Abdulkarim Satuq Bughra Khan (; also spelled Satuk; died 955) was a Kara-Khanid khan; he was one of the first Turkic rulers to convert to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, which prompted his Kara-Khanid subjects to convert. There are different historical accounts of the Satuq's life with some variations. Sources include ''Mulhaqāt al-Surāh'' (Supplement to the "Surah") by Jamal Qarshi (b. 1230/31) who quoted an earlier 11th-century text, ''Tarikh-i Kashghar'' (History of Kashgar) by Abū-al-Futūh 'Abd al-Ghāfir ibn al-Husayn al-Alma'i, an account by an Ottoman historian, known as the Munajjimbashi, and a fragment of a manuscript in Chagatai, ''Tazkirah Bughra Khan'' (Memory of Bughra Khan).

Origin

Satuq was said to have come from Artush, identified in the 10th century book ''

Hudud al-'alam The ''Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam'' (, "Boundaries of the World," "Limits of the World," or in also in English "The Regions of the World") is a 10th-century geography book written in Persian by an anonymous author from Guzgan (present day northern Afg ...

'' (The Limits of the World) as a "populous village of the Yaghma", the Yaghma being one of the Turkic tribes that formed the Karakhanids. He lost his father Bazir Arslan Khan when he was 6. His uncle, Oghulchak Khan, married his mother in

levirate marriage Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage o ...

, making Satuq his step-son.

Conversion to Islam

According to an account by Munajjimbashi, based on a tradition ultimately stemming from a Karakhanid emissary in 1105 to the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

court, he was the first of the khans to convert to Islam under the influence of a

faqīh A ''faqīh'' (: ''fuqahāʾ'', ; : ‏‎) is an Islamic jurist, an expert in ''fiqh'', or Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic law. Definition Islamic jurisprudence or ''fiqh'' is the human understanding of Sharia, which is believed ...

from Bukhara. According to the ''Tazkirah Bughra Khan'' and Jamal Qarshi's ''Mulhaqat al-surah'', Satuq converted to Islam when he was twelve. He was taught about Islam by a

Samanid The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate society, Persianate Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian peoples, Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Greater Khorasan, Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest ...

merchant, Abu an-Nasr from Bukhara. Nasr befriended the Khan of

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

, Satuq's step-father and uncle Oghulchak Khan and was granted special dispensation to build a mosque in the town of Artush just outside Kashgar. Here Satuq would often come to watch the caravans arrive. When Satuq saw Nasr and other Muslims observing their daily prayers he became curious and was instructed by them in the Islamic religion. Satuq kept his faith secret from the king, but convinced his friends to convert. However, when the king heard that Satuq had become a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, he demanded that (under advice of Satuq's mother) Satuq build a temple to show that he hadn't converted. Nasr advised Satuq that he should pretend to build a temple but with the intention of building a mosque in his heart. The king, after seeing Satuq starting to build the temple, then stopped him, believing that he had not converted. Afterwards, Satuq obtained a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

which permitted him in effect to commit patricide, and killed his step-father, after which he conquered Kashgar. The exact year of Satuq's conversion is contested. Some authors put the date at 934, with some appeals to "tradition." However, others put the date closer to 950-955.

Religious wars

Satuq was variously stated as twelve and a half or twenty-five when he became khan, and he began to wage religious war against non-Muslims. According to ''Tazkirah Bughra Khan'':

Death

Satuq Boghra Khan died in 955-956 according to Jamal Qarshi, and was buried in a mazar that can still be visited in Artush today. It was restored in 1995 by Uyghur architect Abuduryim Ashan.

Family

He had at least 4 sons and 3 daughters: * Musa Baytash Khan * Suleyman Khan * Hasan Bughra * Husayn Bughra * Nasab Tarkan * Hadya Tarkan * Ala Nur

References