Qol Ghali
Qul Ghali (Volga Türki: قل علی; tt-Cyrl, Qol Ğali; c. 1183 – 1236) was a famous Muslim Volga Bulgarian poet. His most famous poem is Qissa-i Yusuf (قصه یوسف; Tale of Yusuf), written in the Volga Turki language, which is mutually intelligible with the modern Tatar, Bashkir and Chuvash languages.
Also recorded as Kol Gali
Qol Ghali
Автор фото: Участник:Тара-Амингу, автор памятника скульптор К. Г. Головушкин · CC0
- Name
- Qul Ghali
- Born
- 1183
- Died
- 1236
- Occupation
- Poet
- Fields
- narrative poetry
- Languages
- Old Tatar
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Documentary summary
Qul Ghali (Volga Türki: قل علی; tt-Cyrl, Qol Ğali; c. 1183 – 1236) was a famous Muslim Volga Bulgarian poet. His most famous poem is Qissa-i Yusuf (قصه یوسف; Tale of Yusuf), written in the Volga Turki language, which is mutually intelligible with the modern Tatar, Bashkir and Chuvash languages.
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wikidata · Q1253537
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Qul Ghali • Born — 1183 • Died — 1236 • Occupation — Poet • Subject — Poetry • Language — Volga Türki
Biography
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.
Works
Works
Qissa-i Yusuf (قصه یوسف, also transliterated Qïssa-yï Yusuf), also known as the Yosïfnamä, was inspired by Qur'anic stories of Joseph. The poem is devoted to the struggle against evil and for human happiness. The poem played a major role in the Muslim Volga Bulgarian culture and later the Bashkir and Tatar culture. More than 200 manuscripts have been found among the Bashkirs and Tatars. According to textual analysis, the poem contains many Persian and Arabic loanwords. The poem shows familiarity with Egyptian and other Middle Eastern customs but also contains detailed descriptions of the culture and customs of the inhabitants of Volga Bulgaria.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1183
Qol Ghali was born on 1 January 1183.
1234
Qol Ghali died on 1 January 1236.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Volga Bulgaria.
Birth place
Bilär.
Death place
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.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Кул Али.
- 2.Bukharaev, Ravil. Historical Anthology of Kazan Tatar Verse: Voices of Eternity. Psychology Press. 6–8. 2000. 978-0-7007-1077-5.
- 3.Agnès Kefeli, 'The Tale of Joseph and Zulaykha on the Volga Frontier: The Struggle for Gender, Religious, and National Identity in Imperial and Postrevolutionary Russia', Slavic Review, 70 (2011), 373–98. .
- 4.TES Кол Гали
- 5.Kol Gali, The Story of Joseph/Kissa'i Yusuf, trans. by Fred Beake and Ravil Bukharaev (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2010/Boston: Brill, 2010), , , , .
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authority record
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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