在7世紀和8世紀,可薩人與倭馬亞王朝及其繼承者阿拔斯王朝進行了一系列戰爭。第一次阿拉伯-可薩戰爭始於伊斯蘭教擴張的第一階段。640年穆斯林部隊已經到達亞美尼亞。642年,他們在Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah的領導下對高加索地區進行了首次突襲。652年,阿拉伯軍隊進攻可薩汗國首都巴倫加爾(英語:Balanjar),但被擊敗且損失慘重;根據塔巴里等波斯歷史學家的說法,戰鬥中雙方都使用投石機對付敵方部隊。許多俄羅斯史料稱這一時期的可薩汗國的可汗名為埃爾比斯(Irbis),並將其描述為古突厥王室阿史那的繼承人。埃爾比斯是否曾存在,以及他是否就是許多同名的古突厥統治者之一,這些問題尚不明確。
第二次阿拉伯-可薩戰爭始於8世紀初期,高加索地區發生一系列襲擊。倭馬亞阿拉伯人鎮壓了一場大規模叛亂後在705年加強了對亞美尼亞的控制。在713或714年,倭馬亞將軍Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik征服了傑爾賓特,並進一步深入可薩汗國的領土。可薩人襲擊了高加索阿爾巴尼亞和伊朗阿塞拜疆,但被Hasan ibn al-Nu'man領導的阿拉伯人趕回[52]。軍事衝突在722年升級,3萬名可薩人入侵亞美尼亞,重創當地軍隊。哈里發耶齊德二世向北派遣了25,000名阿拉伯援軍,迅速將可薩人趕出高加索地區,恢復了傑爾賓特,並向巴蘭加爾前進。巴蘭加爾戰役中,阿拉伯人突破了可薩人防禦並衝進了這座城市,大多數居民被屠殺或淪為奴隸,但有少數設法逃往北方[51]。儘管取得了成功,但阿拉伯人尚未擊敗可薩軍隊,並撤退到了高加索南部。
724年,阿拉伯將軍al-Jarrah ibn Abdallah al-Hakami在庫拉河和阿拉斯河之間的漫長戰鬥中擊敗了可薩人,進而攻佔第比利斯,使高加索伊比利亞歸穆斯林所有。726年,可薩人在一位名叫巴爾吉克的王子的率領下發動反攻,對高加索阿爾巴尼亞和阿塞拜疆進行了大規模入侵。到729年,阿拉伯人失去了對外高加索東北部的控制,再次進入守勢。730年,巴爾吉克入侵伊朗阿塞拜疆,並在阿爾達比勒擊敗了阿拉伯軍隊(馬爾吉-阿爾達比勒戰役),殺死了Al-Djarrah al-Hakami將軍並短暫佔領了該地。第二年,巴爾吉克在摩蘇爾被擊敗並喪生。737年,Marwan Ibn Muhammad以尋求休戰為幌子進入可薩領土,然後發動了一次突襲,可汗逃往北方,可薩投降[53]。阿拉伯人沒有能力來影響外高加索地區的事務[53]。可汗被迫接受皈依伊斯蘭教的條件,並臣服於哈里發,但這一和解並未長久,由於倭馬亞內部的不穩定和拜占庭的支持,三年之內可薩人重獲獨立[54]。有人猜想可薩人早在740年就採納了猶太教,正是基於該歷史背景,即在作為面對哈里發和東羅馬時使用猶太教來確立其獨立性,同時也符合亞歐大陸居民普遍皈依一種世界性宗教的潮流[注 12]。
可薩汗國早在猶大·哈列維的時代就曾激發猶太人重返以色列的彌賽亞願望[93]。12世紀初期的埃及,一個名叫Solomon ben Duji,通常被認為是可薩猶太人[注 30],試圖倡導猶太人的解放並呼籲所有猶太人重回巴勒斯坦,寫信給許多猶太人社區爭取支持。他最終移居庫爾德斯坦。幾十年後他的兒子梅納赫姆自稱彌賽亞,為此組建了一支軍隊,佔領了摩蘇爾以北的阿馬迪耶堡壘。他的計劃遭到拉比權威的反對,在睡眠中被毒死。有一種理論認為,當時還只是裝飾圖案或魔法紋章的大衛之星,就從梅納赫姆的使用之後,開始在猶太晚期傳統文化中成為民族價值的象徵。
「可薩」一詞作為民族名最後被使用是13世紀北高加索的一個信仰猶太教的民族[94]。可薩流散社區的性質(猶太教或者其他宗教)還存在爭議。Avraham ibn Daud提到他在1160年左右遇見過來自西班牙托萊多的可薩裔拉比學生[95]。可薩社會在不同地方繼續存在。許多可薩僱傭兵進入了伊斯蘭哈里發和其他國家的軍隊。中世紀君士坦丁堡的文獻裏表明了加拉塔郊區可薩社區與猶太人混居的情況[96]。可薩商人活躍於12世紀的君士坦丁堡和亞歷山大港[97]。
This figure has been calculated on the basis of the data in both Herlihy and Russell's work.[5] (Russell 1972,第25–71頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFRussell1972 (幫助)
"The Gazari are, presumably, the Khazars, although this term or the Kozary of the perhaps near contemporary Vita Constantini ... could have reflected any of a number of peoples within Khazaria." (Golden 2007b,第139頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
"Somewhat later, however, in a letter to the Byzantine Emperor Basil I, dated to 871, Louis the German, clearly taking exception to what had apparently become Byzantine usage, declares that 'we have not found that the leader of the Avars, or Khazars (Gasanorum)'..." (Golden 2001a,第33頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2001a (幫助)
"The word tribe is as troublesome as the term clan. It is commonly held to denote a group, like the clan, claiming descent from a common (in some culture zones eponymous) ancestor, possessing a common territory, economy, language, culture, religion, and sense of identity. In reality, tribes were often highly fluid sociopolitical structures, arising as 'ad hoc responses to ephemeral situations of competition,' as Morton H. Fried has noted." (Golden 2001b,第78頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2001b (幫助)
Dieter Ludwig, in his doctoral thesis Struktur und Gesellschaft des Chazaren-Reiches im Licht der schriftlichen Quellen, (Münster, 1982) suggested that the Khazars were Turkic members of the Hephthalite Empire, where the lingua franca was a variety of Iranian.[20] (Brook 2010,第4頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBrook2010 (幫助)
"The reader should be warned that the A-shih-na link of the Khazar dynasty, an old phantom of ... Khazarology, will ... lose its last claim to reality". (Zuckerman 2007,第404頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFZuckerman2007 (幫助)
The Duōlù (咄陸) were the left wing of the On Oq, the Nǔshībì (弩失畢: *Nu Šad(a)pit), and together they were registered in Chinese sources as the 'ten names' (shí míng:十名). (Golden 2010,第54–55頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2010 (幫助)
