A Short History of Sarcens:Chapter XXIII

Saladin's sons — Rise of al- Malik ul-Aadil — The Fourth Crusade — The sons of al-Malik ul-Aadil — General review of the Islamic world in the East— The Caliphate— Caliph AzZahir— The Caliph Mustansir — The Caliph Mustaasim — Eruption of the Tartars — Fall of Bagdad — Destruction of Islamic civilisation. 

Unfortunately, Saladin made no provision before his death to regulate the succession, and this want of foresight proved the ruin of his empire, which now split into three independent monarchies under his three elder sons. Ali, al-Malik ul-Afzal (Abu'l Hassan Nur ud-din), obtained Syria and Palestine; and the possession of Damascus, the capital of the empire, gave him pre-eminence over his brothers. Osman, al-Malik ul-Aziz (Abu'l Fath Imad ud-din), who held in his father's lifetime the command in Egypt, was proclaimed sovereign of that country; whilst Ghazi, al-Malik uz-Zahir (Ghyas ud-din) obtained the principality of Aleppo. Al-Malik ul-Aadil (Saif ud-din, Abu Bakr) Lord of Karak and Shaubek and brother of Saladin, who was most popular with the army, held part of Mesopotamia and several cities in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. The children of Shirkuh were established at Emessa, and other important fiefs were held by other cadets of the family. 

Yemen was ruled by another brother of Saladin. Had the sons of the great Sultan remained united, probably in spite of the division of the empire they would have been able to hand down the power to their descendants. Their dissensions and incapacity helped al-Aadil to acquire the dominions of his brother. The quarrels which broke out between Afzal and Aziz led to the former being driven from Damascus, which was then given to Aadil, Afzal resting content with the city of Sarkhad. On the death of Aziz, leaving a minor son, Afzal was called to undertake his tutorship. Dissensions then broke out between Afzal and Aadil, who thereupon expelled both Afzal and his nephew Mansur from Egypt. 

They received some fiefs in Mesopotamia, where they Accession and their descendants abode. Aadil established himself in Cairo on the i6th of the Rabi II. 596 a.h. Soon February, after he obtained possession of Syria, Eastern Mesopotamia, Khilat, and Greater Armenia, and in 612 a.h. became master of Yemen, to which country he despatched (as governor) his grandson Yusuf. Saif ud-din (al-Malik ul- Aadil) is described as a sovereign possessing great knowledge and foresight, and gifted with consummate prudence, always animated with the best intentions, virtuous in his conduct, and resolute in his under- takings. Like his brother he was a patron of learning. Al-Aadil now became supreme sovereign of Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Arabia, with an empire almost as extensive as that of his great brother. The Khutba was recited in his name from all the pulpits, and the coins bore his seal. 

Two years after the death of Saladin, Pope Celestine III inflamed another Crusade, but with the conflict between Saladin and Richard, the wars of the giants had ended. Henceforth the struggles between Islam and Christendom were comparatively weak and spasmodic. In spite of the division that prevailed in the Moslem camp, this onslaught of the Franks proved as abortive as its predecessors. "All the powers of the West," says Michaud, "miscarried in an attempt upon a little fortress in Syria." In flagrant breach of the treaty concluded with Saladin, which had been solemnly sworn to by all the Christian princes then in Syria, a large force of Crusaders landed on the Phoenician coast and seized Beyrut. At this time, the sons of Saladin still held their kingdoms, but al-Malik ul-Aadil, as the most experienced champion of Islam, hastened from his pricipality to resist the Franks. He carried Jaffa by storm, whilst the Crusaders were besieging Tibnin. The siege ended in disastrous failure, and they were compelled to sue for peace. A truce of three years was accordingly concluded. This Crusade too was marked by the wildest excesses on the part of the soldiers of the Cross. 

Three years later Innocent III., "who simply wanted to raise money," says a European writer, "for the gratification of his luxury and avarice," proclaimed another Crusade, and invited the princes of Christendom to engage in it. Richard of England refused to pay any heed to the exhortations of the Pope. "You advise me," he said in wrath to the emissaries of the Roman Pontiff, "to dismiss my three daughters, pride, avarice, and incontinence. I bequeath them to the most deserving — my pride to the Knights Templars, my avarice to the monks of Cisteaux, and my incontinence to the prelates." But the other princes of Europe were not so wise, and an immense force sprang up for a fresh invasion of the East. Luckily for Islam, instead of marching against Syria, they turned their arms against Constantinople. Ibn ul-Athir's account of this Crusade agrees wonderfully with that given by European historians. He tells briefly how the usurper blinded his brother, and threw him into prison; how the young son of the latter escaped to the horde that had been collected for the invasion of Palestine; how they turned aside on his appeal to the assistance of the blind and deposed sovereign of Byzantium; he describes in a few graphic sentences the surrender of the city, its conflagration, and the subsequent atrocities committed by the warriors of the Cross on a Christian city. The conflagration, says Gibbon, "which reduced to ashes one fourth of Constantinople," began with the bigotry of some Flemish pilgrims, who "were scandalised by the aspect of a mosque or a synagogue in which one God was worshipped, without a partner or a son. Their effectual mode of controversy was to attack the infidels with the sword, and their habitation with fire, but the infidels and some Christian neighbours presumed to defend their lives and properties, and the flames which bigotry had kindled consumed the most orthodox and innocent structures. During eight days and nights the conflagration spread above a league in front, from the harbour to the Propontis, over the thickest and most populous regions of the city." 

