Turkish-Persian Sultanates in Iran and Khorasan

_{The Ghaznavid Sultanate}

Mahdi, Mohaiuddin, PhD

The Turks and Turkestan

First. Turkish Tribes:

Before entering into these discussions, I will quote the conclusion of a European researcher, which will guide us to the reasons for the complexity of this topic. Elias, the great researcher and famous English Turkologist, after examining many works written in the Islamic world about the Turks, Mongols, Uyghurs and other Altaic tribes, writes: “Thus, the existing evidence in this regard (apart from derogatory titles and terms) leads to three distinct conclusions: First, that in the texts of Muslim authors, the tribal names they use should not always be taken in an ethnic sense; or in other words, wherever the term Turk or Tatar has appeared, one should see whether the writer has used it in a general, sociological sense or in a specific ethnic sense. The second conclusion is that the word Mongol, even when used in an ethnic sense, has often been misused, and has expanded so much in historical periods that it has encompassed numerous truly Turkic tribes (along with other tribes), and thus many people who were not of Mongol descent have been called Mongols. Apparently, this name became common for the first time during the time of Genghis Khan and his immediate successors, and then during the supremacy of the Chaghatai dynasty (or the so-called “Mongols”) in India. The third conclusion is that the use and meaning of all three names – Turk, Tatar and Mongol – differed in different periods and countries. In my opinion, a correct understanding of this will contribute more to clarifying what we have so far insisted on, and even to the different cases in Muslim histories, and the occasional discussions of European writers – which are not insignificant.”

As for the historical period we are discussing, i.e. the early Islamic centuries, it does not have those complexities; names like Mongol, Uzbek and Kazakh have not yet entered history. Anyone who came from beyond the Ushrushana and Taraz or Kath (three border regions between the Samanid realm and Turkistan) was called a Turk, and the lands to the east and north of that were called Turkistan. However, Ibn Khordadbeh, while enumerating “the titles of the kings of Khorasan and the East,” attests to the multiplicity of tribes residing in Turkistan: “And the king of Turkistan – Hailob Khaqan, Jabghuyah Khaqan, Shabah Khaqan, Sanjibo Khaqan, Manush Khaqan, Firuz Khaqan; and the minor kings of Turkistan are Tarfan, Nizak, Khorteghin, Oghuzak, Sohrab, and Forak.” In other words, the view of the historians and geographers of this period towards the Turk issue is a sociological one; they rarely go into details to specify which of these many tribes they mention constitute the Turkish people.

The Book of the Boundaries of the World divides the land of the Turks into eleven regions, each of which seems to be the country of a Turkish tribe, as the author has named them:

1. The Tughuzghuz region – which in the author’s time did not yet border Khorasan; according to him, “the chief of the region” was a Turk, and all the kings of Turkistan descended from them. The Tughuzghuz were a nomadic people who spent summers in one place and winters in another.

2. The Yaghmā region – located west of Tughuzghuz and mostly desert except for a small part; they were subject to the Tughuzghuz.

3. The Kharkhiz region – which adjoins the Caspian Sea; according to the author of the Book of the Boundaries of the World, there is no settlement in this region. Apparently, they had an independent shah with the title of Kharkhiz Khaqan.

4. The Khalakh region – which bordered Transoxiana, was more prosperous than the aforementioned regions, and was said to be the most blessed Turkish region, and its people were described as “close, kind and sociable” to Muslims. The shah of Khalakh was called Yabghu or Baighu. Among the cities and villages of Khalakh that were continuously and contiguously connected with Muslims, Kulan is mentioned.

“That Turk who went to Yaghma and Khalakh,

Both a musk-haired cypress and a moon-faced beauty” – Unsuri

5. The Chigil region – whose people are originally from Khalakh; they were a nomadic people with tents and camps; their king was from among themselves; the city of Sikul, a dependency of Chigil, bordered the Muslims.

6. The Tokhs region – whose people were nomadic.

7. The Kimak region.

8. The Ghuz region – located in the west of Transoxiana and north of the Caspian Sea; they were also nomadic, spending winters in one place and summers in another. Some of the Ghuz people turned to the profession of trade; however, according to the author of the Book of Boundaries, “they have no city and are a numerous people with camps.”

9. The Bajnak Turk region – located west of the Ghuz and east of the Rus and Majgharis; they resembled the Kimaks and had no cities.

