with the invasions of the Seljuq Turks, during the 11th century. From there, a branch of them migrated to the Azerbaijan region, where they supposedly picked up greater Oghuz influence in their language. However, the Khalaj are very few among Iranian Azerbaijanis today. Sometime shortly prior to the time of Timur (1336-1405), a branch of Khalaj migrated to the area southwest of Saveh in the Markazi Province, which is where a large branch of the Khalaj are located today. However, today, the Khalaj people also identify as Persians despite still speaking their local Turkic language. This is due to undergoing processes of Persianization starting in the mid 20th century. Discussing their relationship with Karluks, Minorsky and Golden noted that the Khalaj and Karluks were often confused by medieval Muslim authors, as their names were transcribed almost similarly in Arabic. Even so, Kitāb al-Masālik w’al- Mamālik's author Ibn Khordadbeh distinguished Khalajs from Karluks, though he mentioned that both groups lived beyond the Syr Darya of the Talas; Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran wrote in his Jihān-nāma (c. 1200-20) that "by mistake (in writing) the people called the Khallukh Khalaj." Ilhanate's statesman and historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani mentions the Khalaj tribe in his 14th century Jami' al-tawarikh as part of the Oghuz (Turkmen) people: History Medieval Muslim scholars, including 9th-10th century geographers Ibn Khordadbeh and Istakhri, narrated that the Khalaj were one of the earliest tribes to have crossed the Amu Darya from Central Asia and settled in parts of present-day Afghanistan, especially in the Ghazni, Qalati Ghilji (also known as Qalati Khalji), and Zabulistan regions. According to Istakhri, "Khalaj is a kind of Turks who in ancient time came to the land between al-Hind and Sijistān, behind al-Ghūr". The mid-10th-century book Hudud al-'Alam described the Khalaj as sheep-grazing nomads in Ghazni and the surrounding districts, who had a habit of wandering through seasonal pastures. 11th-century book Tarikh Yamini, written by al-Utbi, stated that when the Ghaznavid Emir Sabuktigin defeated the Hindu Shahi ruler Jayapala in 988, the Khalaj and Pashtuns (Afghans) between Laghman and Peshawar, the territory he conquered, surrendered and agreed to serve him. Al-Utbi further stated that Khalaj and Pashtun tribesmen were recruited in significant numbers by the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (999–1030) to take part in his military conquests, including his expedition to Tokharistan. The Khalaj later revolted against Mahmud's son Sultan Mas'ud I of Ghazni (1030–1040), who sent