When the Crusaders took the city by force, they put sword every Greek they met. "It was a horrible spectacle," says a historian, "to see women and young children runnmg distractedly here and there, trembling and half dead with fright, lamenting piteously and begging for mercy." According to Mills and Gibbon, the atrocities perpetrated by the pilgrims were bitterly lamented by Pope Innocent III., atrocities too horrible to describe. The Crusaders were insensible to pity. For several days they enacted the worst scenes of outrage and spoliation, within and without the walls of Constantinople. "Villages, churches, and country houses," says Michaud, "were all devastated and given over to pillage. A distracted crowd covered the roads and wandered about at hazard, pursued by fear, bending under fatigue, and uttering cries of despair." Nicetas, the Byzantine historian, whose daughter was with difficulty preserved from harm, reproaches the Crusaders with having surpassed "the Turks" in barbarity. He reminds them of the example of Saladin's soldiers, who, when masters of Jerusalem, neither violated the modesty of matrons and virgins, nor subjected the Christians to fire, sword, hunger, and nakedness.

"After stripping the gems and pearls, they converted the chalices into drinking cups; their tables, on which they gamed and feasted, were covered with pictures of Christ and the saints, and they trampled underfoot the most venerable objects of the Christian worship. In the Cathedral of St. Sophia, the ample veil of the sanctuary was rent asunder for the sake of the golden fringe, and the altar, a monument of art and riches, was broken in pieces and shared among the captors. Their mules and horses were laden with the wrought silver and gilt carvings which they tore down from doors and pulpits; and if the beasts stumbled under the burden, they were stabbed by their impatient drivers, and the holy pavement streamed with their impure blood. 'A follower of the demon and a priestess of the furies' was seated on the throne of the patriarch, and the daughter of Belial, as she is styled, sang and danced in the church to ridicule the hymns and processions of the Orientals." 

In 1216-17 A.c, Innocent III. preached the Sixth Crusade. "Women, children, the old, the blind, the lame, the leprous, all were enrolled in the sacred militia. The King of Hungary, the Dukes of Austria and Bavaria, and all the potentates of Lower Germany, united their forces for the projected invasion of the East." Two hundred and fifty thousand men, chiefly Germans, landed first in Syria, and after devastating portions of the sea-coast, turned their attention towards Egypt. Arrived at the eastern mouth of the Nile, they laid siege to Damietta. Al-Malik ul-Aadil was hurrying from Northern Syria to Egypt, but died in the neighbourhood of Damascus. His reign of nearly twenty years was by no means inglorious. He had repeatedly defeated the Franks, and foiled their attacks by land and sea. His empire was divided by his sons. Mohammed, surnamed al- Malik ul-Kamil obtained Egypt. The second son Isa, surnamed al-Malik ul- Muazzam received the kingdom of Syria, extending from Emessa to al-Aarish on the Egyptian frontier, and including Palestine, Jerusalem, al-Karak, etc; whilst Musa, al-Malik ul-Ashraf held the principality of Aleppo. 

After a siege of eighteen months, Damietta fell into hands of the Crusaders, and they entered the city with the same ruthless feelings as had maddened the Crusaders, when they first leaped on the battlements of Jerusalem. But revenge sought its victims in vain. Damietta was one vast charnel-house; of a population which at the beginning of the siege consisted of more than seventy thousand souls, three thousand only remained to tell the story of their sufferings. Even this awful sight did not dismay or excite the pity of the Crusaders, and they massacred the famished survivors without mercy. They then marched upon Cairo; Kamil, although reinforced by his brothers, felt himself unequal to contend successfully with the overwhelming forces of the Crusaders. He accordingly offered to restore to them all the conquests of Saladin, provided they gave up Damietta. Feeling certain of the conquest of Egypt they refused Kamil's offer. The Nile was just beginning to rise, and the Saracens opened the dykes and suddenly inundated the country. The Crusaders found themselves now entirely cut off from their base; a convoy bringing up provisions was surprised, and famine began to stalk in their camp. At the same time the Moslem troops kept up an incessant attack. The Franks were forced to sue for peace, hostages were exchanged, and finally a treaty was concluded by which the Crusaders agreed to evacuate Damietta on condition of a safe retreat to the sea-coast, some concessions to the pilgrims, and the restoration of "the doubtful relic" of the true Cross. 

