Um Gengis Khan

Ég gat ekki hætt að lesa 29. kafla bókarinnar "Muhammad and the Course of Islám" í gærkvöldi áður en ég fór að sofa. Hann fjallaði um Gengis Khan og hans eftirmenn og hvernig þeir héldu innreið sína inn í islamska heimsveldið. Hér fyrir neðan hef ég vitnað í byrjun þessa kafla sem segir frá því hvernig Gengis Khan hefndi dauða erindreka sinna og kaupmanna úr ríki sínu sem soldáninn 'Alái'd-Dín Muhammad og landstjóri hans létu myrða.

Islám at Bay

Timujin, the son of a petty Mongol chieftain, was a boy in his early teens when his father died. For many years he had to fight to secure his patrimony; but he achieved even more, for he united the tribes of Mongolia under his own rule. In the year 1206, by general acclaim, Timujin took the name and title of Chingiz Khan.[1] Next, he set about extending his empire eastwards, and eventually conquered northern China.[2] By then (1215), he was nearly fifty years of age -- he was born in 1167 -- and had been campaigning since the age of thirteen. To his west lay the empire of the kings of Kharazm -- the Kharazmshahs.

[1 Variously written in English as Jenghiz and Genghiz, it means the Perfect Warrior.]
[2 The Chin Empire. The Sung Empire of southern China was overrun in 1279, during the reign of the famous Qubilay Qa'an (Kubla Khan).]

At one time in Transoxania, the Qarakhata'i or the Gurkhaniyyih kingdom, together with the smaller principality of the Al-i- Khaqan or the Al-i-Afrasiyab (based on Samarqand) formed buffer states which separated the territory of Chingiz Khan from the domains of the Kharazmshahs. Their Turkish rulers were renowned for their justice and patronage of learning and poetry, but Sultan 'Alai'd-Din Muhammad, the Kharazmshah, wantonly destroyed them. Thus his frontiers became contiguous with the frontiers of the Mongols.

Chingiz Khan apprised Sultan 'Alai'd-Din Muhammad of the fact that he had overrun China, and was now a mighty and powerful ruler; but he was weary of warfare and wanted to be at peace with his western neighbour. He hoped that trade between his people and those of Kharazm would flourish. Though somewhat riled that Chingiz Khan had addressed him as his son, 'Alai'd-Din Muhammad responded appropriately to this expression of good will. However, when four Muslim traders from Mongolia arrived at Utrar, a frontier town, its avaricious governor, coveting their riches, accused them of espionage, threw them into prison, robbed them of their possessions and, to compound his felony, put them to death. Chingiz was naturally furious, but he kept calm and sent a deputation to the court of the Kharazmshah to obtain redress. The arrogant Sultan Muhammad responded stupidly and abominably by executing the head of the deputation and sending back the rest to Chingiz Khan with their beards shaved off. Chingiz moved quickly to avenge the blood of innocent people and the insult so grotesquely rendered to his own person. His Mongol hordes descended mercilessly upon the realm of Islam.

The first to taste the wrath of Chingiz was the governor of Utrar, who had murdered harmless merchants for the love of silver and gold. Molten silver was poured down his throat.“

    (H.M. Balyuzi, Muhammad and the Course of Islam, p. 329 - 331)

Síðan fóru Gengis Khan og eftirmenn hans um landsvæðið og slátruðu milljónum manna. Nú skil ég  betur af hverju þeir atburðir hafa markað svo djúp spor í sögu Írans, Íraks og Afganistan. Sagnfræðingar telja að hátt í tvær milljónir manna hafi látið lífið í kjölfarið.