[Home ] [Archive]   [ فارسی ]  
:: Main :: About :: Current Issue :: Archive :: Search :: Submit :: Contact ::
Main Menu
Home::
Journal Information::
Articles archive::
For Authors::
For Reviewers::
Registration::
Contact us::
Site Facilities::
::
Search in website

Advanced Search
..
The Iranian Society of Islamic History
..
index
isc
noormags
magiran
sid
google scholar
virascience
academia
linked in
..
:: Volume 1, Issue 60 (winter 2025) ::
islamhistory 2025, 1(60): 18-21 Back to browse issues page
The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: Historical Process and Cultural-Economic Consequences
Goodarz Rashtiani *
Abstract:   (7 Views)
This interdisciplinary study examines the Islamization of the Volga Bulgars and its consequences during the first two centuries following their conversion. Drawing on Arabic and Persian sources (including Ibn Faḍlān's account), Rus' chronicles, modern Russian scholarship, archaeology, and numismatics, the research demonstrates that Islamization was a gradual, strategic process driven by three factors: established commercial ties with the Islamic world, the 922 embassy of Ibn Faḍlān, and the ruling elite's need for political legitimacy and cohesion. Socially, the adoption of Sharīʿa (primarily Ḥanafī jurisprudence), transformation of funerary and dietary practices (qibla-oriented cemeteries, elimination of pork), expansion of religious-educational institutions, adoption of Arabic script, and minting of Islamic-inscribed coins indicate rapid internalization beyond the ruling class. Economically, integration into the Volga trade route and the influx of silver dirhams transformed Bulghār and Suvār into commercial centers of northern Eurasia. Relations with Kievan Rus' combined trade (furs, slaves, silver) with intermittent military conflicts and diplomacy, including Vladimir's unsuccessful religious mission. The study confirms a model of "peaceful Islamization through commerce and political legitimacy" and demonstrates that the Islamic identity forged in Bulghār persisted after the state's thirteenth-century collapse within the Golden Horde and Tatar tradition. It further challenges the "elite-limited Islam" hypothesis, providing evidence for widespread Islamicization within a defined timeframe.
Keywords: Bulghars, Ibn Faḍlān, Volga, spread of Islam, Old Rus.
Full-Text [PDF 655 kb]   (5 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2025/10/11 | Accepted: 2025/12/15
References
1. Abū al-Fidā, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAlī (1970/1349). Taqwīm al-buldān. Translated by ʿAbd al-Muḥammad Āyatī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān. [In Persian]
2. Al-Gharnāṭī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Abū Ḥāmid (1925). Tuḥfat al-albāb wa nukhbat al-aʿjāb. Paris: Aziatik journal. [In Arabic]
3. Al-Iṣṭakhrī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad (n.d.). Al-Masālik wa al-mamālik. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
4. Barthold, V.V. (1973). “Bulghar”. Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition). Vol 1. Leiden: Brill.
5. Bayhaqī, ʿAlī ibn Zayd (1991/1370). Tārīkh-i Bayhaq. Tehran: Bahmanyār. [In Persian]
6. Erdal, M. (1993). On Turkic epigraphy and bilingual inscriptions of the Volga region. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
7. Franklin, S., & Shepard, J. (2006). The Emergence of Rus 750–1200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Golden, P. B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
9. Herbek. Ivan (1379sh). "Bulghār". Dānishnāmah-ʾi Jahān-i Islām. Tehran: encyclopedia of the world of islam. [In Persian]