10. The Khifchakh region – located north of Bajnak; its people are of the same lineage as the Kimaks, and their shah is also from the Kimaks.

11. The Majghari region – with the Rus located to its west and north; their shah is called Khalat or Julah. There was a river between the Majgharis and the Rus, on whose banks the Majgharis spent the winter.

As we said, the Muslim geographers and historians called all those lands, from the Eastern Sea (the Pacific Ocean) – which was the habitat of the Kirghiz – to the north of the Caspian Sea, where the Ghuz people lived, Turkistan. However, it must be said that Turkistan, like any other geographical concept, was a fluid and changing notion, encompassing different territories at different times; and it should also be noted that the name Turkistan was given by the Persian inhabitants and geographers to the land of the Turks; hence, a distinction must be made between the habitat of the Turks and the territory under their rule.

Two – The First Turkish States:

In the early 6th century AD, several tribes of Turks set out from the Altai region – their original habitat – and allied themselves with neighboring tribes, establishing a great empire within a short period from Mongolia to the shores of the Black Sea; this vast territory – which Europeans called the “Empire on Horseback” – is referred to as “Kog Turk” in the Orkhon inscriptions, meaning the original or heavenly Turks. Although after that, this word, regardless of its original meaning, was applied to all Turkic tribes and peoples. The oldest and most important document mentioning the word “Turk” is the Orkhon inscriptions; there it is referred to as “Kog Turg” or “Gok Turk”; as the Chinese sources in the early 11th millennium had mentioned 59 Turkish tribes; but in the period of the Turkish Empire and for a long time after that, only the names of the Turks, Hephthalites, and Khazars have been mentioned in the sources. The federation formed around the Turkish tribe became known to Europeans because of their presence on the borders of Europe, when in 572 AD they helped the Avars during the siege of Bosporus Cimmerian (at the entrance to the Sea of Azov, the Crimean Peninsula). This empire – which extended to the Indus River at the time of the travels of Xuanzang – chose the name “Turk” or “Turkut” (meaning power or ability). But the Chinese called the territory of the Turks “Tu-chueh”; and this appears to be the plural form of the word Turk, that is, Turkut.

In 582 AD, Tu-chueh split into two parts: the eastern part centered in Orkhon (located in Mongolia) and the western part centered in Semirechye. The khan of the eastern empire, with the title Khaghan or Khaan – meaning the khan of khans – had supremacy over the western empire. The western emperor was Istemi Khan (this person is recorded by Tabari and Ibn Khaldun as Sanjiyu) and the eastern emperor was Bumin. In any case, during the reign of Khosrow Anushirvan, the western Turkish Empire, in alliance with the Sassanids, destroyed the Hephthalite state. According to scholars’ research, the Turks of the 6th and 7th centuries belonged to the Oghuz tribe. However, in addition to the Turks themselves, the composition of the army and the first Turkish state included the Oghuz, Uyghurs, Kirghiz, Tatars, Qarluqs, Mongols; and the Iranian Khitans, as well as the Iranian Sogdians from the regions of Bukhara, Samarkand and Khwarazm. China defeated the eastern empire in 630 AD and the western empire in 659 AD. That is, at the time when the Arabs invaded Iran, the Turks had dispersed, and most of their tribes had become subject to the Tang Empire.

Around the year 699 AD – about fifty years after the Arab conquest of the eastern and northern borders of Khorasan and Transoxiana – the Turkish tribes united under the leadership of “Sulu” and established the second Turkish Empire, centered in Balasaghun (in present-day Kyrgyzstan); this empire is also called the “Turgesh” Empire after the ruling tribe.

Three – Turkistan in Historical Texts:

Most historical and geographical books that report on the affairs of Transoxiana and Khorasan in the first four Islamic centuries have delineated the eastern and northern borders with Turkistan, the land of the Turks, and sometimes referred to it as the land of the unbelievers. Below I quote a list of reports from some of the authors and writers of those centuries:

1. Taraz, Taraz, Taraz, Zarakh:

Ibn Hawqal: Taraz or Taraz is located at the extreme border between the land of the Turks and the land of the Muslims.

Al-Muqaddasi: Taraz or Zarakh is a town and village behind Sughd, behind Turkistan.

Al-Muqaddasi: Taraz is the frontier between the Turks and the Muslims, and it is surrounded by fortresses called Baz Taraz; this is the frontier of Islam up to this point, and from there one enters the camps of the Kharlakhids; this is Saddchach.