No sooner had the Christians left than quarrels broke out between the brothers; al-Malik ul-Muazzam entered into an alliance with the ambitious Jalal ud-din, son of Aala ud-din Khwarism Shah, with the object of ousting Kamil, who on his side opened negotiations with Frederick II, Emperor of Germany, just then preparing a Crusade on his own account, against the wishes of the Pope. Al-Malik ul-Muazzam died in 1227, leaving the principality of Damascus to his son al-Malik ul-Nasir Daud; Kamil and Ashraf then combined to seize Damascus, and to give to Nasir in return Harran, Roha (Edessa), and Rakka. Damascus was accordingly taken from him, and he had to content himself with the three cities his uncles agreed to give him. In the year 1229 a.c. (629 a.h.)Frederick arrived in Syria. There were many communications between him and Kamil; finally a treaty was concluded between the two for ten years six months and ten days, by which Frederick obtained the peaceful retrocession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and all the cities situated between the route from Jaffa to Acre. The only privilege reserved for the Moslems was the free exercise of their religion in the ceded towns. In Jerusalem, they were allowed to retain the Mosque of Omar. This treaty was approved neither by Moslems nor by Christians; it was grievous to the former, because they lost by it almost all that had been won by Saladin; to the Christians, because the Moslems were permitted the free exercise of their religion. 

Frederick returned soon after to Europe to defend his dominions against papal aggressions. Kamil died on the 8th of March 1238. The ameers thereupon raised to the throne his son Abu Bakr, al- Malik ul-Addil, a young man of weak character and given to pleasure. He was deposed by his brother Ayub al-Malik us-Saleh who was better fitted to deal with the unruly military mamlukes who now formed the aristocracy of Egypt. In 637 a.h, (1239-40), Abu Nasr Daud, the Lord of Harran, re-took Jerusalem from the Christians and demolished its walls. 

At this time Western Asia was in a state of chaos; the territories held by the Caliph alone seemed to enjoy peace and repose. In order to understand the events that now rapidly follow one another, and the causes of the fast approaching catastrophe which engulfed Saracenic civilisation, it is necessary to retrace our steps for a while. 

Under Muktafi, Mustanjid, and Mustazii, the Caliphs had succeeded in regaining their temporal power over Irak, Lower Mesopotamia, Fars, Ahwaz, and the Deltaic province. Their spiritual authority was more powerful than at any time since the death of Wasik. Mustazii died in 575 a.h., and was succeeded by his son Ahmed Abu Abbas, under the title of an-Nasir li’din-Illah. He is described as an able and successful ruler. According to az-Zahabi, his long reign of forty seven years was glorious and blessed with splendour. He created a powerful army, and seems to have been respected and feared by all the neighbouring princes; his dominions enjoyed perfect repose, and peace and prosperity reigned everywhere. Upon his death his son Abu Nasr Mohammed ascended the throne under the title of Az-Zahir bi-amr-Illah. Ibn ul-Athir says he was a benevolent sovereign, recalling the days of Omar bin Abdul Aziz. He died after a reign of barely a year. 

His son Abii Jaafar Mansur, who ascended the throne under the title of al-Mustansir b'Illah maintained the power and grandeur of the Caliphate. The historians speak of him as a brave and chivalrous man, and a just, wise, and pious ruler. He established on the eastern bank of the Tigris, a college which was richly endowed and furnished with every requisite for the comfort and instruction of the students; and organised a large army for the defence of his dominions against the Tartars. 

The vast steppes of Mongolia, or the tract commonly known as Chinese Tartary, stretching from the eastern borders of Ferghana far away to the Amur, were then, as now, inhabited by savage hordes of nomades bearing different names, but springing from one stock. Abdul Latif, who was almost an eye-witness of the harrowing scenes enacted by these savages in the various seats of civilisation, describes them thus: "Their women fight as well as their men; their principal weapons are arrows, and their food any flesh they can get, and there is no exception or quarter in their massacre, for they slay even women and children. They are accustomed to cross deep rivers with bladders or else holding on to the manes and tails of their shaggy horses as they swim, knowing no fatigue, reckless of death, and pitiless to others." 

Towards the close of the twelfth century of the Christian era, these wild and teeming hordes of Tartars were united under one banner by Chengiz or Jingis, the Devastator, the veritable "Scourge of Scourge God." Chengiz, whose real name was Temujin, was born in 1155 a.c, and was proclaimed Khakan, or the over-lord of the hordes in 1189 a.c, and from this time commenced march towards the south and the west. By the year 1219 he had conquered China and the whole of Tartary. At this period the Moslem world was ruled by several new dynasties. The Seljukian empire of Persia had passed away. After a glorious reign of nearly half a century the great Sultan Sanjar was defeated and taken prisoner with his queen, Turkhan Khatun, by a rebelious tribe of Turkomans called Oghuz. These marauders, after their unexpected victory over their sovereign, sacked Merv and Nishapur, but the work of destruction was left to be completed by the Tartars. For four years Sanjar remained a prisoner in the hands of the Oghuz. After the death of his wife, whom he did not like to leave in captivity, Sanjar escaped from his captors and arrived at Nishapur only to find his capital a wreck and his empire ruined. He died shortly after of a broken heart. Upon death a nephew, who bore the name of Tughril, was Seljukide raised to the throne, but he was assassinated, and his dynasty, kingdom seized by one of the nobles of the court. 

