Genghis Khan

 

Genghis Khan

(With the help of heaven I have opened for you a great empire, but my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world, this task is left to you), this is the will of the Mongol Emperor who almost swept the world, had it not been for God preparing for him from his soldiers who stood in the face of this destructive hurricane.

 

Who is Genghis Khan who united the Mongol tribes? What is his story with the Arabs, Muslims and the Ottoman Empire?

 

Who is Genghis Khan?

 

Year (549 AH / 1155 AD): A boy was born to “Yesokai Bahadur” who was named “Temujin”.

“Yesokai Bahadur” is the leader of the (Qiyat) tribe, which is one of the Mongol tribes, and he named his son “Temujin” because on the day of his birth his father defeated one of the tribes that were fighting him, and eliminated its leader who bore this name.

His father died when he was 13 years old, so the burden was heavy on him because he was the eldest of his brothers, so his father's allies abandoned him, and his tribe members conspired against him and did not accept him as their leader and turned to another leader, so his family went out wandering, suffering the hardships of life and the bitterness of life.

 

But with the help of his mother and his leadership skills, he was able to preserve his family's pastures, so their conditions improved and people began to flock to them, and the tribes began to court his friendship, so his influence increased little by little, and the area of ​​lands under his banner expanded.

 

"Temujin" enjoyed sound judgment, strong determination, and penetrating insight, and he respected scholars and included them in his entourage, and he used to take advisors from the experienced people from the nations he was conquering.

 

As for the word "Genghis Khan", it means the conqueror of the world, or the king of kings of the world, and he is the greatest sultan of the Tatars and the father of their kings today.

 

Genghis Khan and Togrul

Togrul is an old friend of Temujin's father.

Togrul helped Temujin more than once until he became the leader of the tribes.

Then a disagreement soon occurred between them that led to the outbreak of war, and perhaps the reason for this disagreement was that Togrul refused to marry his daughter to Temujin's son.

Togrul allied with Jamuka against Temujin.

The end of the conflict was with Temujin's victory and Togrul's escape after a crushing defeat.

Temujin prevented his soldiers from looting and plundering without his permission, and distributed the spoils of war to the warriors and their families instead of the aristocrats, so the people loved him and gave him the title of "Khan" meaning "lord".

Genghis Khan and the Muslims

Genghis Khan wanted to establish a good relationship with Sultan Muhammad bin Khwarazm Shah, and conclude trade treaties with him, so he sent him three Muslim merchants for this purpose, and Sultan Muhammad agreed to that, and after that a large trade delegation from the Mongols, about 450 merchants, all of whom were Muslims, carrying different types of goods, headed to the city of “Atrar”.

 

But the governor of the city, “Yinal Khan”, accused them of being spies dressed as merchants, and sent to the Sultan to inform him of that, so he believed him and asked him to monitor them until he saw his opinion on their matter, but “Yinal Khan” killed them, confiscated their trade, and seized what they had.

 

Genghis Khan became angry, protested this reckless act, and sent to Sultan Muhammad asking him to hand over “Yinal Khan” to punish him for his crime, but the Sultan refused the request, and did not stop there, but killed the delegation that carried the message, cutting off all hope of understanding with the Mongols.

 

Genghis Khan launched a large campaign targeting the Khwarazmian state, and was easily able to control major cities such as “Atrar”, “Bukhara”, and “Samarkand”, but did not find the resistance and defense he expected.

 

He committed horrific killing, burning, and destruction. His armies killed the entire population of the city of “Atrar”, and Genghis Khan burned “Bukhara” to the ground, and violated the sanctity of its mosque, “the Great Mosque”, and killed thousands of its innocent residents.

 

Genghis Khan’s Muslim sons

After the death of Genghis Khan, the lands of the Mongol Empire were divided as its founder had recommended to his four sons: Jochi Khan, Chagatai Khan, Ogedei Khan, and Tuli Khan.

 

“Ogedei Khan”: He was the third son of Genghis Khan, and became the Great Khan (i.e. the leader of the Mongols).