2. Ispijab, Asbishab, Asbijab:

Al-Muqaddasi: It is an important frontier and battlefield; in its vicinity there is an ancient ruined fortress.

Al-Ya’qubi: Asbishab is a city from which the war with the Turks is waged, and it is the last dependency of Samarkand.

Al-Muqaddasi: Aspichab is located on the frontier of Farghana.

The Book of the Boundaries of the World: Asbijab is a frontier region between the Muslims and the unbelievers, and it is a great and prosperous place on the frontier of Turkistan.

Al-Muqaddasi: Ardawa: It is small, and the king of Turkistan is there, always sending gifts to the governor of Asbijab.

3. Farghana:

Ibn Hawqal: The Seven Villages are located on the frontier of the land of the Turks, just as Ozgand is also situated on the frontier of that land.

Al-Muqaddasi: “I have divided this side of the Jayhun River into six districts and four regions. The first of them is towards the east and on the frontier of Turkistan and Farghana…”

Al-Ishtakhri: And in Farghana and Chach, in the mountains between Farghana and Turkistan, there are abundant fruits.

Al-Ishtakhri: Ozgand is the warmest region of Farghana, and it is the frontier of the province of Farghana and close to the enemy.

Al-Ishtakhri: Istiyakand and Shalat, these two cities are on the frontier of Turkistan from among the lands between the two rivers – just as Ozgand is on the frontier – and these Seven Villages used to be counted as part of Turkistan, but in this time they have become close to the Muslims.

Ibn Hawqal: In the mountains stretching between Farghana and the lands of the Turks, there are various types of grapes, walnuts and apples.

Al-Ishtakhri: From Farbarki, which is the beginning of Transoxiana, to Ozgand, which is the last frontier, is twenty-three stages.

The author of the Book of the Boundaries of the World: Farghana is a prosperous and great region with many blessings. It has many mountains, plains, cities and running waters, and it is the gate to Turkistan.

Ibn Hawqal: The last city of Farghana located adjacent to the pagan regions is the city of Ozgand…

The author of the Book of the Boundaries of the World: Ozgand is a city on the frontier between Farghana and the Turks.

The author of the Book of the Boundaries of the World: Osh (Farghana)… is adjacent to the mountains; and on this mountain there are guards and watchmen who watch over the pagan Turks.

4. Transoxiana:

Al-Ishtakhri: The northern border runs along the frontier of Turkistan up to the border of Farghana and Taraz in a straight line, since Khuttalan is located on the river.

Al-Ishtakhri: From Khwarazm to the region of Asbijab, up to the frontier of Farghana and the borders of Transoxiana, all is Turkistan.

Ibn Hawqal: Transoxiana is bounded from the east by Famiya and Rasht and a part of the land of India in a straight line adjacent to Khuttalan, and from the west by the land of the Ghuzz and the Kharlakhids from the region of Taraz, which curves to Barab and Wastakand and Sughd and Samarkand and the regions of Bukhara up to Khwarazm, ending at the lake of Khwarazm. And from the north by the land of the Kharlakhid Turks which extends in a straight line from the farthest point of the land of Farghana to Taraz.  

Ibn Hawqal: The entire frontier of Transoxiana is close to battlefields, including from Khwarazm to the region of Asbijab, which borders the Ghuzz Turks. But from Asbijab to the end of Farghana is the frontier of the Kharlakhids.

Ibn Hawqal: Throughout Transoxiana there are frontiers with the Turks who come for war and threaten the people there morning and evening.

The Book of the Boundaries of the World: Transoxiana, its west is Ghuzz, and its borders are Khallukh, and its north is also the borders of Khallukh. And this is a great and prosperous region with many blessings, and it is in Turkistan and the place of merchants.

Al-Ishtakhri: Of the frontier towns facing Turkistan, there is none greater than Chach.  

Al-Ishtakhri: Tunkath is a summer town… and a great wall has been built from the mountain called Saqalgh to the edge of the Chach valley, which is a barrier against Turkistan, so that they cannot enter, and this wall was ordered to be built by Abdullah ibn Hamid.

Al-Ishtakhri: Sabran is a city where the Ghuzz come in peace and trade; since there is no war there, it is a prosperous city.

