoleum in which the pious butcher Jumart is buried .

"... The connection of the mazar of Shamun-nabi with the hill of Jumart-kassab, clearly noticeable in ritual practice, allows us to assume that in the name of Jumart tradition preserves the name of an ancient hero of the legend, whose destroyed sanctuary (apparently, the ancient one in the cemetery) was replaced by the mazar of Shamun-nabi. Jumart-kassab, a generous butcher, can be compared with Gayomard of Zoroastrian sources, mentioned in the Avesta under the name of Gaya Maretan, while the popular Pahlavi form was Gemurd.

In Zoroastrian cosmogony, Gayomard is the ancestor of all people (from his seed came the first human couple), created by Ahura Mazda from the earth together with the primordial bull, the ancestor of animals. According to the Avesta, Gaya Maretan is the first righteous man who followed the decrees of Ahura Mazda, and the ancestor of the Aryan peoples (Knorozov. 1949, pp. 91-92).

Later versions of the stories about Shamun-nabi say that he was gifted with the abilities of a healer and palvan , and could also perform miracles. Shamun-nabi came to the lower reaches of the Amu Darya to preach Islam; he treated the sick and did not charge for it. In another version, Shamun-nabi was a preacher who arrived in this land “even before the messengers of the Prophet Muhammad, and called on people to believe in the One God. Shamun performed many miracles, healed diseases, controlled the weather and the movement of heavenly bodies, and could speak the language of wild animals” (Knorozov, 1949, p. 92).

It is obvious that the nature of the building - the mausoleum of Shamun-nabi, covered with seven domes - was reflected in the legendary story about the hero's seven daughters, "and each built him a gumbez ."
The giant tombstone in the mausoleum (more than 25 meters), which is a cenotaph, obviously served as the basis for giving the legendary hero the appearance of a bogatyr ( palvan ).

in the ritual practices around the Shamun-nabi mausoleum and the Jumart-kassab mound .

To this day, infertile women come to the mausoleum of Shamun-nabi, walk around the mausoleum three times, and then roll down the slope of the Jumart-kassab hill . It is believed that in this way one can be cured of infertility. According to popular belief, this ritual also helps in the healing of certain diseases. Jumart-kassab is characterized by an action that is part of the obligatory ritual of pilgrims: the person performing the ritual must build a pyramid from fragments of seven bricks ( arvokh " uy ").

According to historian M. Karlybaev , the modern name of the monument combines two Arabic words: Khalifa, meaning the successor of the founder of the Sufi brotherhood, the senior disciple; Erezhep /Rajab is an Arabic male name. The ruins of the building, which were used in the last few centuries as a burial place, are the subject of ziyarat among the local Muslim population. One of the ritual actions performed during the pilgrims' visit to Khalifa Erezhep, as well as everywhere in the cemetery, is that they build pyramids from debris and stones consisting of seven fragments ("arvokh"). Obviously, this ritual is in no way connected with Islam.

At the same time, trying to somehow explain the tradition of building such pyramids, a legend spread among the guides telling about the monument that the ruins of Khalifa Erezhep are a kind of world clock of the apocalypse. The fact is that the upper parts of the three surviving walls and other structural parts of the monument are made of burnt brick. The unsatisfactory condition of the masonry at the top led to the fact that burnt bricks fell from above from time to time. Hence the legend that once a year one brick falls from the walls of the building. And at the moment when the last brick falls from the top of the walls of Khalifa Erezhep, life on Earth will end. Thus, Khalifa Erezhep received the symbolic meaning of an eschatological clock, and the pyramids that pilgrims put together seem to return these bricks to their place and prolong the life of the Earth.

According to the second legend, a prince from a distant country, while traveling, came to the city of Mizdakhkan , where he began to work with master builders. He fell in love with the ruler's daughter - her name was Mazlumkhan sulu . She reciprocated the prince's feelings. When he asked her father for Mazlumkhan's hand sulu , he put forward a condition - in one night the prince must build the highest minaret in the city. The prince-craftsman performs this miracle, but the ruler, not wanting to part with his daughter, still refuses him. Then the unfortunate lover threw himself down from the minaret, and after him his beloved. The broken lovers are buried in a mausoleum, which is named after the deceased princess. The minaret, on the orders of the grief-stricken father, is destroyed.