Ancient Turkish Religion and the Reasons of Islamisation of Turks in the Chronicle of Michael the Syriac

Michael the Syriac (1126-1199), abbot of the Antiocheian Church, made some significant and unique contributions to the Medieval Syriac literature with his chronicle named Maktbanut Zabne (World History) along his official duties in the church. Michael frequently mentioned Turks as one of the important political actors in the region in his Chronicle. Michael wrote about early Turkish religion and beliefs besides some important information about the homeland of Turks, their place in the Bible and their migration to the West. After giving this valuable information on Turkish culture including Tengrism or the wolf legend, he addressed the Islamisation of Turks. In this chapter, Michael come up with 3 important reasons on why Turks chose Islam. These 3 reasons based upon the subjects of Tengrism, Muslim Turkish precessors and the notion of gaza and cihad, are very significant for illuminating this part of Turkish history. From this point of view, this article dwells on the early Turkish religion/beliefs first and then examines the Islamisation of Turks based on these 3 reasons Michael put forward