Şilki (pronounced ) or Šilki or Shilki, or possibly Jilki (posthumously Islamized as ˁAbdallāh; mid 9th - beginning of the 10th century) was a Volga Bulghar ruler (
iltäbär
Elteber ( otk, 𐰃𐰠𐱅𐰋𐰼, elteber or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-liH-puat'') was the ). According to the controversial ''History of Jaˁfar'', Şilki was a descendant of
Batbayan
Batbayan ( bg, Батбаян) ruled the Khazarian Bulgars mentioned by Theophanes and Nicephorus after the Khazars defeated the Bulgars and Old Great Bulgaria disintegrated.
There is a scholarly theory that he may have been the same person as ...
, the eldest son of
Kubrat
Kubrat ( el, Κοβρᾶτος, Kούβρατος; bg, Кубрат ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in ca. 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — ...
of "
Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th- ...
" (see genealogy below). This is possibly but not necessarily contradicted by the general assumption that
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria, was a historic Bulgar state that existed between the 7th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now European Russia. Volga Bulgaria was a multi-ethnic state wi ...
was established by another of Kubrat's sons,
Kotrag
Kotrag was according to Nikephoros I of Constantinople a son of Kubrat of the Dulo clan of Bulgars. Following the death of his father, he began to extend the influence of his Bulgars to the Volga River. He is remembered as the founder of Volga B ...
. Şilki is credited with promoting the unification of the Bulghar tribes in the area, but the events of his reign are obscure or unverifiable. He is sometimes assumed to have initiated the conversion of the Volga Bulghars to Islam. His son
Almış
Almış or Almuš (Almysh Elteber, Almish Yiltawar, ar, ألمش بن يلطوار, , ), iltäbär of the Volga Bulgars, is believed to have been the first Muslim ruler (emir) of Volga Bulgaria.
Almış was a son of Şilki (). He ruled the Volg ...
, the most famous Volga Bulghar ruler, was definitely a Muslim, and received a caliphal embassy led by Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān. Almış was given the new Muslim name Jaˁfar ibn ˁAbdallāh (i.e., Jaˁfar, son of ˁAbdallāh), which in turn has led to the belief that Şilki bore the Muslim name ˁAbdallāh. However, "son of ˁAbdallāh" was a traditional filiation given to new converts to Islam (like the Mamluks of Egypt), replacing the name of their non-Muslim fathers with the name of the father of the Prophet Muḥammad.
Genealogy
*
Kubrat
Kubrat ( el, Κοβρᾶτος, Kούβρατος; bg, Кубрат ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in ca. 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — ...
*
Batbayan
Batbayan ( bg, Батбаян) ruled the Khazarian Bulgars mentioned by Theophanes and Nicephorus after the Khazars defeated the Bulgars and Old Great Bulgaria disintegrated.
There is a scholarly theory that he may have been the same person as ...
* Timer (Juraš) - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
* Sulabi - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
* Ayyar - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
* Tat Utyak - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
* Kan Qarajar - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
* Ugïr Aydar - only in ''History of Jaˁfar''
*Şilki
References
*
* Golden, P. B., ''An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples'', Wiesbaden, 1992.
* Golden, P. B., "Nomads of the western Eurasian steppes: Ogurs, Onogurs and Khazars, in: H. Roemer et al. (eds.), ''Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta'', III, Berlin, 2001: 282-302.
* Nurutdinov, F., et al. (eds.), Bahši Iman, ''Džagfar tarihy'', vol. 1, Orenburg, 1993.