Theophanes the Confessor around 813 defined them as Eastern Turks. The designation is complex and Róna-Tas writes: "The Georgian Chronicle refers to the Khazars in 626–628 as the 'West Turks' who were then opposed to the East Turks of Central Asia. Shortly after 679 the Armenian Geography mentions the Turks together with the Khazars; this may be the first record of the Magyars. Around 813, Theophanes uses – alongside the generic name Turk – 'East Turk' for the designation of the Khazars, and in context, the 'West Turks' may actually have meant the Magyars. We know that Nicholas Misticus referred to the Magyars as 'West Turks' in 924/925. In the 9th century the name Turk was mainly used to designate the Khazars." (Róna-Tas 1999,第282頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFRóna-Tas1999 (幫助)
Many sources identify the Göktürks in this alliance as Khazars--for example, Beckwith writes recently: "The alliance sealed by Heraclius with the Khazars in 627 was of seminal importance to the Byzantine Empire through the Early Middle Ages, and helped assure its long-term survival."[37]Early sources such as the almost contemporary Armenian history, Patmutʿiwn Ałuanicʿ Ašxarhi, attributed to Movsēs Dasxurancʿ, and the Chronicle attributed to Theophanes identify these Turks as Khazars (Theophanes has: 'Turks, who are called Khazars'). Both Zuckerman and Golden reject the identification. (Zuckerman 2007,第403–404頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFZuckerman2007 (幫助)
Scholars dismiss Chinese annals which, reporting the events from Turkic sources, attribute the destruction of Persia and its leader Shah Khusrau II personally to Tong Yabghu. Zuckerman argues instead that the account is correct in its essentials. (Zuckerman 2007,第417頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFZuckerman2007 (幫助)
"The Khazars, the close allies of the Byzantines, adopted Judaism, as their official religion, apparently by 740, three years after an invasion by the Arabs under Marwan ibn Muhammad. Marwan had used treachery against a Khazar envoy to gain peaceful entrance to Khazar territory. He then declared his dishonourable intentions and pressed deep into Khazar territory, only subsequently releasing the envoy. The Arabs devastated the horse herds, seized many Khazars and others as captives, and forced much of the population to flee into the Ural Mountains. Marwan's terms were that the kaghan and his Khazars should convert to Islam. Having no choice, the kaghan agreed, and the Arabs returned home in triumph. As soon as the Arabs were gone, the kaghan renounced Islam – with, one may assume, great vehemence. The Khazar Dynasty's conversion to Judaism is best explained by this specific historical background, together with the fact that the mid-eighth century was an age in which the major Eurasian states proclaimed their adherence to distinctive world religions. Adopting Judaism also was politically astute: it meant the Khazars avoided having to accept the overlordship (however theoretical) of the Arab caliph or the Byzantine emperor." (Beckwith 2011,第149頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBeckwith2011 (幫助)
The Volga Bulgarian state was converted to Islam in the 10th century, and wrested liberty from its Khazarian suzerains when Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Svyatislav razed Atil. (Abulafia 1987,第419, 480–483頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFAbulafia1987 (幫助)
Whittow argues however that: "The title of qaghan, with its claims to lordship over the steppe world, is likely to be no more than ideological booty from the 965 victory." (Whittow 1996,第243–252頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFWhittow1996 (幫助)
Korobkin citing Golb & Pritsak notes that Khazars have often been connected with Kiev's foundations.[58] Pritsak and Golb state that children in Kiev were being given a mixture of Hebrew and Slavic languages names by c. 930.[59] Toch on the other hand is skeptical, and argues that "a significant Jewish presence in early medieval Kiev or indeed in Russia at large remains much in doubt". (Toch 2012,第166頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFToch2012 (幫助)
