Qul Ghali
Volga Bulgarian poet (c. 1183 – 1236)
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Biography
According to historian Ravil Bukharaev, Ghali was likely born into a cleric family in Volga Bulgaria. He studied in the Khwarezmean madrassah. Ghali also resided or studied in various areas around Volga Bulgaria and possibly traveled to Iran, Syria and other parts of the Middle East. He wrote his immortal poem in 1233. It is theorized that Ghali spent his last years at Bilyar. He was probably killed in 1236 during the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria.
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Legacy
His poems are celebrated by the Bashkirs, Tatars and the Chuvash.
Qissa-i Yusuf was often used as a textbook to teach or improve the reading skills of children and adults for centuries. The poem greatly influenced later poets in the region. According to Agnès Kefeli, "from its publication to the end of the nineteenth century, this epic remained a 'best seller' on the Silk Road from Russia to China"; among nineteenth-century Tatar Muslim women, "when a girl got married, the custom was to wrap Qul ‘Ali’s book of Joseph in an embroidered towel and place it at the bottom of her wedding chest". The poem was prepared for publishing for the first time by the poet Utız İmäni and printed in 1839 by Räxmätulla Ämirxanov. Since then it has been republished 80 times and translated into English.
Qul Ghali award
The Qul Ghali International Award is named after Qul Ghali. It is awarded to recognize excellence in literature and poetry. The award was established in 1992.