The Turkish form of his name is given here, although other languages know him under similar forms (Nasr al-Din Khodja, etc.). In Turkey he has recently (noting the flood of books on him starting around 1990) become a national symbol, and Turkish scholars in particular are especially concerned to discuss his historical existence in Turkish soil. During Ottoman times his stories were fairly universal, from the eastern Mediterranean region to Central Asia. Stories about him often connect him to Timur (Tamerlane), and some therefore believe he dates to that time. The earliest literary mentionings occur in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
Stories about him were perhaps most successfully popularized in the west in a series of four books by Idries Shah (Shah called him Mulla Nasrudin).