"Tuli Khan": He took over the rule of Khorasan with a future hope of expanding towards Iraq and Diyarbakir, and he was indeed able to extend his control over all of Persia, and reached the borders of Iraq, but he died in 1229, and was succeeded by his son "Hulagu".

 

"Jochi Khan": He is the eldest son of Genghis Khan, he took over the rule of the Caucasus and parts of Russia, and later his son "Barke Khan", the leader of the Golden Horde, introduced Islam to the Mongols and the Mongol Empire.

 

Islam and the Children of Genghis Khan

When talking about the symbols of the Mongols, Genghis Khan and his grandson "Hulagu" are often mentioned, without mentioning one of the greatest leaders of the Mongols: the grandson "Barke Khan".

"Barke Khan" converted to Islam in (1252 AD), and the credit for his conversion to Islam goes to the Sufi Sheikh "Sayf al-Din al-Bakharzi", then Barke Khan returned to his country and began calling for Islam, so his wife "Chegak Khatun" converted to Islam and took a mosque made of tents that she carried with her wherever she went.

After "Baraka Khan" ascended to the leadership of the Golden Horde, succeeding his brother "Batu Khan", he began to show the rituals of Islam, and completed the construction of the city of Sarai (located in the place of the city of Saratov now in Russia) and made it the capital of the Golden Horde, and built mosques in it and expanded it, until it became the largest city in the world at the time, and made it in a purely Islamic style.

 

Baraka Khan's conversion to Islam and his assumption of power came during a period when his cousin Hulagu was attacking the lands of Muslims, and he was able to enter Baghdad in (1258 AD); only two years before the Mongols suffered a historic defeat from the army of "King Al-Muzaffar Qutuz" in the famous Battle of "Ain Jalut".

 

Genghis Khan's Grandchildren

Ogedei Khan's children: (Giuk) who was the third king of the Mongols after his grandfather and father.

 

Sons of “Tuli Khan”: 1- (Mongke Khan) the fourth king, 2- (Kublai Khan) the fifth king, 3- (Hulagu Khan)

 

Sons of “Jochi Khan”: 1- (Batu) the founder of the Golden Horde, 2- (Barke Khan) the leader of the Golden Horde after his brother Batu.

 

Genghis Khan and Hulagu

Hulagu Khan, son of Emperor Tuli, son of Emperor Genghis Khan, and his mother, Sarghaghtani Begi, is the brother of Emperor Mongke Khan, Emperor Kublai Khan, and Emperor Erek Boke.

 

After a series of conflicts over power between the princes of the ruling house, Mongke Khan took power and worked to establish security, restore stability, implement reforms and administrative systems, and select competent leaders to manage the affairs of their states.

 

He then turned to conquest, invasion, and expansion of his country; he prepared two major campaigns for this purpose, sending his middle brother Kubilai at the head of a campaign to conquer the southern regions of China, and appointing his younger brother Hulagu at the head of a campaign to invade Iran, eliminate the Ismaili sect, and subjugate the Abbasid Caliphate.

 

Hulagu's campaign against Iran

Hulagu was not yet thirty-six years old when his brother entrusted him with this mission. He set out at the head of a large army estimated at about (120 thousand) soldiers from the best Mongol soldiers, in addition to senior leaders and knights. The Great Khan gave his brother several instructions before moving:

 

To adhere to customs and traditions and implement the laws of his grandfather Genghis Khan.

 

To aim to bring the country from the banks of the "Jayhun" River to Egypt into the Mongol state.

 

To treat those who submit to his authority well, and to make those who show resistance taste humiliation, even if they were the Abbasid Caliph himself.

Hulagu achieved his first goal by seizing the Ismaili fortresses in the year (654 AH = 1256 AD), and the Mongols' elimination of this deviant sect had a good impact and a good effect on the souls of the Islamic world, and joy prevailed despite what it was suffering from the brutality of the Mongols and their bloodshed; this is because the Ismailis were spreading panic and fear in souls, and spreading corruption, evils and deviant ideas.