About the year 1150 a.c. a new dynasty had risen in Eastern Afghanistan, which displaced and eventually destroyed the Ghaznavides. Aala ud-din Hussain Jehansuz ("burner of the world"), the founder of the Ghori dynasty, sacked Ghazni in 550 a.h., and forced the scions of the house of Subaktagin to retire to Lahore, where they soon became domesticated Indian sovereigns. Ala ud-din Hussain's ambitions westward were restrained by Sanjar, then in the plenitude of his power; and he was compelled to find a vent for his energy in the direction of India. In 1156 a.c. Aala ud-din was succeeded by his son Saif ud-din, who died shortly after. The throne then went to his cousin Ghyas ud-din. In 1163 a.c. (569 a.h.) Ghazni was finally annexed to the Ghorian kingdom. In 571 A.H. Ghyas ud-din's brother Shihab ud-din who acted as his generalissimo in the East, conquered Multan, and in 582 a.h. Khusru Malik, the last of the Ghaznavides, was seized by stratagem and put to death. In 589 a.h.(1192 a.c) he defeated the combined armies of India on the memorable field of Tarain, on the banks of the Saraswati. By this single victory the Moslems became the virtual masters of Hindustan. In 599 a.h. Shihab ud-din succeeded his brother Ghyas ud-din. Upon his assassination in 602 a.h., without leaving any issue, his mamluke Kutb ud-din (Aibek)- obtained Hindustan; whilst Ilduz, another slave or retainer, received the principality of Ghazni. Aibek was succeeded by his son Abu'l Muzaffar Aram, but after a short reign of barely a year he was ousted by his brother-in-law Altamsh who ruled Hindustan for twenty-five years. He was the first of the Indo-Mahommedan sovereigns who received the coveted diploma of investiture from the Pontifical Court of Bagdad. The kingdom was held by his children up to the year 1265 a.c. The celebrated Queen Regnant of Moslem India, Razia, the daughter of Altamsh, was raised to the throne in accordance with her father's wishes in 634 a.h., and Eastern eyes beheld for the first time the spectacle of an unveiled and diademed empress. The commencement of Razia's reign was attended with considerable danger and difficulty, caused chiefly by the refractory governors, who hesitated in conceding their allegiance. Eventually, however, quiet was established throughout the empire, and Razia's sway was acknowledged "from Daibal to Lakhnauti." Her end, however, was unfortunate. In attempting to quell a rebellion she was taken prisoner and afterwards assassinated by the Hindoos. 

The principality of Khwarism (modern Khiva) had been bestowed as a fief by Sultan Malik Shah upon his cupbearer, chamberlain, Nushtagin. He was succeeded by his son Kutb ud-din Mohammed, just and wise and honest ruler, who obtained from Sanjar the title of Khwarism Shah. Atsiz, his son and successor, rebelled against his sovereign, and towards the end of Sultan Sanjar's reign became virtually independent. The grandson of Atsiz added Irak Ajam to his dominions, and on the murder of the last Seljuk ruler, Tughril, the nephew of Sanjar, he was invested by the Caliph with the sovereignty of Persia, Khwarism, and Khorasan. Takish was succeeded by his son Aala ud-din Mohammed. By the conquest of Balkh and Herat he completed the subjugation of Khorasan, and added to his dominions Mazendran, Kerman, Ghazni, and finally Transoxiana, which was held by a lieutenant of the Khan of the Kara Khitai horde. In 1214 he marched against the Caliph, but was stopped by a snowstorm which overtook his troops on the mountains of Asadabad, near Hamadan. He then retraced his steps towards his capital. Four years later he was overwhelmed by the Mongolian avalanche, owing chiefly to his own cruel and savage folly. 

At the time of the Mongolian eruption the great Zangi's dynasty had passed away from the rulership of Mosul. The last Atabek had left an infant son named Masud under the guardianship of his faithful mamluke Badr ud-din Lulu. Masud died in 1218 a.c, and was within a short space of time followed to the grave by his son. Badr ud-din Lulu then became the Atabek of Mosul. He had held the principality for thirty-seven years when the Mongols invaded the 

country. 

The throne of Iconium in the year 1235-37, when the Mongols made their first raid into Asia Minor, was occupied by (Aala ud-din) Kai Kobad, the seventh in descent from Sultan Sulaiman. In 641 a.h. they defeated Kai Kobad's son and successor Ghyas ud-din Kaikhusru, and compelled him to pay tribute and receive a resident at his court, who was called a Perwanah. 

I have already mentioned how Malik us-Saleh Ayub made himself master of Egypt in 638 a.h. He gradually extended his power over Syria, and compelled the princes of the Ayubide dynasty, who held sway in that country, to acknowledge his suzerainty. Whilst he was endeavouring to introduce peace and order in his dominions, the troops of Mohammed Khwarism Shah, flying before the Mongols, entered Syria and plunged it into disorder. They took service first under one chief and then another. They finally threw off allegiance to the princes of Syria, and gave themselves up to slaughter and rapine. After a series of battles they were finally destroyed in 644 a.h. 

