Musa Baytash Khan was the fifth head of the

Karakhanid The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; ), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek K ...

state and the second

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

khan to rule. His name is often mentioned as Tonga Illig, Arslan Khan (in ''Tazkirah Bughra Khan''). His brother was the lesser khan with western parts of the country assigned as his appanage.

Reign

His reign saw raids against

Qocho Qocho (), also known as Idiqut, ("holy wealth"; "glory"; "lord of fortune") was a Uyghur kingdom created in 843, with strong Chinese Buddhist and Tocharian influences. It was founded by Uyghur refugees fleeing the destruction of the Uyghur Kh ...

and

Khotan Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...

. He developed water conservancy and transportation near

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...

and founded a school and a library. Ibn ul-Athir reported that, in 960, during his reign, 200,000 Turkic people embraced Islam. Samanid proselytizers Abul Hasan Said b. Hatim and Abuzar Ammar at-Tamimi were instrumental in this regard. Musa Baytash temporarily lost

to the King of Khotan, Visa Sura ( 尉迟输罗) when latter attacked the Karakhanid state in 971, achieving a big victory. In addition to women and children, there were elephants among the spoils, which were sent to

Song China The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

as tribute. It is unknown when his reign came to an end. He left only one son,

Ali Arslan Khan Ali Arslan Khan, Ali ibn Musa was the seventh ruler of the Karakhanids. He was the founder of the Alid line of the Karakhanids. Almost nothing is known about his reign except his unsuccessful raid into the Kingdom of Khotan in 998. His tomb is l ...

. His daughter Büwi Maryam's tomb, located in Beshkerem (伯什克热木乡),

, is a holy site for Muslims.{{Cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JO24DQAAQBAJ&q=Buwi+Maryam&pg=PT241, title=Situating the Uyghurs Between China and Central Asia, last1=Beller-Hann, first1=Ildiko, last2=Cesàro, first2=M. Cristina, last3=Finley, first3=Joanne Smith, date=2016-12-14, publisher=Routledge, isbn=9781351899895, pages=151, language=en

References

10th-century Turkic people Turkic rulers