 

Hulagu in Baghdad

Hulagu continued to achieve his other goal by seizing Baghdad and eliminating the Abbasid Caliphate:

 

He sent to the Caliph Al-Musta'sim Billah, threatening and warning him, and asking him to enter into his obedience and surrender the capital.

 

The Caliph rejected this threat and decided to resist, despite the weakness of his forces and the disagreement and hostility of his leaders.

Hulagu laid siege to the stricken city, which had nothing to protect it from its inevitable fate.

The Mongols entered Baghdad in the year (656 AH = 1258 AD).

Hulagu and his soldiers committed atrocities that made the body shudder.

The Islamic world was shaken by the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, which had ruled the Islamic world for more than five centuries, to the point that they thought that the world was about to end, and that the Hour was coming soon; due to the horror of the calamity that had befallen them, and their feeling that they were now without a caliph, which was something they had not been accustomed to since the death of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.

 

The end of the Mongol legend at Ain Jalut

After the fall of Baghdad, Hulagu began preparing to seize the Levant and Egypt, but news came to Hulagu of the death of his brother “Mengukhan” and he had to be close to the process of choosing a new Khan for the Mongols, and support the nomination of his middle brother “Kubilai” for this position, so he kept a force of his soldiers under the command of his most skilled commander, Kitubum (Kitbuqa) to complete the invasion.

Before Hulagu left the Levant (658 AH = 1260 AD), he sent Qutuz a letter full of threats and intimidation, calling on him to surrender and lay down his arms. Qutuz was up to the great event and the serious matter, so he killed Hulagu's messengers and went out to fight without waiting for the Mongols to arrive. The two sides met on (15 Ramadan 658 AH = 24 August 1260 AD) at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine. The Muslims attacked the Mongols, who were under the leadership of Kitbugha, with a sincere attack, and fought them with valor and courage from dawn until noon. God wrote victory for them, and the Mongols were defeated in a shameful defeat for the first time in their history, after hearts had despaired of victory over them. Hulagu after the defeat Hulagu tried to avenge the defeat of his army at Ain Jalut, and restore the Mongols' prestige in people's hearts. He sent an army to Aleppo, raided and plundered it, but was defeated near Homs in Muharram (659 AH = December 1260 AD) and retreated beyond the Euphrates River.

 

The Mongol political conditions did not help Hulagu to resume his invasions of the Levant and complete what he had started; after the death of “Menggu Khan”, the princes of the ruling family disputed power and the Mongol Empire was divided into three independent khanates, one of which was the Khanate of Persia. Then Hulagu entered into a conflict with Berke Khan, the leader of the Golden Horde, and the Mongols of the Kipchaks (southern Russia) and war broke out between them.

 

Hulagu’s death

Hulagu died near Maragheh at the age of forty-eight in (663 AH / 1265 AD), leaving his sons and grandsons a vast kingdom known as the Ilkhanate of Persia.

 

Genghis Khan and the Ottomans

The Ottoman Turks came from the East and are of Mongol origin, that is, of yellow skin, so to speak. There is always much confusion between the origins of these peoples and their homeland in Anatolia, and as a result of the Mongol invasion led by Genghis Khan on Iraq and the regions of eastern Asia Minor.

 

"Kunduz Alp" died the year following the migration of his clan to the Tigris Basin, so the clan was headed by his son Suleiman, then his grandson "Ertugrul" who traveled with his clan to the city of "Erzincan", which was the scene of fighting between the "Seljuks" and the "Khwarazmians", so he joined the service of Sultan "Alaeddin" Sultan of Konya, one of the Seljuk emirates that was established after the dissolution of the Great Seljuk State, and supported him in his wars against the Khwarazmians, so the Seljuk Sultan rewarded him by granting his clan some fertile lands near the city of "Ankara".

However, Ertugrul had far-reaching political ambitions, and he was not satisfied with this region that the Seljuk Sultan had given him, nor with the title he had won, nor with the mission of guarding and preserving the borders; rather, he began to attack the Byzantine possessions in Anatolia in the name of the Sultan, so he seized the city of “Eskişehir” and annexed it to his possessions, and was able to expand his lands during the half-century that he spent as a prince of a border province, and he died in the year (1281 AD) at the age of ninety, after being granted another great title, “Ghazi”, in appreciation of his conquests and invasions.