Whilst al-Malik us-Saleh was engaged in Syria, the Franks launched the eighth Crusade. This was headed by Louis IX. of France, called by the Arab historians Ridafrans (Roi de France). Louis landed at Damietta, which was evacuated by the Moslems, turned the mosques into churches, and fixed his residence there. Once in possession of Damietta the Crusaders fell into their usual habits of life. The barons emulated each other in the splendour of their banquets, and the commonalty abandoned themselves to the lowest vices. "So general was the immorality, that the king could not stop the foul and noxious torrent." 

"The passion," says Michaud, "for gaming had got entire possession of the leaders and soldiers: after losing their fortune they risked even their horses and arms. Beneath the shadow of the standard of Christ the Crusaders gave themselves up to all the excesses of debauchery; the contagion of the most odious vices pervaded all ranks." "To satisfy the boundless taste for luxury and pleasure, recourse was had to all sorts of violent means. The leaders of the army pillaged the traders that provisioned the camp and the city; they imposed enormous tributes upon them, and this assisted greatly in bringing on scarcity. The most ardent made distant excursions, surprised caravans, devastated towns and plains, and drove away Mussulman women, whom they brought in triumph to Damietta." Joinville says that "the common soldiers indulged in the wildest violence towards matrons and maidens." Al-Malik us- Saleh died whilst the Franks were still at Damietta, after a reign of nearly ten years. He is described as taciturn, just, and upright in his conduct, faithful in his words, and martial and imposing in his character. He never took any action without consulting his generals and councillors. He organised the military corps of Bahrite Mamlukes. 

Ayub left him surviving one son named Turan Shah (al-Malik ul-Muazzam), who was absent on the borders of Syria. Shajr ud-Durr, the wife of Ayub, a woman of great capacity and courage, concealed the Sultan's death until the principal officers had taken the oath of allegiance to Turan Shah, On the death of Ayub the Franks issued from Damietta for the conquest of Egypt, but they were defeated with great slaughter, and Louis and his principal noblemen fell into the hands of the Moslems. Turan Shah's favouritism towards the rival military corps (the Burjites) led to his assassination by the Bahrite Mamlukes. They then raised to the throne Shajr ud-Durr. The Khutba was recited in her name, and the coins were inscribed with her title, al-Mustaasimieh (the servant of the Caliph al-Mustaasim), us-Saleha (the wife of us-Saleh Ayub), al-Malikat ul-Muslimin (the Queen of the Muslims), Umm’l abu Mansur al-Khalil Shaja al-Durr. 

With her was associated as commander-in-chief, the Chashnigir Muiz ud-din Aibek. Before long the commander- in-chief deposed the princess, and constituted himself the virtual sovereign. But the ameers were not satisfied, 1250 a.c. and wishing to raise to the throne a descendant of the royal blood, their choice fell on a young lad named Musa, a great-grandson of al-Malik ul-Kamil. He was associated with Aibek under the title of al-Malik ul- Ashraf. At this time an-Nasir Yusuf was the sovereign of Damascus and Aleppo, and virtually of the whole of Syria. By the mediation of the Caliph a peace was concluded between an-Nasir Yusuf and Aibek, by which the country up to the Jordan was left in the hands of the Egyptians. In the following year Aibek seized the sovereignty, and sent al-Malik ul- Ashraf back to his relatives in Yemen. This lad was the last of the Ayubides in whose name the Khutba was read in Egypt. The Baharite Mamlukes, persecuted by Aibek, fled to Syria, and war broke out afresh between an-Nasir and Aibek. Again the Caliph interfered, and peace was patched up by which an-Nasir extended his territories to al-Aarish on the frontiers of Egypt. Two years later Aibek was assassinated, and his son Nur ud-din Ali was placed on the throne, with the title of al-Malik ul-Mansur. 

After the death of Aibek, the Caliph sent al-Malik un-Nasir Yusuf the diploma and pelisse of Sultanate for which he had long prayed. Although he was master of Syria from the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, there were several petty princes within its borders who, before his aggrandisement, were doubtless his peers, and who belonged to the Ayubide family. Emessa was held at the time of the Mongolian eruption by al-Malik ul-Ashraf Musa, a grandson of Shirkiih. He was deprived of his principality by Nasir about 1248, and received in exchange the district of Tell-Bashir. Ashraf was reinstated by the Mongols, and became their deputy in Syria. Hamah was held by the descendants of Taki ud-din Omar, the nephew of the great Saladin, by whom he was appointed Lord of Hamah. His son Mohammed, al-Malik ul- Mansur had gained considerable renown in the war with the Crusaders, and by his patronage of the learned. His grandson held Hamah when the Mongols invaded Syria. Karak and Shaubek were held by the descendants of Aadil (Saif ud-din Abu Bakr), the brother of Saladin, His great-grandson al-Malik ul-Mughis Taki ud-din Omar ruled over the principality at the invasion of the Mongols. Besides their possessions in Syria, the Ayubides still retained a small portion of Saladin's dominions in Mesopotamia. This consisted of the principality of Mayafarikin. It was governed by a dynasty descended from another son of al-Aadil. At the time of Hulaku's invasion it was subject to Malik Kamil, who was its fifth ruler. He was killed by the Mongols. 

