Mongols and the Bloodshed of Muslims

Before initiating a discussion on Mongols, it is pertinent to state that Muslim historians and scholars have used the terms Mongols and Tartars interchangeably. The word Tartars, however, appears more frequently. Islam and Muslims faced arguably the greatest fitna till this day in the form of the “savage hordes” of Tartars who rose from the Mongolian steppes and took over the whole of Muslim lands “with a lightning speed”. Some Muslim historians have attributed the immediate cause-of Mongolian invasion to a serious mistake of Ala ud-din Muhammad, the Shah (ruler) of Khwarism (*Khwarism is a historic region along the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) of Turkistan, in the territories of present-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.) that gave the ruthless Genghis Khan an excuse to invade Muslim lands. However, there are other Muslim historian, too, that have given other explanations defending the position of the Shah.

The bloody episode of violence and bloodshed of millions of Muslims starts from Khwarizm with the defeat of the Shah, then like a lightning the Mongol barbarians took over the historical lands of Bukhara and Samarkand. This all happened between 1219-1220 CE. Everywhere they went, they left the city in ruins.

Ibn Kathir (ra) captures the plight of Bukhara: “They killed so many people that only Allah knows their exact number! They enslaved women and children. They raped women in the presence of their families. Of the Muslims, those who had fought were killed; and some who were captured were tortured badly. Then they burnt homes, masjids and schools and Bukhara fell into ruins.”

Ibn Atheer (ra) another prominent historian laments that to talk about the destruction caused by the Mongols is very heartbreaking. He calls it the greatest calamity that could fall on Muslims or even men in general. He says that from the time the Almighty God created Adam until present, no other calamity of such an extent has afflicted men. None of the history books have any other event that can compare to this. And the one recorded as the most grievous was what Nebuchadnezzar inflicted on the children of Israel by his slaughter of them and his destruction of Jerusalem. But what about the bloodshed of Muslims by the Tartars? 

Ibn Atheer cries and asks what is the comparison of Jerusalem with the countries that the tartar miscreants destroyed? Why was the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar worth mentioning when each muslim city was double the size of Jerusalem? 'Or what were the children of Israel compared to those whom these slew?' Were the Muslim children not innocent? The people the Tartars massacred in one muslim city far exceeded all the Children of Israel. He adds that it is unlikely that mankind will see any other calamity this big until the end of time or until the final outbreak of Gog and Magog. 

 

What happened in Baghdad? 

Muharram 656Hijri/1258CE

Baghdad during those times was a seat of learning and the most powerful Muslim country on earth. It was being ruled by Abbasid dynasty at the times having Mustasim Billah as its ruler. He was a pious ruler, however, he was unable to rectify the decades of corruption at the hands of his forefathers that had emasculated the kingdom.

Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Chengez Khan, after having inherited and conquered a lot of Muslim lands, had been planning an attack on this strong citadel of Islam for a long time. Finally, in Muharram of 656 Hijri, he launched a bloody attack on this metropolis of Islam “killing every man that came in their way, setting fire to every habitation and trampling into dust whatever they could not possess.” (Tarikh Dawat wa Azmat)

 

Ibn Athir on the destruction of Baghdad:

He writes: "The horrors of rapine and slaughter lasted forty days, and, after the carnage was over, the most populous and beautiful city of the world was so devastated that only a few people could be seen here and there. All the streets and markets were strewn with dead bodies, heaps of corpses were to be found like small mounds from place to place. After the rains the dead bodies began to rot giving out a disagreeable smell of the putrid flesh and then a deadly pestilence ravaged the town which spread as far as the land of Syria. Innumerable people died as a result of this epidemic. The ravages of a terrible famine and pestilence and the rising prices reigned over the city thereafter.” (Tarikh Ibn Kathir)

 

 Taj al Din-al-Subki, a prominent Shafi scholar, on the terrific fate of Mustasim Billah, the Caliph of Baghdad: “Halaku received the Caliph (al-Mustasim) patent while Ibn Alqami invited the doctors of religion and other notables of the city to be a witness to the agreement between Halaku and the Caliph. When they had repaired to the Mongol camp, all were passed under the sword. They were called one by one in a tent and beheaded until none amongst the chiefs and counsellors of the Caliph remained alive. It was commonly believed that if the blood of the Caliph fell on the ground, some great calamity would overtake the world. Halaku was, therefore, hesitant but Nasli ud-din Tusi intervened to suggest that the problem could easily be solved. ‘The Caliph should be killed’, he suggested, in a way that his blood did not fall on the ground. The Caliph was accordingly rolled in a carpet and then beaten to death.”