 

After Ertugrul, his son Osman took over the leadership of the emirate, and he remained loyal to the Seljuk state despite the turmoil it was experiencing and the dangers that threatened it.

 

 Timur

Timur was of Turkic and Mongolian origin, and was unlikely to have been a direct descendant of either, but he shared a common ancestor with Genghis Khan on his father's side, while other authors have suggested that his mother may have been a descendant of Khan. He was a Turko-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia and the surrounding area, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty.

 

Timur took control of the Western Chagatai Khanate by 1370, and led military campaigns across western, southern, and central Asia, the Caucasus, and southern Russia. He emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Islamic world after defeating the Golden Horde, the Mamluk state in Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the crumbling Delhi Sultanate in India.

 

Timur's Empire

 Timur founded the Timurid Empire through these conquests, but it was divided shortly after his death.

 

Timur organized a large army, mostly Mongols, and began to look to extend his influence, heading for Khwarazm.

The armies of Tamerlane set out to conquer Azerbaijan, seize the province of Persia, and raid Isfahan, which had revolted against his deputies. The number of dead there reached seventy thousand, and Tamerlane built several minarets from their skulls.

 

Tamerlane had reached the age of sixty, but this did not weaken his determination to continue the conquest, and he did not rest and rest on the strength and influence he had achieved, and enjoy the pleasures of fame and power.

 

When he heard of the death of “Firuz Shah”, the king of India, without a son, and the unrest that followed him, he took advantage of this period of weakness, and decided to occupy (Delhi), destroying and sabotaging it.

 

These victories did not satisfy Tamerlane’s wild ambition, his extravagance in conquest, and his passion for conquering countries and cities, so he set out in Anatolia, and clashed with the Ottoman army led by “Bayezid I”.

Bayezid prepared to meet the unruly invader who advanced with a huge army of 300,000 soldiers. After he captured Sivas and met the Ottoman army led by Bayezid in a huge battle known as the “Battle of Ankara”, Bayezid was defeated in a crushing defeat, and he and one of his sons were captured. The Ottoman Sultan could not bear it and died of grief in captivity.

 

The death of Timur Lenk

He had hardly settled in Samarkand when he prepared to invade China. The weather was very cold when he set out for his last invasion, but he defied the advice of his doctors and continued his campaign. His army suffered from the harsh cold and snow.

 

His health could not bear this harsh weather, so he contracted a fever that took his life. It is said that he died as a result of a preparation made from distilled wine that his doctors made for him based on his orders to resist the cold, as it melted his liver in (807 AH / 1405 AD), after the countries from “Delhi” to Damascus submitted to him.

 

Genghis Khan's Laws

After Genghis Khan was able to extend his power, he turned to reforming internal affairs:

 

In the year (603 AH / 1206 AD), he established a ruling council called (Qurultai), organized his state, and established a constitution for the country called (Yassa Law) to organize life, after he saw that the Mongolian customs, traditions and customs did not meet the requirements of the new state, so he reviewed some of them, accepted others, and rejected what he saw as inappropriate.

 

The constitution dealt with various matters to organize life in the emerging state, and obligated the state's agencies to implement its provisions and work according to them, and stressed the punishment of wrongdoers.

 

Genghis Khan's Commandments

Our greatest happiness is that your enemy is scattered, in order to push him before you, to see the cities turned to ashes, to know those who love him drowned in tears, and to place him in the arms of his wives and daughters.

With the help of heaven, I opened a great empire for you, but my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world, this task was left to you.

It is not enough for me to be successful, all others must fail.

 

I am the punishment of God, what have I done for God to send you a punishment like me.

 

If my body dies, let my body die, but do not let my country die.

 

I am willing to sacrifice half of the Mongol people so that the other half can be straightened.

 

Death of Genghis Khan

He died in the year (624 AH / 1227 AD) near the city of “Tsju”, and was buried in Mongolia, and left behind a vast empire, feared by the side, and his son “Ogtai” succeeded him in this great empire.