The yarmaq based on the Arab dirhem was perhaps issued in reaction to fall-off in Muslim minting in the 820s, and to a felt need in the turbulent upheavals of the 830s to assert a new religious profile, with the Jewish legends stamped on them. (Golden 2007b,第156頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
Scholars are divided as to whether the fortification of Sarkel represents a defensive bulwark against a growing Magyar or Varangian threat. (Petrukhin 2007,第247, and n.1頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFPetrukhin2007 (幫助)
MQDWN or the Macedonian dynasty of Byzantium; SY, perhaps a central Volga statelet, Burtas, Asya; PYYNYL denoting the Danube-Don Pechnegs; BM, perhaps indicating the Volga Bulgars, and TWRQY or Oghuz Turks. The provisory identifications are those of Pritsak. (Kohen 2007,第106頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFKohen2007 (幫助)
Al-Mas'udi says the king secretly tipped off the Rus' of the attack but was unable to oppose the request of his guards. (Olsson 2013,第507頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFOlsson2013 (幫助)
The letter continues: "I wage war with them. If I left them (in peace) for a single hour they would crush the whole land of the Ishmaelites up to Baghdad." (Petrukhin 2007,第257頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFPetrukhin2007 (幫助)
The Caspian Sea is still known to Arabs, and many peoples of the region, as the 'Khazar Sea' (Arabic Bahr ul-Khazar) (Brook 2010,第156頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBrook2010 (幫助)
"thus it is clear that the false doctrine of Yišô in Rome (Hrôm) and that of Môsê among the Khazars and that of Mânî in Turkistan took away their might and the valor that they once possessed and made them feeble and decadent among their rivals". (Golden 2007b,第130頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
Some sources claim that the father of Seljuk (warlord), the eponymous progenitor of the Seljuk Turks, namely Toqaq Temür Yalığ, began his career as an Oghuz soldier in Khazar service in the early and mid-10th century, and rose to high rank before he fell out with the Khazar rulers and departed for Khwarazm. Seljuk's sons, significantly, all bear names from the Tanakh|Jewish scriptures: Mîkâ'il, Isrâ'îl, Mûsâ, Yûnus. Peacock argues that early traditions attesting a Seljuk origin within the Khazar empire when it was powerful, were later rewritten, after Khazaria fell from power in the 11th century, to blank out the connection. (Peacock 2010,第27–35頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFPeacock2010 (幫助)
Tzitzak is often treated as her original proper name, with a Turkic etymology čiček ('flower'). Erdal, however, citing the Byzantine work on court ceremony De Ceremoniis, authored by Constantine Porphyrogennetos, argues that the word referred only to the dress Irene wore at court, perhaps denoting its colourfulness, and compares it to the Hebrew Tzitzit
"Engravings that resemble the six-pointed Star of David were found on circular Khazar relics and bronze mirrors from Sarkel and Khazarian grave fields in Upper Saltov. However, rather than having been made by Jews, these appear to be shamanistic sun discs." (Brook 2010,第113, 122–123 n.148頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBrook2010 (幫助)
Brook says this thesis was developed by Jacob Mann, based on a reading of the word "Khazaria" in the Cairo Geniza fragment. Bernard Lewis, he adds, challenged the assumption by noting that the original text reads Hakkâri and refers to the Kurds of the Hakkâri mountains in south-east Turkey. (Brook 2010,第191–192, n.72頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBrook2010 (幫助)
Golden and Shapira thinks the evidence from such Georgian sources renders suspect a conversion prior to this date.[98](Shapira 2007b,第347–348頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFShapira2007b (幫助)
