Qol Ghali was a famous Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 Volga Bulgar poet, the founder of medieval Tatar literature. His most famous poem is Qíssai Yosıf (Tale of Yusuf

Yusuf

Yūsuf , , is an Islamic prophet mentioned in the Qur'an, the holy scripture of Islam. The figure corresponds to the character from the Jewish texts and the Christian Bible as Joseph and is the Arabic variant of that name...

), written in the Turki literary language

Old Tatar language

Old Tatar language was a literary language used among the Muslim Tatars from the Middle Ages till the 19th century....

, which is not mutually intelligible with the modern Tatar, Bashkir and Chuvash languages.

It is believed that he was born in what is today Eastern Tatarstan

Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

. He studied in the Khwarezm

Khwarezm

Khwarezm, or Chorasmia, is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, which borders to the north the Aral Sea, to the east the Kyzylkum desert, to the south the Karakum desert and to the west the Ustyurt Plateau...

ean madrassah. He wrote his immortal poem in 1233. He was probably killed in 1236 during the Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria

Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria

The Mongol invasion of Volga Bulgaria lasted from 1223 to 1236.-The Mongol campaigns:In 1223, after defeating Russian and Cuman/Kipchak armies at the Battle of Kalka, a Mongol army under the generals Subutai and Jebe was sent to subdue Volga Bulgaria. At that point in history Genghis Khan's troops...

.

Legacy

His poems are celebrated by the Tatars

Tatars

Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

, the Bashkirs

Bashkirs

The Bashkirs are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan extending on both parts of the Ural mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of...

 and the Chuvash

Chuvash people

The Chuvash people are a Turkic ethnic group, native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia. Most of them live in Republic of Chuvashia and surrounding areas, although Chuvash communities may be found throughout all Russia.- Etymology :...

.

Qíssai Yosıf was inspired by Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

ic stories of Joseph

Joseph (Hebrew Bible)

Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....

. The poem is devoted to the struggle against evil and for human happiness. The poem played a major role in the Muslim Volga Bulgar culture and later the Tatar culture. More than 200 manuscripts have been found among the Tatars

Volga Tatars

The Volga Tatars are the largest subgroup of the Tatars, native to the Volga region.They account for roughly six out of seven million Tatars worldwide....

. 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.

Qol Ghali award

The Qol Ghali International Award is named after Qol Ghali. It is awarded to recognize excellence in literature and poetry. The award was established in 1992.