0:00 Hi, welcome to Madima. My name is Savish. In 1220 CE, the infamous world conqueror Ganges or Jenis Khan took over the city of Bkhara. According to the historian Aljuveni, he went to the great mosque of the city, climbed up to the pulpit and declared, "Oh people, know that you have committed great sins and that the great ones among you have committed these sins." If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you. Janges Khan and his successors's conquests would leave much of the Muslim Middle East
0:46 from the banks of the Indis River in India all the way to the coast of the Mediterranean desolate and destroyed. And yet just barely more than a century after this speech, the successors of this selfdeclared punishment of a god that Janges Khan didn't even believe in had become Muslims. This is the story of how Mongol warriors, rulers and khans became Muslim amirs and sultans. Before we begin, a note about the
1:32 pronunciations of the various names in this video. Many Mongol rulers had Mongol and Turk names, but I cannot really pronounce them. I don't know how to pronounce them. So, for the purpose of this video, I've gone with the Persian pronunciations of their names. So I've tried to stick closely to how they were written in Persian sources because Persian became a dominant language in many of these courts. However, that Persian pronunciation itself is a little bit colored by my mother language, Uru. So it's a bit of a weird thing. There's profiles on screen. If you want to look them up and know how to pronounce them, go ahead. But I just please forgive me about the pronunciations in this video. 7 years after Changes Khan declared himself the
2:17 punishment of God, the great Khan died. On my timeline of Islamic history chart, you can see that the Mongol invasions culminated in this section of the chart being full of empires and emirates to basically a big gap that was taken over by the Mongols and then their successor states. These successor states first began as little more than administrative divisions. But over the course of the 13th century, the authority of the Kakan in the Mongol capital of Karakuram steadily waned. Three of these successor kingdoms, the Golden Horde in the step region, the Ilhanet in Iran and Iraq, and the Chagatai Khanet in Central Asia
3:05 would be ruled by Muslim sovereigns by the middle of the 14th century. The fourth Mongol successor state, the Yuan dynasty in China would also see a lot of spread of Islam, but it would never reach the level of the sovereign. Also, the history of the Muslim Khans of the Golden Horde is touched upon in my video how the totters became Muslim. So here it will only be put in the context of Mongol conversion generally. But if you are interested in the in the history of the Muslims of Eastern Europe after the Golden Horde, do check out that video. Well, before any Mongols converted to Islam, Muslims already played a major role in the Mongol Empire. Even the
3:51 great Khan himself had some Muslims among his closest companions. At the lowest point in his life, Janges Khan was holed up in a place called Baljuna, which was either a river or a lake with 19 of his closest generals. These 19 loyal commanders came to be known as the Baljunans. What's interesting about them is that among them there were three Christians, one shamanist, two Buddhists, and three Muslims, one of whom even claimed to be a descendant of the prophet. Many nomadic Turkish peoples in the step and in central Asia were already Muslim before the Mongol conquest and then they joined up with the Mongols when they conquered Iran, Iraq and Eastern Europe. When Hagul Khan, the grandson of Changes Khan,
4:38 infamously sacked Bakdad in 1258, he had many Muslim rulers and nobles as his allies, likely far more than Changes Khan ever did. Early Mongol rulers had Muslim vassels, administrators and vazers and then they also resettled craftsmen and artisans from conquered Muslim cities across central Asia to other parts of their empire. The Indo-Persian historian Aljus Jani claimed that to support this empirewide Muslim diaspora, mosques were built as far a field as China and Tibet. To be clear, Islam was not the only religion that had this kind of influence over the Mongols and their administration. One of the policies furthered by Changes Khan was a more or less tolerant attitude
5:26 towards all religious communities so long as you know they were obedient to the Khan. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Dowists, and both Sunni and Shia Muslims were all influential to varying degrees at different points. The Ilhans in Iran patronized the construction of Buddhist temples and monasteries near the city of Tabri and briefly even had a Jewish vazier. The Ilhans courted European Christian allies against the Mamluks while the Chagatai Khans patronized a Catholic dascese in Al-Malik at least until later Khans killed the priests. That general idea of religious toleration clearly didn't mean that the Mongols were always kind to their religiously diverse subjects. Kubla
6:12 Khan, for example, banned Muslim practices like the halal slaughter of animals in China. And as many Mongols became Muslim, their civil wars and political struggles often took on a interreligious character. This also intersected with conflicts over the Mongol traditional law known as the Yasa and the Islamic law known as the Sharia. New Muslim Khans had to contend with non-Muslim Mongols who opposed challenges to the Yasa and some even attempted to synthesize Mongol and Islamic law codes to create a new Islamo Mongol law. But this had varying degrees of success. Although many histories of the Mongols put more focus on the
6:57 conversions of the Khans, the process of Islamization actually began at the level of the rank and file Mongol soldier and the lower nobility. Turk and Iranian Muslims joining the Mongol army and the Mongol policy of religious toleration meant that there was a fertile ground for soldiers under Mongol command in the barracks to convert each other. In 1241-1 1242 when Batu Khan invaded Eastern Europe, the Khan requested that his Muslim soldiers pray for victory against the Hungarians and in 1248 an ambassador from the Pope remarked that the call to prayer was called five times daily according to Islamic practices in the army of Baiju Noyan. In many ways,