Al-Ishtakhri: The Chach River… when it passes the frontier of Sabran, there are camps of the Ghuzz on both sides of this water; and the size of this river is about two Baghdad measures from the Jayhun.

Al-Ishtakhri: Osh belongs to the district of Rabadh, and Rabadh has a wall, and the wall is connected to the mountain, where there is a watcher on that mountain who watches over the army of Turkistan.

Al-Muqaddasi: Ushra: Large and full of gardens on the side of Turkistan.

Al-Muqaddasi: Barkath: The northernmost village on the frontier of Ushrushana.

Al-Muqaddasi: Hiran: Most of its people are unbelievers and its ruler is Muslim.  

Al-Muqaddasi: Taghab-kath: It is large, and half of its people are still unbelievers.

Al-Muqaddasi: Barukath: It is large, this summer place is on the frontier of the Turkmens who pretend to be Muslim out of fear.

Al-Muqaddasi: Shaghljan: It is large, a frontier town towards Kayak.

Al-Muqaddasi: Khujandah – a delightful city, on this side of the river frontier.

The author of the Book of the Boundaries of the World: In Tibet there is a village, and there is a gate set up on the mountain, and there are Muslims there who collect toll and guard the road, and when you go out through this gate, you enter the territory of Wakhan.

5. Khorasan:

The author of Hudud al-‘Alam: Khorasan is in Turkistan. 

Ya’qubi: And the general lands of the Turks, which encompass Khorasan and Sistan, are Turkistan, and the Turks have several classes and several kingdoms; including Kharlukhs, Tughuzghuz, Turkash, Kimaks, Ghuz, each class of Turks has a separate kingdom.

Ya’qubi: There is no province of Khorasan except that they fight with the Turks and the Turks of each class also fight with them.

Istakhri: Badakhshan is on the border of Turkistan, above Tokharistan.

Istakhri: The boundary of Wakhan is connected to the borders of Tibet.

Al-Muqaddasi: The name of the town in the Khorasani direction there [i.e. Khwarazm] is Jurjaniya.

6. Khwarazm:

Al-Muqaddasi: On the shore of this sea [Khwarazm] is the land of Ghuz.

Al-Muqaddasi: And one boundary of Khwarazm connects to Ghuziya, and that is the western one, and the northern one also returns to the boundaries of Ghuziya.  

Istakhri: Khwarazm – from Khwarazm to the region of Ispijab to the border of Farghana to the borders of Transoxiana, all of it is Turkistan.

Al-Muqaddasi: When the Khwarazmians attacked Turkistan and were taken captive, since they resembled the Turks, they were not recognized.

Istakhri: The frontier of the land of Ghuz is Khwarazm.

Istakhri: Gorgan is the camp and residence of the Ghuz.

Four- The backgrounds of the entry of Turks into Transoxiana and Khorasan:

The famous Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang, who passed through Tokharistan and Kabulistan to India around 632-632 AD (concurrent with the reign of Khosrow Parviz), wrote in his notes that the Western Turkish Empire extended as far as the Indus.

On the other hand, between the years 606 and 608 AD, the people of Tokharistan and the Hepthalites rebelled against the rule of Khosrow Parviz; although the Sassanid commander named Smbat had achieved some victories, after that date, Hepthalites or Transoxiana and Tokharistan, including Kabulistan and Zabulistan, did not obey Khosrow Parviz and the Sassanid state. Since the rebels were supported by the Western Turkish Empire, with the vacancy left by the Sassanid rulers, Turkish commanders took over. This is what Hiuen Tsang reported. The Turkish soldiers, who were from the Khallukh tribe, moved with their families to the aforementioned regions; the Khallukh tribe – as we mentioned in the previous article – was a neighboring nation to Transoxiana, and had extensive social relations with the people of that region; because at some point in history, there has been a blood connection between them. Al-Jahiz, who lived in the first half of the third century AH, understood this point well: as he writes in his letter to al-Fath ibn Khaqan: “The difference between a Turk and a Khorasani is like the difference between a Persian and an Arab, or a Russian and a Saqaliba, or a Zanj and an Abyssinian, not in creation and nature that distinguishes them from each other; rather, on the contrary, this difference is like the difference between a Meccan and a Medinan, or a Bedouin and a settled, or a plainsman and a mountaineer, or like the difference between the mountaineers and plainsmen of the Tay tribe.”