Such was the position of the Moslem sovereigns and princes at the time of the Mongol invasion. In 1218 A.C., the dominions of Chengiz were conterminous with those of Mohammed, the Shah of Khwarism. An interchange of courtesies between the barbarian lord of several millions of armed nomades, and the reckless and haughty Turkoman sovereign of Trans-oxiana, was followed by an act of cruelty on the part of the latter which unleashed upon Islam the whirlwind of savagery that converted Western Asia in the course of a few years into a vast charnel-house. A body of traders who had arrived from Mongolia were put to death and their goods seized by the Khwarismian governor of a frontier town, on the pretence that they were spies. The Mongol asked for the surrender of the guilty governor; the Khwarismian king replied to the demand by killing the envoy. Upon receipt of the news of this outrage upon humanity and international courtesy, the Mongol issued from the steppes with a savage following of a million, and moved upon Ferghana. It was in the year 615 a.h. that the storm burst. At the time of the Mongol eruption, in spite of the frequent wars of which the plains of Transoxiana, Khorasan, and Persia had been the theatre, these countries were most flourishing; the people were prosperous; literature, arts, and crafts of every kind were cultivated, encouraged, and patronised; the cities were populous, and embellished with fine public and private structures, the outcome of centuries of prosperity and civilisation. Herat and Balkh each had a population of a million; in Bokhara and Samarkand it far exceeded that number. 

The forces of Khwarism Shah were simply swept away as by a torrent. Leaving out the minor cities and towns, it is enough to describe what happened in the principal centres of civilisation and trade. Khojand was rased to the ground, and its inhabitants passed under the sword. Bokhara was reduced to ashes. Ibn ul-Athir's account of the sack of this seat of learning depicts in vivid terms the terrible cruelties inflicted by the savages upon the helpless inhabitants; space, however, does not permit my quoting his description. Advancing along the beautiful valley of the Soghd, "The Scourge of God " arrived at Samarkand, which was not only the capital of Trans-oxiana, but also one of the greatest centres of commerce in the world. It was three miles in circumference, and surrounded by a wall pierced by twelve iron gates, with castles at intervals. Its garrison consisted of 110,000 men, of whom 60,000 were Turkomans and Kankalis and 50,000 Tajiks or Persians. The three armies that had overrun Northern Transoxiana now converged upon the doomed town, and an immense body of men invested it. The Turkish mercenaries, who thought they would be treated as compatriots by the Mongols, deserted in a body with their families and goods, and were immediately put to death. Upon this the Imams and the notables issued and offered to surrender. In spite of their submission the city was sacked, and an immense number of people were killed; 30,000 artisans were assigned by Chengiz as slaves to his several sons; an equal number were set aside for military works, transport service, etc. Of its million inhabitants, 50,000 alone remained to tell the fate of the ruined city. 

Warned by the fate of Bokhara and Samarkand, the citizens of Balkh sent him presents and offered their submission, but he was afraid to leave it behind him. On pretence of counting its inhabitants, he enticed them out of the city, and then slaughtered them; the town itself was reduced to ashes. In May 1220 a.c. the savage horde captured Urganj (old Khiva), after a desperate fight, which was followed by a general massacre. They then destroyed the city by opening the dykes of the Oxus. At Nessa they made a hecatomb of over 70,000 people; men, women, and children were told to lie down side by side, they were then tied by cords and destroyed by arrows. Nishapur, the capital of the Tahirides, and the Persian Seljukides, was destroyed in April 1221 a.c. It was rased to the ground, and its site was sown with barley; only 400 artisans escaped, and they were transported to the north. According to Mirkhond 1,747,000 men lost their lives in the massacre at Nishapur and the surrounding districts. In Herat and its environs, they killed, burnt, and destroyed for a week, and it is said that 1,600,000 people were killed; the place was entirely depopulated, and the neighbourhood turned into a desert. Rai, Dinawar, and Hamadan were sacked, and a large portion of the population put to the sword. The Mongols then marched upon Irak, which belonged to the Caliph, but were beaten back by Mustansir's troops. 

Whilst his empire was being thus devastated, and his people destroyed, Ala’ud-Din, the primary author of these calamities, was hunted from place to place; no heroism could make headway against the numbers that fell upon him. He was pursued his family were captured by the Mongols, and all the males were put to death; only three sons escaped, one of whom alone was able to offer any resistance to the savage invaders. Ala’ud-Din took refuge in an island on the Caspian Sea, where he died of pleurisy, alone and abandoned — a poor atonement for the disasters he had brought on Islam. His heroic son Jalal ud-din was pursued by the Tartars with ruthless bloodhound pertinacity. He retreated by Khwarism, Herat, and Ghazni, collected fresh forces, and succeeded in two successful actions in inflicting considerable losses on the Mongols. Chengiz himself pursued Jalal ud-din with tremendous impetuosity across the Bamian and Kabul, past Ghazni. Hurrying on, by forced marches, he overtook the fugitive prince on the western banks of the Indus, and attacked him furiously. Jalal ud-din fought with his accustomed bravery. He rushed upon the Mongols again and again, until he was driven into a corner. Two horses had already been killed under him; he sprang on to a third, with which he plunged from the bank, some thirty feet high, into the waters of the Indus, and succeeded in reaching the opposite shore in safety. The appearance of the troops of Sultan Bulban, who then ruled India, prevented Chengiz from crossing the Indus, and he withdrew his men towards the west. 