During Islamic invasions, some groups of Khazars who suffered defeat, including a qağan, were converted to Islam. (DeWeese 1994,第73頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFDeWeese1994 (幫助)
Johannes Buxtorf first published the letters around 1660. Controversy arose over their authenticity; it was even argued that the letters represented "no more than Jewish self-consolation and fantasmagory over the lost dreams of statehood". (Kohen 2007,第112頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFKohen2007 (幫助)
"If anyone thinks that the Khazar correspondence was first composed in 1577 and published in Qol Mebasser, the onus of proof is certainly on him. He must show that a number of ancient manuscripts, which appear to contain references to the correspondence, have all been interpolated since the end of the sixteenth century. This will prove a very difficult or rather an impossible task." (Dunlop 1954,第130頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFDunlop1954 (幫助)
"The issue of the authenticity of the Correspondence has a long and mottled history which need not detain us here. Dunlop and most recently Golb have demonstrated that Hasdai's letter, Joseph's response (dating perhaps from the 950s) and the 'Cambridge Document' are, indeed, authentic." (Golden 2007b,第145–146頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
"(a court debate on conversion) appears in accounts of Khazar Judaism in two Hebrew accounts, as well as in one eleventh-century Arabic account. These widespread and evidently independent attestations would seem to support the historicity of some kind of court debate, but, more important, clearly suggest the currency of tales recounting the conversion and originating among the Khazar Jewish community itself" ... "the 'authenticity' of the Khazar correspondence is hardly relevant"[100] "The wider issue of the 'authenticity' of the 'Khazar correspondence', and of the significance of this tale's parallels with the equally controversial Cambridge document /Schechter text, has been discussed extensively in the literature on Khazar Judaism; much of the debate loses significance if, as Pritsak has recently suggested, the accounts are approached as 'epic' narratives rather than evaluated from the standpoint of their 'historicity'." (DeWeese 1994,第305頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFDeWeese1994 (幫助)
"Of the intensive archaeological study of Khazar sites (over a thousand burial sites have been investigated!), not one has yet yielded finds that yet fit in some way the material legacy of antique European or Middle Eastern Jewry." (Toch 2012,第162–3頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFToch2012 (幫助)
Shingiray noting the widespread lack of artifacts of wealth in Khazar burials, arguing that nomads used few materials to express their personal attributes: "The SMC assemblages-even if they were not entirely missing from the Khazar imperial center - presented an outstanding instance of archaeological material minimalism in this region." (Shingiray 2012,第209–211頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFShingiray2012 (幫助)
"But, one must ask, are we to expect much religious paraphernalia in a recently converted steppe society? Do the Oğuz, in the century or so after their Islamization, present much physical evidence in the steppe for their new faith? These conclusions must be considered preliminary." (Golden 2007b,第150–151, and note 137頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
Golden 2007b,第128–129頁 harvnb模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助) compares Ulfilas's conversions of the Goths to Arianism; Al-Masudi records a conversion of the Alans to Christianity during the Abbasid period; the Volga Bulğars adopted Islam after their leader converted in the 10th century; the Uyğur Qağan accepted Manichaeism in 762.
