Satuq Bughra Khan (Arabic: ستوق بغرا خان; Sátuq Bughra Khán) was a Karakhanid ruler.
He was born in 903. When Satuq reached the age of six, his father Bazir Arslan Khan died during a campaign against Bukhara.
His Conversion to Islam
The ruler of the Karakhanids between 920 and 955, he accepted Islam in 920 (932), becoming the first Muslim ruler of the Karakhanid State. He is therefore important for Turkic history, and the Epic of Satuq Bughra Khan is recounted about him. His father was Tengri Kadir Bughra Khan, of the Karakhanid ruling family. Upon his father's death, he grew up under the protection of his uncle and stepfather Oghulchak Kadir Khan. When Satuq Bughra was about twelve years old, a dispute arose among the princes of the Muslim Samanid State, which ruled the region of Transoxiana and Khorasan. One of them, Nasr ibn Ahmad, took refuge in the country of Oghulchak Kadir Khan. He treated him well and gave him the administration of the district of Artuch. Thanks to the efforts of Nasr ibn Ahmad and the Muslim merchants coming and going, Artuch became a centre of trade. Satuq Bughra was among the visitors to Artuch. Meeting Nasr ibn Ahmad and learning Islam from him, Satuq became a Muslim in Turkestan 283 years after the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah, when he was 12 years old (915). After becoming a Muslim he took the name Abd al-Karim, and his full name became Abd al-Karim Satuq Bughra Khan.
The 10th-century Arab traveller and scholar Ibn Fadlan reported that in the year 960 CE approximately 200,000 tents of Turks (Karakhanids) adopted the religion of Islam.
At the Age of 25
When he reached the age of 25, he declared that he had become a Muslim and began his struggle against his uncle. He fought the Battle of Fergana against him. First he captured the fortress of Atbaşı. Then, with an army of three thousand men, he marched on Kashgar and conquered it. He killed his uncle Oghulchak Khan. He secured his authority in the land and ensured its unity. He rapidly spread Islam throughout the Turkic lands. Islamic scholars such as Abū al-Hasan Muhammad guided and encouraged Satuq Bughra Khan.
In his later wars, Satuq Bughra Khan one by one seized the cities of Turkestan settled by the Yaghma, Chigil, and Oghuz tribes. Meanwhile, the Great Khagan Bazir Arslan Khan, who ruled the eastern part of the Karakhanid State, obtained help from the Chinese and in 924 waged war against Abd al-Karim Satuq Bughra Khan. With the help and support of the Muslims, Satuq Bughra Khan fought the Battle of Balasagun against him and emerged victorious.
His Children
Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan's four sons were Bughra Hasan Khan, Husayn Bughra Khan, and Yusuf Kadir Khan; the name of his fourth son is unknown. His three daughters were Nasab Türkan, Hadya Türkan, and Ala Nur. He had seven children in all.
At the End of His Reign
Satuq Bughra Khan reigned for 32 years. Toward the end of his reign, Satuq Bughra Khan carried out a campaign to the frontier of the Khitan (契丹; Qìdān) (against the Liao dynasty), and Islam expanded throughout the entire country as far as Turfan. Here he fell ill and was brought back to Kashgar, where he lay sick for an entire year and died. In his final hours, Satuq Bughra Khan summoned his friends, his children, and Abū Nasr's son Abū al-Fattāh to his side and gave them counsel. He died in 955.
In his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, Mahmud al-Kashgari mentions "اَرتُج artuç" — "Juniper. There are two villages of this name near Kashgar," "one named Golden Artuch (Artux), the second Upper Artuch." He was buried in the cemetery at Golden Artuch (Lower Artuch), and his funeral was attended by two governors, seven thousand scholars ("clerics"), twenty-two thousand ghazis, and fifteen thousand people from among the populace. Three years after Satuq Bughra Khan's death, Abū al-Fattāh also died, and thus all his duties passed to the Satuq family.
Hasan Bughra Sultan Khan took the title "Padishah Ghazi" and succeeded his father in Kashgar; during his rule he took Khotan (also called Chinshahr, Çinşehir).
After Abd al-Karim Satuq Bughra Khan, a son named Musa Tunga succeeded him. After him, his son Baytaş Süleyman Arslan ruled. It is also related that he had other sons and daughters.
His mausoleum, built at Artuch in the 10th century, was again repaired in 1995 by the architect Abuduryim Ashan.
Sources
- Turkish Wikipedia: tr.wikipedia.org
- English Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org