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Introduction
During the 1200s, Islam has proven itself as a dominant religion throughout parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, now collectively known as the Middle East. Islam has encountered numerous challenges to its integrity, particularly from the Roman Catholics through the Holy Crusades, which eventually collapsed during the late 1100s through the Islamic liberation of Jerusalem. The Islamic civilization proved groundbreaking not just in religious affairs, but also in terms of establishing intellectual potency and political strength within all influenced territories. The city of Baghdad, now the capital of present-day Iraq, stood as one of the centers of Islamic intellectual, religious and political excellence (Chughtai, 2003; De Somongyi, 1933).
Baghdad was a highly prominent Islamic city, as it proved a popular destination of Islamic scholars and followers and was the seat of a once-powerful Islamic empire, the Abbasid Caliphate. Yet, the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate timed disastrously with the arrival of the Mongols in Baghdad in 1258 AD. The destruction caused by the Mongols in Baghdad stood as one of the most devastating events in Islamic history and has brought severe intellectual, religious and political implications to Islam. This study aims to emphasize the effects of the 1258 AD Mongolian siege of Baghdad in the intellectual, religious and political life of Muslims, as it sees the catastrophe as one of the most damaging failures of the Islamic civilization (Chughtai, 2003; Johnson, 2007).
The Mongols
Generally, Mongols consist of nomadic tribes that originated in North and Central Asia, including the present-day state of Mongolia and parts of China and Russia. As nomads, Mongols consistently moved from one place to another with the help of their horses; hence, they do not have a single empire ruling them, given their constant mobility and the loose relations of their tribes with one another (McBride, 1980).
The Mongols have a reputation of violence against their neighbors. China, in particular, became highly wary of the threat Mongols brought, as manifested through the building of the Great Wall along its northern mountain borders. Central Asian tribes also became targets of the threats inflicted by Mongols, with the Tatars and other Turkic groups being the frequent recipients of their violent acts. Wherever the Mongolians went, they exhibited their ferocious demeanor towards foreigners they encounter (Gilli-Elewy, 2011; McBride, 1980).
Genghis Khan, a Mongol tribal chief, drastically strengthened the course of the Mongols as they sought to conquer more territories. The divided Mongol tribes united under the rule of Genghis Khan and became successful in occupying the northern parts of China, in turn overthrowing two prominent Chinese dynasties – Xia and Jin and conquering the imperial capital, Beijing. The Mongols successfully defeated the Turkic tribal groups in Central Asia under the leadership of Genghis Khan and managed to reach Russian and German territories in Eastern Europe, alongside territories in modern-day Afghanistan. The success of Genghis Khan in fortifying the force of the Mongols enabled them to expand their territorial controls further. The Mongols employed a terror-based approach to conquering under Genghis Khan, in which they gave their targets two propositions – that they surrender under their control peacefully or suffer the consequences of a bloody siege for choosing to fight against their conquest (McBride, 1980).
Although Genghis Khan proved influential to the Mongols, he did not live long to see his legacy extend towards the deeper parts of the Middle East. Rather, it was Hulagu Khan, who succeeded two other rulers after the death of Genghis Khan, who led the Mongols to conduct sieges in Egypt, Syria, Persia and the Abbasid Caliphate. Hulagu Khan expressly vowed to destroy the Islamic religion by targeting Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and a renowned center of the Islamic civilization, under the advice of his Christian and Buddhist confidantes (McBride, 1980).
Declining Power of the Middle East
Islamic empires were no longer reckonable forces when the Mongols started penetrating the Middle East. Power within the Abbasid Caliphate has become solely concentrated within its capital Baghdad, which in turn has also shown signs of weakening. The power of the Ayyubid Empire also started waning, as its control became limited within parts of Syria and Iraq. The Khwarazmian Empire diminished towards dissolving its strongholds in Persia. The formation of the Mamluk Sultanate further weakened the control of the rulers related to Salah al-Din, the founder of the already-weakened Abbasid Caliphate. Hence, the Mongolian siege of Baghdad in 1258 AD happened at the proper time for the Mongols, in that they did not have to deal with strong forces in their attempts to destroy Islam (Gilli-Elewy, 2011; McBride, 1980).