10. Hraundal, Þ. J. (2013). The Rus in Arabic Sources: Cultural Contacts and Identity (Doctoral dissertation). University of Bergen.
11. Ḥudūd al-ʿālam min al-mashriq ilá al-maghrib [Anonymous author] (1961/1340). Edited by Manūchihr Sutūdah. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tihrān. [In Persian]
12. Ibn Faḍlān, Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān ibn al-ʿAbbās ibn Rāshid ibn Ḥammād (1966/1345). Safarnāmah-ʾi Ibn Faḍlān. Translated by Abū al-Faḍl Ṭabāṭabāʾī. Tehran: Bunyād-i Farhang-i Īrān. [In Persian]
13. Ibn Ḥawqal, Muḥammad ibn Ḥawqal (1938). Ṣūrat al-arḍ. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
14. Ibn Rusta, Aḥmad ibn ʿUmar (1986/1365). Al-Aʿlāq al-nafīsah. Translated and annotated by Ḥusayn Qarah Chānlū. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]
15. Montgomery, J. E. (2010). “Ibn Fadlān and the Rūsiyyah”. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. 10, p1–75.
16. Qabūl, Iḥsān and et al (2022/1401). "Barrisī-yi taṣvīr-i farhangī-iʿtiqādī-yi aqvām-i mukhtalif dar safarnāmah-ʾi Ibn Faḍlān". Faṣlnāmah-ʾi Muṭāliʿāt-i Taṭbīqī-yi Adabīyāt, year 12, no 26, p231–240. [In Persian]
17. Qarah Chānlū, Ḥusayn (2002/1381). "Nufūdh-i Islām dar bilād-i Bulghār-i Volga". Majallah-ʾi Tārīkh-i Islām, no 7(27), p43–58. [In Persian]
18. Qazwīnī, Zakariyyā ibn Muḥammad (1998). Āthār al-bilād wa akhbār al-ʿibād. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
19. Rubruck, W. of. (1990). The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Eastern Parts (1253–1255) (P. Jackson, Trans.). London: Hakluyt Society.
20. Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, Yāqūt ibn ʿAbd Allāh (1995/1374). Muʿjam al-buldān. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
21. Zimonyi, I. (2006). The Origins of the Volga Bulghars. Budapest: Department of Altaic Studies. University of Szeged. Budapest.
22. Измайлов И. Л. (2011). “Ислам в Волжской Булгарии: распространение и региональные особенности”. История и современность. Выпуск №2(14). p34-51.
23. Маликов А. (2023). Некоторые особенности исламской культуры Хорезма в эпоху Золотой Орды Золотоордынское обозрение. 11(4). p817–833
24. Мухетдинов, Д. В. (2019). История ислама в России (под ред. В. В. Трепавлова). Москва: ООО «Садра»; ИД «Медина».
25. Новосельцев, А. П. (1990). Хазарское государство и его роль в истории Восточной Европы и Кавказа. Москва: Наука.
26. Петренко, А. П. (1979). Материалы к изучению хозяйства средневековых памятников Волго-Камья. Проблемы археологии Поволжья, p125-132.
27. Салмин, А. К. (2015). Краткая история Булгар. Вестник Томского государственного университета, (395). 116–122.
28. Фахрутдинов Р.Г. (1984). Очерки по истории Волжской Булгарии/ Р.Г. Фахрутдинов ; Отв. ред. С.А. Плетнева. Москва : Наука.
29. Фахрутдинов, Р. Г. (1984). История Татарстана. Казань: Татарское книжное издательство. Москва: Наука.
30. Федоров-Давыдов, Герман Алексеевич (2003). Денежное дело Золотой Орды. Москва: Палеограф
31. Юшков, С. В. (1950). История государства и права СССР. Москва: Госюриздат.


XML   Persian Abstract   Print


Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:

Rashtiani G. The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: Historical Process and Cultural-Economic Consequences. islamhistory 2025; 1 (60) :18-21
URL: http://journal.isihistory.ir/article-1-1564-en.html


Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Volume 1, Issue 60 (winter 2025) Back to browse issues page
پژوهش نامه تاریخ اسلام (فصلنامه انجمن ایرانی تاریخ اسلام) Quartely Research Journal of Islamic History
Persian site map - English site map - Created in 0.18 seconds with 40 queries by YEKTAWEB 4766