Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People - Rafapal

216 THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Mountains, which was agreed as the final boundary between Khazaria and the
Muslim world. As we shall see, the temporary conversion of the pagan Khazar
kingdom was not very meaningful, though many of its subjects accepted the
faith of Muhammad.
Most sources depict the Khazar kingdom as having a highly original dual
government: a supreme holy leader as well as an active secular leader. Ahmad
ibn Fadlan, a diplomat and author who was sent by the caliph al-Muqtadir in
921 CE to the Bulgar country by the Volga, crossed Khazaria, and described it
in his rare travel notes. On the Khazars and their political system, he wrote:
As for the king of the Khazars, known as Khakan [Kagan], he is seen only
once in four months, and at a respectful distance. He is called the Great
Khakan, and his deputy is called Khakan Bey. It is [the latter] who commands
the armies, administers the kingdom and looks after it. He sallies and raids,
and the kings of the vicinity surrender to him. He goes every day to see
the Great Khakan, in a deferential manner, showing himself humble and
modest. 54
More information is found in the work of the geographer and chronicler
Al-Istakhri, writing in about 932. His description is livelier and more picturesque:
As for their regime and government, their master is called Khakan Khazar,
who is more exalted than the king of the Khazars, though it is the king
who empowers him. When they want to empower a Khakan they throttle
him with a silk cord, and when he has almost suffocated they ask him, For
how long do you wish to reign? And he replies, So many years. If he dies
before that time [it is well], otherwise he is put to death at that time. Only
the sons of well-known families may fill the post of Khakan, and he has no
real power, but is worshipped and adored when people appear before him.
Yet no one enters his presence except a small number, such as the king and
those of his rank ... And no one is appointed Khakan except those who
cleave to Judaism. 55
Other Arabic sources corroborate the existence of a dual power system in
Khazaria. This was an efficient regime—it maintained a mystique around the
Great Kagan, and utilized the most gifted and competent prince as the Bey,
who functioned as a military viceroy. The halo of sanctity that hung over the
54 Ibid., 24. The tenth-century chronicler Ahmad Ibn Rustah wrote that the deputy
was also called "Aysha." See Abraham Polak, Khazaria: History of a Jewish Kingdom in
Europe, Tel Aviv, Bialik, 1951 (in Hebrew), 286.
55 Dinur, Israel in Exile, vol. 1, 2, 42-3.