The term “Turk and Tajik” came into being after this, during the period of the Arab Muslim invasions. 

We understand the meaning of the words of the author of Hudud al-‘Alam when he says: “And in Ghazni and the borders of these towns that we mentioned is the place of the Khallukh Turks”, the towns he mentioned are: Sistan, Taq, Kish, Rannah, Farah, Qarni, Khwash, Bost, Chalkan, Sarwan, Zamindawar, Baghni, Bishling, Khawanin, Rukhj, Kahak, Balash, Ghazni, Kabul and Astakh. Let us read the continuation of that paragraph: “…and these Khallukh Turks are people with many sheep and nomadic, living in the open and herbivorous and in pastures, and of these Khallukh Turks there are also many in the regions of Balkh and Tokharistan and Bost and Guzgan. And as for Ghazni and the regions connected to it, they all call it back to Zabulistan.”

With this clarity and those documents, there is no doubt that Khallukh is Turkish, and the Turks of Ghazni, Bost and Sistan were all from the Khallukh tribe. These are the most well-known examples of the precedent of the presence of Turks in southern Khorasan. The argument that Khalaj is the same as the Afghan Ghilzai, Ghilzi and Ghiljai and Khilji, “who currently reside in the same regions”, is completely invalid; because all the sources that spoke of the “Khalaj”s of the regions of Ghazni and Bost and their surroundings, emphasized that they were Turks. Istakhri says: Khalaj is a type of Turk who in ancient times lived in a land located between India and the region of Sijistan – behind Ghur. They are livestock owners and have Turkish faces and clothes and speak Turkish.

The important point is that the rulers of these regions were Turks; the rulers of the two important provinces of Sistan in that period (i.e. Zabulistan and Bost), namely in the last quarter of the fourth century AH, were two Turks named Taghan and Bay-tuz; they engaged in conflict with Sabuktigin, and were defeated by him. Transoxiana and Tokharistan were much closer than Zabulistan and Sijistan to the Turkish lands, and the grounds for their entry into these provinces – in any case – were completely prepared. The official language or the language of the remaining inscriptions from this period is Balkhi or Bactrian; the inscriptions of Arazgan, Jaghatū and Wadi Tucci are clear evidence of this claim.

When the Arab Muslims came to Kabul from the route of Sistan, the rulers of Zabulistan were from a Turkic dynasty, just as the Tagin family ruling Tokharistan was also of Turkic origin; this family had blood relations with the Hephthalite family known as the Kabul Shahs.

The arrival of Islam in the region facilitated the grounds for the entry of those Turks who converted to Islam; then, as the Turks embraced Islam in droves, they gained entry to Transoxiana and Khorasan, and inclusion in the Samanid army and the armies of the surrounding rulers. As we saw, the pioneers of these movements reached Baghdad and the Abbasid court; and following their example, the Samanids inducted Turkish ghulams into their army, and as we saw, in the later years of that state’s existence, Turkish amirs were in charge of military and civil affairs. A large portion of the army under the command of these amirs were Turkish soldiers; just as Alptigin entered Ghazni with thousands of Turkish soldiers. According to one Turkish scholar: “In the meantime, they were no longer the same Turks who lived on the steppes of Central Asia, they had become both Muslim and Iranian (and in Ottoman Anatolia). This is the beginning of a long phase in the statecraft and culture of the Middle East that some scholars have called the “Turko-Iranian rulership” (in the manner of statecraft), which, within the mixed “Islamic-Iranian-Turkish” cultural milieu, produced a significant part of Islamic civilization.

Sources:

1. History of Rashidi, History of the Khans of Moghulistan; Mirza Haydar Dughlat (d. 957 AH); edited and annotated by Dr. Abbas-Qoli Ghaffari Fard, published by Miras-e Maktub, Tehran-Iran, 1383 SH/2004 AD.

2. Al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, Ibn Khordadbeh (Obaidullah bin Abdullah) (211-300 AH), translated by Saeed Khakrand; Institute of Historical Studies and Publications/Miras-e Melal; 1371 SH. 

3. Kitab al-Kharaj; Qudamah ibn Ja’far (d. 337 AH), translated by Dr. Hasan Qarachanlou, published by Alborz, Tehran (?)

4. Muruj al-Dhahab wa Ma’adin al-Jawhar, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas’udi (d. 346 AH), translated by Abu al-Qasim Payandeh, Amir Kabir Publications, Tehran 1346 SH.

