The Mongol empire and Islam

[manfred]

This is in response to SAM's typical Muslim claim of "sanitised" history... the big bad Mongul wolves attacked the poor Muslim little lambs without any reason at all and then the Muslims defended themselves.

Many Muslim historians look upon the Mongols as looters and plunderers. They tell us that the Mongols were like the Goths and Vandals, destroying everything in their way with the only aim to loot established rich civilizations. These historians allege that the civilization of the Muslims at Baghdad was the richest in the 13th century. This is wrong, while Baghdad was a rich and well endowed city, the Caliphate owed its riches to the constant looting of Persia, Central Asia, North Africa, Spain which the Muslim armies had been indulging from the beginning of Islam in 630 C.E., till they were checked by Charles Martel in France in 732 C.E. and till their brutal march across Central Asia towards China was reversed with equal brutality by the Mongols from 1200 C.E.

The Man who almost destroyed Islam – Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan attacked the Turko-Persian Muslim Khwarazmian empire of Samarkand to avenge the attacks being launched by the Arab and Persian Muslims into Tartary (Central Asia). The Khwarazmıan empire was established by Turkmen and Kipchak Turks who had converted to Islam due to Persian and Arab depradations against them from the 7thcentury onwards. The Kipchak Turks had converted along with the Quarluqs after the Chinese defeat against the Arabs in the battle of the Talas river. By the 10th century, the nobility of the Kipchak Turks had interbred with the Persians and Arab Muslims and had established a large empire over Central Asia. This Turko-Persian Muslim Khwarazmian empire had carried on the Muslim tradition of attacking neighboring non-Muslim peoples. Their depradations against other non-converted Turks and Mongols from the 8th century onwards, gradually built a simmerring resentment among the non-Muslim Turks and Mongols against the Turko-Persian Muslim Khwarazmian empire

Genghis Khan’s intention was not primarily to loot, but to destroy the enemy. Had the Mongols been motivated purely by intentions of looting the Caliphate (which ironically was itself a center where loot was collected and stored by the Muslims), the Mongols need not have traversed some four thousand miles from their homeland in Mongolia, to reach Baghdad, they could have as well attacked nearby Japan and Korea which were hardly a few hundred miles from their homeland and were more rich and endowed than Baghdad.

More details here
http://www.historyofjihad.org/mongolia.html

and on the historical context of Muslim fatwas against Mongols here:

https://sites.google.com/site/jhoover36 ... he-mongols

[Fernando]

The story of the Mongol invasion of the Muslim empire seems very reminiscent of the Muslim invasion of the Roman and Persian empires. That is, opportunistically attacking a decaying entity with great savagery.

The Muslim world at this time was in no position to resist the Mongol attacks. The Abbasid Caliphate was nothing but a shell of its former self, having no power outside of Baghdad. Most of Persia was disunited as the Khwarazmian Empire had mostly deteriorated by then. The Ayyubid state established by Salah al-Din was only in control of small parts of Iraq and Syria. In Egypt, a recent revolution had overthrown Salah al-Din’s descendants and brought to power the new Mamluk Sultanate. With his giant army of hundreds of thousands, Hulagu did not encounter much resistance.

http://lostislamichistory.com/mongols/

[SAM]

The Crusaders and the Mongols had been defeated by Muslim fiercest warriors...

Christian Crusader cowards, they can not defeat the Mongols.

[manfred]

And how old are you, SAM?

As the crusades interest you...

https://www.youtube.com/user/RealCrusadeHistory

In short, of a brief period the Mongol leaders and a French Crusader army joint together to fight the Muslims, their common enemy. This was not very successful.

While at other times some European powers also fought the Mongols for other reasons, there never was a crusade against the Mongols, because they never invaded Jerusalem.

[Nosuperstition]

Genghis Khan’s intention was not primarily to loot, but to destroy the enemy. Had the Mongols been motivated purely by intentions of looting the Caliphate (which ironically was itself a center where loot was collected and stored by the Muslims), the Mongols need not have traversed some four thousand miles from their homeland in Mongolia, to reach Baghdad, they could have as well attacked nearby Japan and Korea which were hardly a few hundred miles from their homeland and were more rich and endowed than Baghdad.

I have read in my 6th standard history content of social studies text book that Balban,the Turkish slave ruler of Delhi Sultanate constructed a series of forts and prevented the Mongols from making significant strides into the subcontinent.Perhaps this happened during the reign of Chengiz Khan.Mongols also conquered some parts of Christian Europe back then.So loot certainly is an important factor in Mongol invasions however much we may try to whitewash their invasion of muslim lands.However on the internet I have read a prominent Chinese religious figure asked Kublai Khan,possibly son of the famous Chengiz Khan not to overrun India populated by millions as it was the sacred land of Buddhists.So did Kublai Khan heed to him?Is that the reason why Mongols did not carry on latter day large scale invasions of the populous sub-continent while even Europeans went for it?Sad to see that things are deteriorating fast/significantly between long term peaceful neighbors of almost 2000 years of history in Asia with shared religious heritage perhaps due to needling by some other foreign power.

[Nosuperstition]

Or may be the present day upper caste supposedly Aryan elite of India identifies more so with the West than its ancestors who were so against those coming from the West that the word 'aprachyas' or the non-Easterners itself was a Sanskrit word of contempt back then.

[Nosuperstition]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIqgZKOt2Kk

Hindus are do doubt near the tropics and are dark skinned however the above video does show their facial features being more Asian than Caucasian.