Al-Mansur, the first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, first established Baghdad as his preferred capital in 762 AD. Baghdad soon grew in prominence and eventually became one of the most important cities of the Islamic civilization. One of the most notable features of Baghdad that made it a city of knowledge for Islamic scholars is the House of Wisdom, one of the largest libraries within the city that housed several books that existed within the city. Science, the arts and literature flourished impressively within Baghdad, as the Abbasid caliphs were one with the Islamic scholars in their pursuit for knowledge in fields such as mathematics and philosophy, among many others (Johnson, 2007; Mackensen, 1932; McBride, 1980).
Yet, power within the Abbasid Caliphate waned with the increasing worldliness of the caliphs; the decline in the promotion of the Islamic religion equated to the decreasing political power of the caliphs. Military power within the Abbasid Caliphate soon became obscure, with its officials eventually becoming mere servants and protectors of the caliphs more than being guardians of the people. Scholars that went in and out of Baghdad soon contributed to the formation of other Islamic knowledge centers outside of the Abbasid Caliphate such as Muslim-occupied Spain, India and Cairo in Egypt. With Baghdad reduced in time for the arrival of the Mongols on 1258 AD, the Abbasid Caliphate had little force for resistance to offer (Johnson, 2007; McBride, 1980).
Mongolian Siege of Baghdad
Hulagu Khan commissioned his army of Mongols to attack the Abbasid Caliphate immediately, then protected by an army of only around 150,000 soldiers. Upon reaching Baghdad, the Mongols destroyed much of the facilities that made it a highly advanced Islamic city. The destruction of hospitals and mosques depleted the chances of the people living there to have any refuges for their safety, while the annihilation of palaces and libraries destroyed several important artifacts that could have served as crucial symbols of the Islamic civilization. The Mongols did not have any reservations in destroying the wealth of knowledge Baghdad possesses at the time of the siege, as they disposed several books stored within the libraries of the city. Baghdad suffered not only from a severe loss of knowledge repositories, but also from the deaths of several of its residents. Estimates ran up to 1,000,000 people killed in the Mongolian siege, with the brutal consequences that befell the city of Baghdad rendering it uninhabitable, effectively eliminating its status as an influential Islamic city (Johnson, 2007; McBride, 1980; Raphael, 2009).
The Mongols continued in their quest to destroy Islam by attacking areas adjacent to the territories occupied by the Abbasid Caliphate such as Syria, which it occupied from the Ayyubid Empire. Forces such as Armenian tribes and the non-interference of continuing Crusaders supported the Mongols in their further expansion inside the Middle East, yet their progress stalled in Palestine upon the defeat of their forces in Egypt that attempted to overthrow the Mamluk Sultanate. Hence, Islam remained in existence through the efforts of members of the Mamluk Sultanate in quelling Mongolian attacks, which in turn preserved important Islamic cities such as Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina (Amitai-Preiss, 2005; McBride, 1980).
Implication of the Mongolian Siege of Baghdad to the Islamic Civilization
The city of Baghdad was undoubtedly an important one for the Islamic civilization, in that it housed several materials that proved the intellectual wealth of the Islamic faithful as their religion grew in prominence during the 700s onwards. Therefore, the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols meant deep-setting implications for the Islamic civilization, which spans intellectual, religious and political aspects.
Intellectual Implications
As a place for knowledge, Baghdad stood as among the champions of Islamic prominence in the years prior to the Mongolian siege. Scientific and technological knowledge propagated by Islamic scholars were mainly the contents of the countless books Baghdad has housed during the ascendancy of the Abbasid Caliphate. Not only did Islamic scholars from other lands frequented the libraries of Baghdad; the caliphs themselves established themselves as patrons of scientific and artistic knowledge espoused within the books destroyed by the Mongols. Thus, one could claim that the Mongolian siege of Baghdad did much to destroy pieces of knowledge issued by Islamic scholars. No one could possibly claim how much useful knowledge could have survived had the Mongols chosen to spare the books from their goals to destroy Islam, which was impossible for them to do so in the first place given that they sought to diminish any material containing Islamic thought (Johnson, 2007; Mackensen, 1932).