5. Masalik wa Mamalik, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Istakhri, edited by Iraj Afshar, Translation and Book Publishing Institute, Tehran 1340 SH.

6. Zain al-Akhbar or Tarikh-e Gardizi; Abu Sa’id ‘Abd al-Hayy ibn Zahak ibn Mahmud al-Gardizi (written between 442-443 AH); edited by ‘Abd al-Hayy Habibi, Jibi Publishing Company, Tehran 1346 SH.

7. Qanun al-Mas’udi; Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (d. 440 AH), edited by ‘Abd al-Karim Sami al-Jundi, Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyah, Beirut-Lebanon, 1422 AH/2002 AD.

8. Diwan Lughati’t-Turk; Mahmud ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad (d. 5th century AH), translated by Dr. Muhammad Dabir Siyaqi, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran 1375 SH.

9. Chinese sources, Travelogue of Hiuen Tsang (the part related to Iran); compiled by Samuel Beal, translated by Jawad Chopaniyan, Kitab-e Mah, Tehran Mehr 1382 SH.

10. Hudud al-‘Alam min al-Mashriq ila al-Maghrib; anonymous author, with notes and commentaries by Minorsky and translation by Mir Husain Shah; edited by Dr. Maryam Mir Ahmadi and Dr. Gholam-Reza Varahram; first edition, published by Alzahra University 1372 SH.

11. Jami’ al-Tawarikh (4 vols.), authored by Khwaja Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamedani (d. 718 AH), edited by Muhammad Rawshan and Mustafa Musavi, published by Alborz, first edition 1373 SH.  

12. Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma’rifat al-Aqalim, Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muqaddasi (4th century AH), translated by Dr. ‘Ali-Naqi Munzavi; Iran Writers and Translators Company 136 SH.

13. Al-Buldan, Ahmad ibn Abi Ya’qub (Ibn Wadih al-Ya’qubi), translated by Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Ayati, Translation and Book Publishing Institute, Tehran 2536.

14. Travelogue of Ibn Hawqal; translated and explained by Dr. Ja’far Shu’ar, Amir Kabir Publications Institute, Tehran 1366 SH.

15. Siyasatnameh or Siyar al-Muluk, written by Abu ‘Ali Hasan Tusi known as Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485 SH), edited by Hubert Darke; Translation and Book Publishing Institute, Tehran 1344 SH.

16. How did the Turks become Muslim? By Abbas Javadi, Prague 2020.

Footnotes:

1. The introduction of Tarikh-i Rashidi, by Elias Sarkansil, an Englishman in Khorasan and Sistan, pp. 91-90.
2. Al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, p. 35. 
3. The term “Tughuzghuz” is seen in Islamic works, referring to the second Uyghur Sultanate – in Tian Shan: Kitab al-Kharaj, p. 262; Muruj al-Dhahab, vol. 1, p. 218; Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 10; Zain al-Akhbar, pp. 2-9. Al-Biruni in Qanun al-Mas’udi and Mahmud Kashghari in Diwan Lughati’t-Turk: vol. 1, p. 133, called them Uyghurs.
4. Yaghma was the name of a group of Tughuzghuz who joined the Khalkhi; they had a good relationship with the Hephthalites of Tokharistan, while the Turkish Khaqan was displeased with this relationship: Gardizi, p. 555.
5. What is now called Kyrgyz; they are the oldest Turkish tribe that history remembers: Chinese sources, 201 BC.
6. Or Qarluq, Qarlugh, Qarliq, Qarlukh. The Qarluqs cooperated with the Kyrgyz in destroying the Western Turkish Empire; and rebelled in favor of the Muslims against the Chinese in the Battle of Talas (133 AH).
7. The Chigil tribe formed the main army of the Qarakhanids; according to Mahmud Kashghari: the Ghuz called all the Turkish tribes between the Oxus and Upper China as Chigil, Diwan Lughati’t-Turk, p. 333.  
8. Its plural is said to be Tuksi; the German scholar Raschlitt considered the origin of this word to be Persian and said that in a Sogdian text belonging to the 2nd century AD, the compound “Tuksi Bantak” meaning Tuksi slave appeared. This tribe is from the remnants of the Turgesh alliance, and one of the five tribes that formed the Western Empire. The leader of this tribe, named “Sulughrah”, is the one that Islamic sources called “Abu Muzahim”.
9. Kimak is an abbreviation of “Iki Imak” meaning two tribes; they separated from the Tatars. The Kimaks lived in western Siberia, north of the Irtysh River to the region of the Ob River. According to Gardizi, the [Aral] mountain located on the eastern border of Russia was the beginning of the Kimak kingdom, located in the north, and its north was uninhabited due to the cold. They were several nomadic tribes; the Kimak king was called the Kimak Khaqan, who had eleven agents; and these positions were also passed down to their descendants through inheritance. Gardizi says that the Kimaks separated from the Tatars [Tarikh-i Gardizi, p. 550].  
10. The Ghuz, Bajnaks, Kipchaks and Majghars are called the Northern Turks; the Ghuz or Ghazz or Oghuz entered the steppes southeast of the Caspian Sea around the 6th century AD. Marquart, Iranshahr, p. 73. In the geography of the early Islamic centuries, the Ghuz were located on the northwestern border of the region of Khorasan. In Maryam Mir Ahmadi’s edition of Hudud al-‘Alam, this word is written as “Ghur” (with ra’), which is a mistake; it should be “Ghuz” (with za’) p. 292.
11. P. 277.
12. The name Bajnak is mentioned in clay inscriptions made in the 10th century AD; the vessels were dedicated by order of a Bajnak prince – a prince who lived in present-day Hungary. The original place of residence of the Bajnaks was between the Volga and Aral rivers.
13. It has come with different spellings, the most famous of which is Qibchaq, Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 31. Europeans call them “Cumans” and their land “Cumania”. Rashid al-Din Fazl Allah considered the Qibchaqs to be a branch of the Uyghurs, Jami’ al-Tawarikh, pp. 58 and 91.
14. The origin of the Majghar = Hungarian = Majghari = Mugbar people. They came from southern Siberia to that area.
15. Hudud al-‘Alam min al-Mashriq ila al-Maghrib, pp. 226 to 290.
16. Turkistan-nama, pp. 33-34.
17. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, p. 395.
18. Al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik of Istakhri, p. 364.
19. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, pp. 394 and 383.
20. Al-Buldan, p. 71.
21. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, p. 383.
22. P. 334.
23. P. 297.
24. Travelogue of Ibn Hawqal, p. 240.
25. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, p. 382.
26. P. 232.
27. Al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, p. 266.
28. P. 266.
29. P. 206.
30. Mamalik wa Masalik, p. 268.
31. Hudud al-‘Alam, p. 329.
32. Travelogue of Ibn Hawqal, p. 238.
33. P. 339.
34. The same page.
35. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 226.
36. P. 229.
37. Travelogue of Ibn Hawqal, p. 191.
38. Travelogue of Ibn Hawqal, p. 196. 
39. P. 197.
40. P. 329.
41. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 260.
42. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 261.
43. P. 263.
44. P. 265.
45. Masalik wa al-Mamalik, p. 266.
46. Ahsan al-Taqasim, p. 406.
47. P. 403.
48. P. 339. 
49. P. 397.
50. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, p. 393.
51. Pp. 353-354.
52. P. 292.
53. Al-Buldan, p. 71.
54. Al-Buldan, p. 71. 
55. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 441.
56. P. 233.
57. Ahsan al-Taqasim, p. 415.
58. Ahsan al-Taqasim, vol. 2, p. 237.
59. P. 235.
60. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 233.
61. Ahsan al-Taqasim, p. 414.
62. P. 238.
63. P. 235.
64. “The Letter of al-Jahiz al-Basri to al-Fath ibn Khaqan regarding the Great Deeds of the Turks and the Caliphate’s Army in General”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 638, year 915 AD. English translation by C.T. Harley Walker. Quoted from The History of the Ghaznavids, p. 208.
65. Hudud al-‘Alam, pp. 324-325. 
66. Masalik wa Mamalik, p. 245.
67. Minorsky in the footnote on p. 324 of Hudud al-‘Alam, in explaining the Khalaj Turks, proposed the theory of Khalji = Ghilzai; before him, Brockelmann had put forward this hypothesis; Habibi, Farhang and others followed those two.
68. Refer to Chapter One, the Cultural Geography section of Khorasan.
69. “Alptigin had one thousand and seven hundred Turkish ghulams”, Siyasatnamah, p. 142.