Zairūllah Nūr-Ali Ghāzi-Bahadur bin Abū'l-Khair Khan (, ,

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: ''Zairūllah Nūr-Äli Ğazi-Bahadür bin Äbılqaiyr han''), also known as Nūr Ali Khan (1704–1790) was the

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

of the Junior juz, eldest son of Abu'l Khair Khan.

Rise to power and reign

Nur Ali Khan was born in 1704 as the oldest son of Abu'l-Khair Muhammed Khan and his consort Farida Begum. He was given the name Zairullah at birth and went by it until after ascending to the throne. Through his father, Zairullah was the grandson of the Kazakh '' mırza'' Abdullah Sultan, who was best known for rising to the royal ranks after completing his

hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

from his home in modern-day

Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

. Zairullah Nur Ali Khan ascended to the throne in 1748 following the death of his father. His reign was largely characterized by a fragmentation of the

Kazakh Khanate The Kazakh Khanate ( kk, Қазақ Хандығы, , ), in eastern sources known as Ulus of the Kazakhs, Ulus of Jochi, Yurt of Urus, was a Kazakh state in Central Asia, successor of the Golden Horde existing from the 15th to 19th century, ...

into the three ''jüzes'' once again. Zairullah (referred to as Nur Ali Khan hereafter) occupied the Junior jüz that his father originally ruled before uniting the Kazakh people under his rule. As ruler of the Junior jüz, Nur Ali Khan was granted full authority over most of western and central

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, but was unable to assert his authority anywhere else. Facing threats in the west from the Buddhist

Kalmyks The Kalmyks ( Kalmyk: Хальмгуд, ''Xaľmgud'', Mongolian: Халимагууд, ''Halimaguud''; russian: Калмыки, translit=Kalmyki, archaically anglicised as ''Calmucks'') are a Mongolic ethnic group living mainly in Russia, w ...

and the Qing Chinese to the east, Nur Ali Khan spent much of his time gathering resources and forming strong troops to prevent his state from crumbling to expanding foreign neighbors. Nur Ali Khan was initially hesitant to accept

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rule as he thought it would erase the cultural identity of the

Turko-Persian The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...

. Though his father made an alliance with the Russian Empire to protect the Kazakh Khanate from foreign enemies, Nur Ali Khan broke the alliance and waged war against the Russian Empire in 1752. The famous Kazakh war hero Nasrullah Nauryzbai Bahadur was the commander of the army at this time, and led the

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 ...

Kazakh

ghazis A ''ghazi'' ( ar, غازي, , plural ''ġuzāt'') is an individual who participated in ''ghazw'' (, '' ''), meaning military expeditions or raiding. The latter term was applied in early Islamic literature to expeditions led by the Islamic prophe ...

on most of the battles along with Nur Ali himself. After numerous military defeats, however, Nur Ali made peace with the Russians once again and agreed to join the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

as an autonomous state. Nur Ali Khan was deposed in 1786 after being deemed to old and unwell to rule. His younger brother, Jar Muhammad Khan, took over the throne of the Junior jüz in his place for a few years and exiled him to the Russian trading town of

Ufa Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

. In 1790, Nur Ali Khan died in

at the age of 86.

References

1704 births 1790 deaths Ethnic Kazakh people Khans {{Asia-bio-stub