In Transoxiana and Khorasan the civilisation of centuries was completely destroyed, and the people were plunged into a depth of barbarism in which the remembrance of their former greatness and their whole future were alike engulfed. The great high-roads of Central Asia, by which the products of China and India were conveyed to Western Asia, and to Europe, were deserted; the tracts well known for their fertility lay barren and neglected, or finally destroyed; the arts and manufactures, so celebrated throughout Islam, decayed for ever. The towns were in ruins, the peasants either murdered or compulsorily enrolled in the Mongolian army, and the artisans sent off by thousands to the farthest east to adorn and beautify the home of the barbarian conqueror. 

The Mongolian eruption put an end to the intellectual life of Central Asia, for although Persia and the west gradually recovered from their misfortunes, Bokhara and Samarkand never regained their former mental activity, and their intellectual labours were henceforth entirely devoted to casuistry and mysticism. After converting Central Asia and Persia into a desert Chengiz retreated to the steppes, where he subsequently died. Jalal ud-din was thus able to reconquer some portion of his patrimony. But the Mongols were soon upon his track again before he had time to organise an army. He was obliged to take refuge in the mountains of Kurdistan, where he was treacherously murdered by one of the inhabitants. 

The Caliph Mustansir died in 1242 a.c, at the most critical period in the destiny of his house and of Saracenic civilisation. He was succeeded by his son Abu Ahmed Abdullah, who received the title of al-Mustaasim b'Illah. Weak, vacillating, and fond of pleasure, his reign was one continuous record of disturbance and disorder at home and disaster abroad, culminating in his destruction and that of his family. The quarrels of the Hanafis with the Hanbalites, who were the source of constant trouble in Bagdad; of the Sunnis with the Shiahs who inhabited the western suburb of Karkh, and most of all the quarrels of the rabble and the looters with the monied classes and the aristocracy, made Mustaasim's life a burden. And he accentuated these disorders by disbanding his father's army, and directing them to take to trade and husbandry. A riot between the Shiahs and the Sunnis led him to give an order to his son, Abd Bakr, and his secretary to demolish the suburb of Karkh, and reduce the Shiahs to slavery. Muwayyid ud-din Mohammed bin al-Kami, the vizier, who was a Shiah, was grieved at this, and is said to have invited the Tartars to come to Bagdad. 

The Arab historians, Ibn Khaldun, Abu'l Feda, Makrisi, and Suyuti, all describe the Vizier as a traitor; in this they are supported by Mirkhond and Wassaf, who wrote under one of the Mongols. Rashid ud-din alone describes him as a faithful servant anxious to save the dynasty from the impending ruin, but helpless under the imbecility and vacillation of the nerveless pontiff. However it be, Halaku, who was acting in Persia as the lieutenant-general of his brother Mangu Khan, after exterminating the Assassins and destroying their castles, marched towards Tabriz, whence he sent some envoys to Mustaasim with the following message: "When we went out against Rudbar, we sent ambassadors to thee, desiring aid; thou didst promise it, but sentest not a man. Now, we request that thou wouldst change thy conduct, and refrain from thy contumacy, which will only bring about the loss of thy empire and thy treasures." The misguided Caliph, without an army, with half-hearted councillors and a city torn by intestine dissensions, instead of bowing to the storm, returned a haughty reply, and the rabble insulted the departing Mongols. This threw the heathen savage into a rage. Halaku advanced on the capital of the Abbassides with a force which could beleaguer the city all round. The Caliph's troops attempted to make some stand against the invaders before they arrived in the neighbourhood of Bagdad. But divided counsels led on one occasion to a disastrous repulse, and on another to a fruitless loss of life. The Mongols now resolved on blockading Bagdad. On all the heights of the city, and on all the towers and palaces which commanded it, were placed projectiles and engines, throwing masses of rock and flaming naphtha, which breached the walls, and set the buildings on fire.

After the siege had lasted forty days, the vacillating Caliph commenced a parley with the savage. His messages of submission were, however, fruitless. Halaku then inveigled into his camp the principal officers of Mustaasim, who were massacred on a slight pretext along with their retainers and followers. Mustaasim's position was now hopeless. At last he was Mustaasim persuaded to save his life and the lives of his people by a surrender. He repaired to the Mongol camp, attended by his brother and his two sons, together with a suite of nearly three thousand persons — kazis, shaikhs, imams, and other notables; only the Caliph and the three princes, his brother and two sons, together with three of the suite, were admitted to an audience. The savage chief concealed the perfidy of his designs under the mask of smooth words and a most friendly reception. He requested the Caliph to send word into the city that the armed inhabitants should throw away their weapons, and assemble before the gates, in order that a general census might be taken. At the order of the Caliph the city poured out its unarmed defenders, who were immediately secured. The next day, at sunrise, Halaku issued commands for the sack of the devoted city and the massacre of its inhabitants.

