On January 29, 1258, Hulagu’s forces took up a position on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad and began a bombardment. Soon they had breached the outer wall. The caliph, who had been advised against escaping by his vizier, offered to negotiate. Hulagu, with the city practically in his hands, refused. The upshot was that the caliph and his retinue came out of the city, the remainder of his army followed, they laid down their arms, and the Mongols killed almost everybody. Hulagu told Baghdad’s Christians to stay in a church, which he put off-limits to his soldiers. Then, for a period of seven days, the Mongols sacked the city, killing (depending on the source) two hundred thousand, or eight hundred thousand, or more than a million. When Halaku Khan brought his army to Iraq, it destroyed the entire Baghdad which used to be the major Islamic center of learning. Baghdad was burned to ashes, its world-renowned libraries destroyed, all the books thrown in the river that flows through Baghdad, and it created huge piles of human skulls (as a symbol of its “achievements”) every where. The Khalifa himself was killed in the most ruthless manner. His legs were tied to a horse which was driven all over Baghdad. How Halaku died. After burning and pillaging entire city of Baghdad and killing thousands of Muslims, Halaku ordered his army to arrest and gather all the Islamic scholars in a huge field in which he was to enjoy the scene of them beheaded in front of him. When all the Islamic scholars were gathered in the field, Halaku came galloping on his beautiful horse in the field while holding the reins in one hand and repeatedly throwing a lemon in the air and catching it (as it was his habit) in the other hand. He then stopped at the front of the assembly of prisoners where his generals were waiting for him. He stayed seated on his horse and started addressing the scholars with scornful arrogance while still playing with the lemon: Today no power will save you from my wrath. Where is your Allah? If He really exists then why don’t you call Him to come to your help?“ This insult to Allah really infuriated an old Islamic scholar named Imam Yusuf who was physically very weak and thin. However, he was endowed with a great religious zeal and fervor. When he heard Halaku saying that, he moved forward, his body trembling with anger, and his face turned red with rage. Imam Yusuf spoke in his fearsome loud trembling voice: “You ruthless! You are the one who spreaded rape, pillage, and destruction in this land. How did you dare to insult my Allah like that. My Allah is so power that if He wills, He can take your life even before this lemon that you have just thrown in the air falls in you hand!” Halaku started sweating profusely, he never heard anyone talking to him like that – this man was feared by all for his ruthlessness. The lemon fell on the ground. He bend down while still seated on his horse to pick up the lemon from the ground. The horse took it as a signal to gallop at her maximum speed. This shook Halaku who fell on the ground on his back but his one foot got stuck in the saddle. The horse was running like wind while Halaku was mercilessly dragged all over the place. Then he started to bleed profusely and when the horse stopped, Halaku had died a miserable and painful death. The man who loved to inflict painful deaths on innocent people, himself died that way. When Tatar generals saw this, they started trembling with fear. Imam Yusuf’s faith in Allah had convinced them more them enough that Allah indeed exists and is not oblivious to what the transgressors do. The huge fearsome- looking Tatar generals wept and apologized to Imam Yusuf and converted to Islam on his hand. Because of these Tatar generals, the entire Tatar nation converted to Islam. It was these Tatar Muslims who then founded the great Khilafat-e-Usmania (the Ottomon Empire) and pushed the frontiers of Islam to the gates of Vienna.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:31:36 +0000
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