Saturday, July 21, 2018

Sarfaraz A Rehman: The Mongol Miracle

Sarfaraz A Rehman: The Mongol Miracle: Early in the thirteenth century, fresh from re-establishment of authority over Jerusalem, the Muslim world could have been forgiven for...

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Mongol Miracle


Early in the thirteenth century, fresh from re-establishment of authority over Jerusalem, the Muslim world could have been forgiven for feeling strong. There was no immediate challenge. The newly established Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo, the fledgling rise of the Afghan slave dynasty in India and the strong Shah of Khwarezm in Central Asia/Khorasan seemingly in control of the then world.  

Covertly, there was disunity within the Islamic rulers and lack of the fervour, which had led the Muslims out of Arabia and taken them as far as Spain and China. This was now an aging civilisation, some six hundred years after the Prophet (saw).     
   
Unbeknownst, the greatest ever challenge to Islam to-date, was brewing at its northern borders. Temujin, a small time chieftain of the Mongol tribes was just beginning to unite the wild nomads into a beast of an army. The Mongols were to call Temujin, ‘Khan’ and history noted him as Genghis Khan. In a few years beyond 1206, Genghis Khan was to professionalise the army, combine it with the Turkic hordes and invade the great Chinese Jin dynasty. Moving with speed never seen before, he poured past the Chinese wall and sacked Beijing. 
In a few years due to Khwarezm intransigence, he turned westwards and destroyed this great empire and chased Jalauddin Shah a thousand miles, to exile beyond the Indus in India. In his wake, cities were massacred and burnt. The Islamic world simply wilted against a cataclysmic force. 
            
It was at this time that the Khan fell ill and chose his third son (there were four, all warrior like and ferocious) Ögedei as his successor. Ögedei managed the Mongol hordes for a quarter of century, without much split, and expanded conquest into Eastern Europe. However, Jochi one of the sons of Genghis, never forgave his father for this rejection and withdrew northward into safe territory away from the main hordes and he did not participate in the expansion. This small event was to save Islam over three decades later.
After Ögedei’s death, his successors turned their attention to the rest of the Muslim world, with the stated intention of destroying Baghdad (Abbasid Caliphate) and Cairo (Mamluks) and eventually wiping out Islam as a force. It is estimated in the Mongol battles and conquests from 1210 to 1260, an approximate 5% of the population of the world perished. The majority of these were Muslims. 
     
Helagu Khan, one of the successors of Ögedei, destroyed Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258, thus plunging the world into an age of ignorance for a period, as all knowledge was burned in the libraries of Baghdad. His army then proceeded towards Cairo. In the Battle of Ain Jalut (Goliath’s Spring) in 1260, Kitbuqa, henchman of Helagu, finally suffered defeat at the hands of the Mamluks. But only just. There was a Mongol miracle happening behind him, which saved the Mamluks and Islam.   
         
The forgotten son of Genghis, Jochi had spawned descendants. One of whom, Berke Khan had converted to Islam, when he met a Muslim caravan during his conquests. Berke Khan became a devout Muslim and when Baghdad was sacked, swore revenge on Helagu (his cousin) and to put a stop to any further conquests. The Blue and Golden Hordes of Mongols converted in significant numbers under the leadership of Berke Khan. Harried at the back by Berke and having lost strength, Helagu lost the Battle of Ain Jalut. This was the beginning, and subsequent defeats by Berke Khan weakened Helagu and he finally settled in his lands and forgot further conquests.   
The many Mongol and Turkic hordes settled all over as their power and fear declined. They slowly converted to Islam and in the next century, were to spawn the Ottoman Empire and the Tamerlane Empire (which eventually led to the Mughals of India). The Mongol conversion miracle was to sustain Islam as the dominant force for a further five centuries. But it all began from a small miracle of the disaffection of a son of the great Khan and was sustained by a chance encounter of one Prince with a caravan of Muslims.

Temujin - Genghis Khan, great leader of Mongols
Ögedei  - son and successor of Genghis Khan
Jochi - disaffected son of Ghenghis Khan  
Helagu Khan - one of the successors of Ögedei 
Berke Khan - son of Jochi 
Kitbuqa - general of Helagu 
Mamluk dynasty - rulers of Egypt, Hijaz and Syria 
Khwarezm- Kingdom Central Asia, Persia & Khorasan 

*picture is from Pinterest

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Huxley or Orwell - Indulgence faces Extreme Control

One so often hears the fears related to Orwell’s ‘1984’. Especially for Liberals, their one fear is that somewhere, sometime in the future, a strong hand will control the people of this world. That control will be exercised for reasons of efficiency and betterment, but will lead to human society facing extreme subjugation.

Perhaps Orwell had a communistic society, strengthened with technology, in his mind. He definitely painted a very dark picture in that ‘1984’ world, of everything being absolutely monitored and controlled. So freedom was sacrificed for some sort of stability. 

It was a fear which was a constant in the pre-1990 world. All my peers grew up in that sort of culture, where a fear of Soviet Russia and Communist China clamping down on the worlds freedom was constant. The Vietnam war was propelled on that fear and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan became heroes on its back. The liberals never quite left that fear behind, and much of the liberal agenda today continues to be just that. A constant fear of control. They see the present semi-turn towards the far right in the West, as just such a story. Perhaps, society will take that type of regressive backwards step, to what it was a hundred years ago.    
   
As so happens, Aldous Huxley’s lesser known story of The Brave New World, is the opposite side of the coin, and would suit our world today. A picture of society of extremes, converted by human society to a pursuit of the trivial, the unnecessary. There is little bond left in humanity, because individuals are self-indulgent. Now what does all that remind one of? Does not human society run after trivia, while there is much deprivation elsewhere. Expensive indulgences, while others starve. Does not trivia and fake news control reality, restricting the very freedom which liberal society aspires to? 
Huxley saw this world of triviality, where self indulgence will be rife and be the signature of society. Our extreme consumerism, absolute involvement in creating our own image and brand, narcissistic pursuit of fame (on social media) and the mutated search for innovation (rather than for advancement, we innovate for growth of profits and out of boredom) has marginalised society. 

It’s now not about everyone, it is about the self. This has led to extreme indulgence everywhere. The fake part of the world is just a side effect which no one could imagine. Fakery (is there such a word?) has created pursuits which has warped the whole. We are spending our lives faking it.

Back in 1931, Huxley had a vision which maybe coming to fruition in our brave new world.