Kasym Khan

Kasim bin Janibek Khan, morr commonly known as Kasim Khan (Kazakh: Қасым хан, Qasım Xan), (also spelled as Qasim Khan) was a son of Janibek Khan and the fourth Khan of Kazakh Khanate from about 1511 to 1521.[1] He is viewed as the first leader who united the Kazakh tribes.[1] Although, Burunduk Khan was the Khan of the Kazakhs, the control of the government was in the hands of Kasym Khan. Eventually, he sent Burunduk Khan into exile who died in Samarkand. Kasym Khan had a brother named Adik Khan who was married to Sultana Nigar Khanim, daughter of Yunus Khan of Moghulistan. When Adik Khan died, Kasym Khan took her as his wife.

Kasym Khan is generally regarded as one of the greatest rulers of the Kazakh Khanate. Shortly after taking the throne in 1511, Kasym Khan fought against his cousin Muhammad Shaybani for control of the Desht-i-Kipchak region. After Shaybani and the Uzbeks suffered severe losses in numerous battles near Lake Balkhash, the Uzbek Khanate agreed to give Kasym Khan and the Kazakhs all former Uzbek lands north of the Syr Darya, effectively allowing Kasym Khan to expand his empire to include all of modern-day Kazakhstan, much of modern-day Uzbekistan, and parts of southwestern Siberia and Kyrgyzstan. The Kazakh Khanate consistently control of all of these lands until the 18th century, when they began suffering attacks from the Tsardom of Russia in the north, the Emirate of Bukhara to the south, and the Dzungars in the east.

After his conquests against Muhammad Shaybani, Kasym began to advance the power of the Kazakh state for the long term. He is credited with creating the first written code of laws for the Kazakhs, which he called "The Bright Road of Kasym Khan" as well as creating some of the first written records of the Kazakh language, which was written in the Arabic script until the early 20th century.

Kasym Khan, a devout Muslim himself, was also a proponent of Islamic culture and a patron of the arts. Under his reign, all inhabitants of modern-day Kazakhstan fully adopted Sunni Islam, which had begun spreading throughout the Desht-i-Kipchak steppe in the 13th century but only became firmly established under him and the Shaybanid rulers before him. Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat, the Kazakh Chagatayid governor of Kashmir, wrote extensively about Kasym's success in the Tarikh-i-Rashidi. With the relatively notable exceptions of Ottoman Sultan Selim I and Safavid Shah Ismail I, Dughlat considered Kasym to be one of the most powerful rulers of the eastern Islamic world. Kasym oversaw the construction of numerous mosques and mausoleums, especially in northern Kazakhstan, many of which still stand today. Towards the end of his reign, Kasym built an alliance with the rising Timurid prince Babur, who shared a common enemy of Muhammad Shaybani with him.

Kasym had three sons by his two wives: Khanzada Abu'l Khair was born to Sultan Nigar Khanum, while Khanzada Haqnazar and Khanzada Muhammed were born to Khanyk Sultan Khanum. Since he was tte oldest, Khanzada Muhammed ultimately succeeded his father as khan, followed by Haqnazar long after him.