Imam and judges of Khotan

Who he is

Name

'Ala' al-Din Muhammad of Khotan (attested 1213 or 1214, when Kuchlug has him nailed to his madrasa; whether he already led the community in 1200 is inferred, not attested)

Title

Imam and chief teacher of Khotan (head of the Muslim scholars; title as the sources give it)

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

not known

Confidence

low for his role in 1200

Iranica 'Khotan' (debated Kuchlug on Islam and Buddhism and was nailed to a post outside his own madrasa); Wikipedia 'Kuchlug' (nailed to the door of his madrasa); Chinese Wikipedia 'Qu Chuli' (names him the head imam 'Ala al-Din Muhammad). Nothing is dated before 1213.

Overlord

The khan of Khotan

What it holds

• The madrasa and its endowments
• The court of the qadi
• The Friday mosque (record Khotan madrasa)

How it was acquired

By learning and the townsmen's consent; not recorded.

Allies and rivals

Ally and check on the khan; rival of the remaining Buddhist and Christian communities in a plain way only.

How things stand that morning

Not recorded.

Wealth

Waqf (endowment) lands and fees; no figures.

Threats

• Later: Kuchlug

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1213 or 1214Kuchlug's conquest of Khotan; the imam is tortured for refusing to convert and nailed to a post outside his madrasa.Depends on: Kuchlug in power. Stopped by: His fall.

Places of note

• Khotan madrasa: Seat of the imam.

Where the sources disagree

• Wikipedia 'Kuchlug' leaves the imam unnamed; Chinese Wikipedia and Iranica name 'Ala al-Din Muhammad.

Evidence: The man is attested only in 1213 to 1214.

On the map: A marker only.

Primary sources for Tarim oases

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
• History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
• History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
• Old Uyghur contracts, land sales, loans and administrative documents from the Turfan oases (mostly thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with some earlier; dated by animal years and rarely to a reign). Sale deeds, loans, leases, slave sales, wills and tax lists from Turfan, Qocho and Beshbaliq, the only internal evidence for everyday life, land tenure, prices and officials in the Uyghur kingdom whose idiqut was a vassal of the Qara Khitai in 1200.
• Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online