à Âilki (pronounced ) or à  ilki or Shilki, or possibly Jilki (posthumously Islamized as ÃÂAbdallÃÂh; mid 9th to beginning of the 10th century) was a Volga Bulgarian ruler (iltäbär). According to the controversial History of JaÃÂfar, à Âilki was a descendant of Kubrat of "Old Great Bulgaria" (see genealogy below) according to the tradition that Volga Bulgaria was established by Kubrat's son, Kotrag. à Âilki is credited with promoting the unification of the Bulgar tribes in the area, but the events of his reign are obscure or unverifiable. He is sometimes assumed to have initiated the conversion of the Volga Bulgars to Islam. His son Almñà Â, the most famous Volga Bulgar ruler, was a Muslim and received a caliphal embassy led by Aḥmad ibn Faá¸ÂlÃÂn. AlmÃ±à  was given the new Muslim name JaÃÂfar ibn ÃÂAbdallÃÂh (i.e., JaÃÂfar, son of ÃÂAbdallÃÂh), which in turn has led to the belief that à Âilki bore the Muslim name ÃÂAbdallÃÂh. However, "son of ÃÂAbdallÃÂh" was a traditional filiation given to new converts to Islam (like the Mamluks of Egypt), replacing the name of their non-Muslim fathers with the name of the father of the Islamic prophet Muḥammad.