Baghdad stood as a host city for a multitude of Islamic scholars who sought to improve their knowledge in various fields. Spain, India and Cairo would not have turned into Islamic centers of knowledge without the vastness of information Baghdad has housed prior to the Mongolian siege. Therefore, it is noteworthy to think of the Mongolian siege of Baghdad as a historical tragedy for followers of Islam to reckon, given that it has harmed their legacy as formidable producers of knowledge that could have benefited not just themselves and their fellow followers, but also the whole of humankind. It would have been useful to trace back the origins of knowledge produced in Spain, India and Cairo as a manner of producing further innovations, but that is already impossible given the destruction by the Mongols of Baghdad (De Somongyi, 1933; Johnson, 2007; Mackensen, 1932).
Religious Implications
A closer perusal of the facts shows that Islamic religious practices have declined in Baghdad prior to the invasion of the Mongols. Since the establishment of Baghdad in 762 AD, it has stood as among the most influential religious centers of Islam. Yet, the disintegration of Islamic religious practice in Baghdad started when the caliphs grew intensely materialistic as the city grew more prosperous. Travelling Islamic scholars have raised the profile of Baghdad as one of the most important cities in the Islamic world; the increase in material wealth of the city grew alongside its growing wealth of scholarly knowledge. Such has made the caliphs more concerned with their own material well-being, which in turn made them less influential in their traditional roles as proponents of Islamic faith in the Abbasid Caliphate. People in Baghdad and the rest of the Abbasid Caliphate grew increasingly less confident of the legitimacy of the caliphs, to the extent that they have turned the whole army into their mere bodyguards. Such an alarming trend coincided with the growth of Islamic Spain, India and Cairo as new Islamic centers of knowledge, which effectively pushed Baghdad towards obscurity. Therefore, Islam grew less potent as a religion in Baghdad and the divisiveness it caused with the lack of patronage coming from the caliphs has made the siege in 1258 AD easier for the Mongols to undertake. Verily, the Mongols would have succeeded with their ultimate goal to destroy Islam had the same trend in Baghdad happened to the Mamluk Sultanate, which stood as the only powerful Islamic empire after defeating them. The Islamic faith stood as a source of strength and unity for the people of Baghdad as with all the other coexisting Islamic territories; the lack thereof ultimately caused its downfall under the hands of the Mongols (McBride, 1980).
Political Implications
The downfall of Baghdad under the Mongols signaled the downright decline of the political power of Islam during the late 1200s, although it did not necessarily dissolve with the victory of the Mamluk Sultanate. There has been a considerable exposure of the correlation between Islamic religiosity and political power of the Islamic rulers shown by the Mongolian siege of Baghdad. The fact that the caliphs failed to consolidate the population of the Abbasid Caliphate through religion consequently shown their political decline, given that the people have viewed them traditionally as supposed proponents of the Islamic faith. Moreover, Islamic states could have turned out as greater political forces in the regions they occupied at the time of the Mongol attacks, seeing as they have occupied most of the Middle East and parts of Spain and India. Verily, had the Mongols decided against attacking Baghdad and other adjacent Islamic territories, it would have been possible for Islam to amass greater political power in those areas up to the present (Johnson, 2007; McBride, 1980).
Conclusion
The Mongolian siege of Baghdad in 1258 AD featured an interconnected series of events and circumstances that could have provided for a different face for Islam at present. Intellectually, there is no doubt that the Islamic civilization has produced knowledge in several fields, although information on such could have been richer had the Mongols decided to preserve Baghdad. Religiously and politically, the Abbasid caliphs are to blame, given that they have fallen to the material follies produced by the prosperity of Baghdad. Verily, it is important for followers of Islam to remember the Mongolian siege of Baghdad always not just to commemorate a tragic event that assaulted their civilization, but also as a way to remind themselves of the shortcomings it has shown.
References
Amitai-Preiss, R. (2005). Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid war, 1260-1281. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Chughtai, A. (2003). The fall of Baghdad. Madison, WI: Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
De Somongyi, J. (1933). Qasida on the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 7 (1), 41-48.
Gilli-Elewy, H. (2011). Al-Ḥawādiṯ al-ğāmiʿa: A contemporary account of the Mongol conquest of Baghdad, 656/1258. Arabica, 58 (5), 353-371.
Johnson, F. (2007). Baghdad as a Moslem center. The Muslim World, 2 (3), 277-285.
Mackensen, R. (1932). Four great libraries of medieval Baghdad. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 2 (3), 279-299.
McBride, A. (1980). The Mongols. United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing.
Raphael, K. (2009). Mongol siege warfare on the banks of the Euphrates and the question of gunpowder (1260–1312). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), 19 (3), 355-370.