(Ṭabaqāt al-Šāfiʻiyyaẗ)

 

What happened in Syria?

After sacking Baghdad, the Tartar hordes turn to Syria. Damascus was the main center of power in Syria and during the Caliphate of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the muslim forces were enough to cause Ceasar to pass sleepless nights. 

The Mongol forces advanced from Baghdad to Haleb (Aleppo), destroyed the city, and then turned their attention to Damascus. In 658 AH, Damascus was taken. This was due to the hypocrisy of the Christians living in Damascus. To welcome the invaders, the city's Christians emerged bearing gifts. Ibn Kathir, a Damascus native himself, used these lines to depict the happiness of Christians and the hopelessness of Muslims:

"The Christians came back by the Gate of Toma, carrying the cross over their heads and shouting slogans. They were praising Christianity and openly disparaging Islam and the Muslims. They had flasks of wine from which they sprinkled the liquor in front of the mosques and on the faces of Muslims they happened to pass by, ordering the Muslims to pay homage to their emblem. Muslims could not restrain themselves for long and gathered in large numbers and pushed them back to the Cathedral of Mary where a Christian clergy delivered a speech praising Christianity and denigrating Islam and its followers. The Christians then entered mosques with wine in their hands. They intended to pull down a number of mosques in case the reign of Tartars continued for some more time. Ulema, Qadis and other Muslim notables repaired to the citadel of the Tartar governor El Siyan to make a complaint about the excesses of the Christians but they were turned out by him. El Siyan, however, gave a hearing to the Christians. Verily unto God do we belong and unto Him shall we return.” (Tarikh Ibn Kathir)

The historical battle of Ain Jalut

After conquering Syria, Mongols turned to Egypt, the final Muslim strongholds “ knowing that if they were conquered, there would be no resistance till they reached the Holy lands of Makkah and Madinah.”

Little however, Mongol barbarians knew that a valiant Muslim ruler was standing there to confront them like a solidified wall. The Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Saif ud Din Qutuz, had always lived with this burning rage to crush the pagan Mongols: “From day one, Qutuz had one goal and one goal only: to defeat Tartars. His rule was not founded on thirst for power unlike almost all rulers of that time. His rule was for one purpose only: to defeat the Tartars.”

Finally the forces of Islam and kufr met in the valley of Ain Jalut in Palestine on 25th of Ramadan, 658 Hijri (3 Sep, 1260.)

Sultan Qutuz (rehamullah) on the battlefield screamed: “O Islam, O Islam” !
Islam finally defeats falsehood: the mighty Tartar army suffers a crushing defeat in Ain Jalut.
Sultan Qutuz holds on till last : “O Islam” “O Allah give victory to your slave”

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The race that had subdued the Muslims ends up getting subdued by the truth of Islam: Tartars’ submission to Islam. 
“But Islam was to rise again from the ashes of its former grandeur and through its preachers win over these savage conquerors to the acceptance of the faith. This was a task for the missionary energies of Islam that was rendered more difficult from the fact that there were two powerful competitors (Christianity and Buddhism) in the field.” (Arnold, Preaching of Islam)

“In spite of all difficulties, however, the Mongols and the savage tribes that followed in their wake were at length brought to submit to the faith of those Muslim peoples whom they had crushed beneath their feet.” (Ibid)

“After the death of Chenghiz Khan the great heritage of that Mongol conqueror was divided into four dominions headed by the off springs of his sons. The message of Islam had begun to spread among all these four sections of the Mongols who rapidly converted to the faith.” (Tarikh Dawat wa Azmat)

“It is proved to all the world, from tales of Tartar conquerors, 

The Kaʹba brave defenders found in temple‐worshippers.”
-Allama Iqbal (Shayar e Mashriq, the poet of the East)

 

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