Şilki (pronounced ) or Šilki or Shilki, or possibly Jilki (posthumously Islamized as ˁAbdallāh; mid 9th to beginning of the 10th century) was a

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...

n ruler (

iltäbär An elteber ( or ''(h)elitbär''; Chinese 頡利發 ''xié-lì-fā'' < EMCh: *''γεt-li^H-puat'') was a

). According to the controversial ''History of Jaˁfar'', Şilki was a descendant of

Kubrat Kubrat (; ) was the ruler of the Onogur–Bulgars, credited with establishing the confederation of Old Great Bulgaria in 632. His name derived from the Turkic words ''qobrat'' — "to gather", or ''qurt'', i.e. "wolf". Origin In the '' Nomi ...

of "

Old Great Bulgaria Old 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-century Turkic noma ...

" (see genealogy below) according to the tradition that Volga Bulgaria was established by Kubrat's son,

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 Volg ...

. Şilki is credited with promoting the unification of the Bulgar 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 Bulgars to Islam. His son

Almış Almış or Almuš (Almysh Elteber, Almish Yiltawar, , , ), Elteber, iltäbär of the Volga Bulgars, is believed to have been the first Islam, Muslim ruler (emir) of Volga Bulgaria. Almış was a son of Şilki (). He ruled the Volga Bulgars, prob ...

, the most famous Volga Bulgar ruler, was 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 Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

of Egypt), replacing the name of their non-Muslim fathers with the name of the father of the Islamic prophet

Muḥammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

Genealogy

* 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.

External links

Text of the Cäğfär Taríxı
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silki History of Tatarstan Volga Bulgaria 10th-century monarchs in Europe

Genealogy

See also

References

External links