Two Turkic Islamic Empires, Ghaznavid and Qarakhanid split up Persian Samanid Empire btw them. Qarakhanid with its capital in Kashgar laid foundation of traditional #Uyghur culture. At the time Uyghur only refer to Buddhist Uyghur Kingdom in Gaochang to the east of Qarakhanid https://t.co/rPPCJB9sQM
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 10, 2019
Mahmud al-Kashgari, a scion of Qarakhanid Dynasty in Kashgar, author of Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (“Compendium of the languages of the Turks") castigated #Uyghur as infidels for their Buddhist beliefs.
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 10, 2019
Mahmud al-Kashgari also recorded poem celebrating Turko-Islamic Qarakhanid conquest of Buddhist Iranian (Saka) Kingdom of Khotan:
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 10, 2019
We came down on them like a flood!
We went out among their cities!
We tore down the idol-temples,
We shat on the Buddha's head!
Mahmud al-Kashgari also decry Turkic people adopting Persian language that was lingua franca in Central Asia. He claimed the least Persian mixed Turkic dialects more pure and elegant.
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 10, 2019
A bit controversy btw Western and Chinese scholarship regarding ethnic origin of Qarakhanid rulers. Western scholars tend to insist on Karluks while Chinese insist on #Uyhgur origin. Few common ground of Uyghur nationalist and Chinese state is that Qarakhanid is Uyghur.
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 10, 2019