The destruction of Bagdad requires the pen of a master like Gibbon. The women and children who came out of their houses with the Koran in their hands, imploring quarter, were trampled to death. Delicately nurtured ladies who had never braved the sight of crowds were dragged into the open streets and subjected to the grossest brutalities; the artistic and literary treasures, collected with such labour and industry by sovereign after sovereign, with the remains of the old Persian civilisation, were destroyed in the course of a few hours. For three days the streets ran with blood, and the water of the Tigris was dyed red for miles along its course. The horrors of rapine, slaughter, and outraged humanity lasted for six weeks. The palaces, mosques, and mausolea were destroyed by fire or levelled to the earth for their golden domes. The patients in the hospitals, and the students and professors in the colleges, were put to the sword. In the mausolea the mortal remains of the shaikhs and pious imams, and in the academies the immortal works of great and learned men, were consumed to ashes; books were thrown into the fire, or, where the Tigris was near, buried in its waters. The accumulated treasures of five centuries were thus for ever lost to humanity, and the flower of the nation was completely destroyed. After the carnage had lasted four days, Mustaasim was trampled to death, together with his sons and the principal members of his family. A few obscure scions of the house of Abbas alone escaped the destruction. Bagdad, the abode of learning, the seat of culture; the eye and centre of the Saracenic world, was ruined for ever. The population before the sack was over two millions; according to Ibn Khaldun, one million six hundred thousand people perished in the slaughter of six weeks. With the destruction of Bagdad the gloom of night settled on Western Asia! The Arab and Persian authors speak in harrowing strains of the havoc and ruin caused by the myriads of savages and heathens who swept over the Islamic world in the middle of the thirteenth century, and none but a fanatic can help shedding a tear over the fearful loss of human life and the destruction of intellectual treasure, or the carnage and atrocities committed by the Mongols. "The invasion of the Tartars," says Ibn ul-Athir, " was one of the greatest of calamities and the most terrible of visitations which fell upon the world in general and the Moslems in particular, the like of which succeeding ages have failed to bring forth, for if one were to say that the world, since God created it to the present time, was never so afflicted, one would speak truly, for history has nothing which approaches it." Abdul Latif calls the Mongol eruption "a misfortune that reduces to insignificance all other misfortunes." Juwaini, the author of the Jahan Kusha, who was in the service of Chengiz about this time, says, "the revolution which has overwhelmed the world, has destroyed learning and the learned, especially in Khorasan, which was the focus of light and the rendezvous of the learned. The men of learning have become the victims of the sword. This is a period of famine for science and virtue."

After destroying Bagdad, the savage horde crossed the Euphrates and passed into Mesopotamia, carrying havoc and slaughter wherever they went. The inhabitants of Edessa, Harran, and Nasibin were put to the sword. In Aleppo, fifty thousand people were massacred, and ten thousand women and children were sold as slaves. Harran surrendered on a promise that the city would be spared; but the savages destroyed the inhabitants — even to the children at the breast. The Mongols marched thus westward, carrying destruction everywhere, assisted in their progress by the divisions prevailing among the Mussulmans themselves, until they were met at Ain ul-Jalut, a town below Nazareth in Palestine, by the celebrated Sultan Baibers, who afterwards became the sovereign of Egypt, and were defeated with terrible slaughter. Baibers pursued the Mongols beyond Aleppo, and cleared Syria and Mesopotamia of their loathsome presence. At this time the son of Aibek had been deposed by one of his generals named Saif ud-din Kotuz, who had assumed the sovereignty. Kotuz was assassinated shortly after the battle of Ain Jalut, when Baibers was raised to the throne under the title of al- Malik uz-Zahir.

For two years the Sunni world felt keenly and in sorrow the want of a spiritual head — a want which has been pathetically voiced by Suyuti. Baibers appreciated the necessity of reviving the Caliphate, and he invited to Cairo Ahmed (Abu'l Kasim) a scion of the house of Abbas who had escaped the massacre of his family. On the arrival of the young prince in the environs of Cairo, the Sultan went forth to meet him with the Kazis and officers of state. After his descent had been formally proved before the Chief Kazi, he was acknowledged as Caliph under the title of al-Mustansir b'Illah.

The first to take the oath of allegiance was the Sultan; next came the Chief Kazi Taj ud-din, the principal shaikhs, and lastly the nobles, according to their rank. This occurred on the 13th of Rajab 1261, and the new Caliph's name was impressed on the coinage and recited in the Kutba. The following Friday he rode to the mosque in procession, wearing the black mantle, and delivered the pontifical sermon. Having been formally installed the Caliph of the Faithful, he proceeded to invest the Sultan with the robe and diploma so essential in the eyes of the orthodox for legitimate authority. Thus was revived at Cairo the Abbasside Caliphate under the auspices of the warrior Sultan. Henceforth it is a purely spiritual office. In the sixteenth century Sultan Selim, the great Osmani conqueror, obtained a renunciation of the office in his favour from the last Caliph. Since then the Osmani sovereigns have assumed the title of Caliph, and have been recognised by the bulk of the Sunni world as their legitimate Pontiffs.