Golden takes exception to J. B. Bury's claim (1912) that it was 'unique in history'.[102][103] Golden also cites from Jewish history the conversion of Idumeans under John Hyrcanus; of the Itureans under Aristobulus I; of the kingdom of Adiabene under Queen Helena; the Ḥimyârî kings in Yemen, and Berber assimilations to North African Jewry. (Golden 2007b,第153頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
"in Israel, emotions are still high when it comes to the history of the Khazars, as I witnessed in a symposium on the issue at the Israeli Academy of Sciences in Jerusalem (May 24, 2011). Whereas Prof. Shaul Stampfer believed the story of the Khazars' conversion to Judaism was a collection of stories or legends that have no historical foundation, (and insisted that the Ashkenazi of Eastern Europe of today stem from Jews in Central Europe who emigrated eastwards), Prof. Dan Shapiro believed that the conversion of the Khazars to Judaism was part of the history of Russia at the time it established itself as a kingdom." (Falk 2017,第101,n.9頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFFalk2017 (幫助)
"The Șûfî wandering out into the steppe was far more effective in bringing Islam to the Turkic nomads than the learned 'ulamâ of the cities." (Golden 2007b,第126頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
"the Khazars (most of whom did not convert to Judaism, but remained animists, or adopted Islam and Christianity)" (Wexler 2002,第514頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFWexler2002 (幫助)
"In much of the literature on conversions of Inner Asian peoples, attempts are made, 'to minimize the impact' ... This has certainly been true of some of the scholarship regarding the Khazars." (Golden 2007b,第127頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
"scholars who have contributed to the subject of the Khazars' conversion, have based their arguments on a limited corpus of textual, and more recently, numismatic evidence ... Taken together these sources offer a cacophony of distortions, contradictions, vested interests, and anomalies in some areas, and nothing but silence in others." (Olsson 2013,第496頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFOlsson2013 (幫助)
"Judaism was apparently chosen because it was a religion of the book without being the faith of a neighbouring state which had designs on Khazar lands." (Noonan 1999,第502頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFNoonan1999 (幫助)
"Their conversion to Judaism was the equivalent of a declaration of neutrality between the two rival powers." (Baron 1957,第198頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFBaron1957 (幫助)
This regiment was exempt from campaigning against fellow Muslims, evidence that non-Judaic beliefs were no obstacle to access to the highest levels of government. They had abandoned their homeland and sought service with the Khazars in exchange for the right to exercise their religious freedom, according to al-Masudi. (Golden 2007b,第138頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFGolden2007b (幫助)
Olsson writes that there is no evidence for this Islamic guard for the 9th century, but that its existence is attested for 913. (Olsson 2013,第507頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFOlsson2013 (幫助)
Noonan gives the lower figure for the Muslim contingents, but adds that the army could draw on other mercenaries stationed in the capital, Rūs, Ṣaqāliba and pagans. Olsson's 10,000 refers to the spring-summer horsemen in the nomadic king's retinue. (Noonan 2007,第211, 217頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFNoonan2007 (幫助)
A third division may have contained the dwellings of the tsarina. The dimensions of the western part were 3x3, as opposed to the eastern part's 8 x 8 farsakhs. (Noonan 2007,第208–209, 216–219頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFNoonan2007 (幫助)
Outside Muslim traders were under the jurisdiction of a special royal official (ghulām). (Noonan 2007,第211–214頁) harv模板錯誤: 無指向目標: CITEREFNoonan2007 (幫助)