historians have explained the conversion of Inner Asian nomads as closely related to the process of state formation. When advanced tribal unions were in the process of transforming themselves into a polity, a new religion could function as a unifying force, a means of ideological distancing, and a sign of independence, all of which aided the process of state formation. 12
In the case of conversion to Islam, DeWeese and Khazanov have stressed the role of the new religion in giving the Islamized group a more cohesive communal identity, differentiating between us, Muslims, and them, infidels. This new identity was often consolidated by means of war (jihād) against a common non-Muslim enemy, often a former rival faction.13
Thus, when Saljuq embraced Islam, one of his first actions was to turn against his former overlord, an infidel, and the first action of Satuq Bughra Khan, the first Muslim Qarakhanid ruler, was to gain a legal opinion (fatwa) that allowed him to kill his infidel father. He performed this act without delay, thereby eliminating the most severe threat to his leadership.