7:43 as the Mongol soldiery and ruling class left their original cultural context, the new Muslim society that they came into contact with presented an opportunity for new social ties that could replace the ones that had been loosened by this wide-ranging conquest. One specific major influence on the spread of Islam among the Mongols was Sufism. We know much more about the influence that Sufi shakes had over the conversion of Mongol Khans than we do for lowranking Mongols or the common soldiery. But it is likely that they were influential on all levels of Mongol society and military. While it has been claimed that this influence was because Sufi mysticism reminded Mongols of their
8:30 step shamanism, this isn't really an accurate picture. The Sufi identity and traditions in our sources range from jurists to antonyomian dervishes and everything in between. In the case of the Ilhans, for instance, the Sufis who were most influential were those that were least like the Turo Mongol shamans that existed back home. the pre-existing importance that Sufis had among the Mongols's uh Muslim subjects and the role that she's aesthetics or otherwise played in providing spiritual skills that the Mongol rulers had been interested in seems to have played a major role and led to many Mongols
9:16 embracing a Sufi influenced Islam. For example, Ahmed Tagdar, the first Alhan to convert to Islam, took an interest in a sheh skilled in the field of alchemy. Not all Sufis were pro Mongol, however, and many tried to keep a general distance from political power. But Sufis do pop up in the conversion narratives of the Mongols anyway. In the case of all three of the future Muslim Khanets, there were false starts. What that means is that there were Khans who converted to Islam but were succeeded by non-Muslim Khans in the Ilhan. Halaguh Khan's son Ahmed Agodar succeeded his older brother
10:04 Abakah Khan in 1282. Ahmed Agodar was baptized as a notorian Christian as a child but later converted to Islam at some unknown date. The exact circumstances of his conversion are unknown as well. He only reigned for two years, however, before being overthrown by his Buddhist brother Arun Khan in 1284. He was succeeded in 1291 by Geatu Khan. most notable for attempting to introduce Chinese-style paper money in an attempt to replenish his treasury, which unfortunately was unsuccessful and contributed to more social instability that allowed his cousin Buhan to overthrow him in 1295, only one year after the paper money scheme. Side note
10:51 here, Geekhan's paper money is actually a very interesting window into the Mongol approach to religion and culture. They were printed with Chinese text. Geeku's Buddhist ceremonial name in a Tibetan script and the shahada, the statement that there is no god but Allah in Arabic. Buhan, a Muslim convert from Christianity, rose up in revolt against Geeku in response to an insult on Geekadu's part and reigned for only about 6 months before he was overthrown by Mahmud Kazan, the self-escribed Padshahi Islam who started a succession of Muslim Khans after a half century of Buddhist rulers. Mahmud Kazan was the first Muslim Il Khan to establish Islam
11:36 as the official state religion. Mahmud Kazan came to power in 1295 with a rebellion from his base in Kurasan. A rebellious commander named Nor promised his support in bringing Gazan to power only if he converted to Islam, which he did shortly before his final victory. He began his reign with major restrictions on other religious communities in Iran, reportedly destroying Buddhist and Zoroastrian temples, banning the construction of new churches and synagogues, and tearing down the churches in Baghdad and implementing the Jiza and requirements for Jews and Christians to dress in particular ways. To be fair, he also offered Buddhists who didn't want to convert to Islam
12:21 transportation to Tibet, India, or Kashmir. This approach shifted over time however and later on he rescended the Jiza for Christians and made consiliatory statements about Buddhists. Mahmud Kazan also personally mixed Islamic and Mongol practices going out of his way to celebrate Mongol religious festivals with his entourage early in his reign and marrying his father's widow. A practice that is acceptable under the Yasa but not under Islamic law. In 1299, Mahmud Khazan invaded Mamluke, Syria. During this invasion, a Mamluke embassy, including the famous scholar Iban Tamia confronted Mahmud Kazan in Damascus. And this meeting and the invasion in general led Iban Tamia
13:08 to denounce Mahmud Kazan as a false Muslim, pointing to his mixing of Mongol practices of the Yasa with Islamic practices from the Sharia and thus justifying not just the Mamluk's war against the Ilhan, but arguing for an allout uprising throughout Mongol realms by Muslims. Ibania's assessment may have been aimed at justifying the Mamluke defense of the Levant, but it also shows how many Sunni scholars viewed Mongol conversion and the tension that existed between Mongol traditional practices and Islam. Also, Iban Tamia was kind of a Puritan, so it's not hard to imagine that he just didn't think that the Mongols weren't Muslim enough. Mahmud
13:56 Kazan ended his war with the Mamluks in 1300 and left Syria. Four years later, only months after his beloved wife Garamoon died, the Padisha himself died and was succeeded by his brother Bulju. Interesting side note here. According to the court historian and our crucial primary source of the time period, Rashid bin Hamdani when Karamun Mahmud Gazan's wife died, the Padisha declared that life is a prison which I think is kind of romantic. Jaitu Mahmud Khazan's successor is most known historically for his frequent conversions to different religious communities. He was raised as a Buddhist and he converted to Christianity in 1291 and then to Sunni
14:41 Islam likely due to his wife who was a Muslim in 1295. During his reign however Jaitu increasingly became influenced by Shia leaders publicly becoming a Shia Muslim in 1310 and directly patronizing Iran's Shia community. Jayu reigned until 1316 and was succeeded by his son Abu Sahed. the first Mongol ruler known to undoubtedly have been raised a Muslim. While Abu Sahed dealt with the Golden Horde and signed treaties to end hostilities with the Mamlug, rebellions rose up throughout the Khan. First by a Mahadi claimment and then by a very powerful Amir. However, by the end of his reign, the Alhan was increasingly an
15:26 overtly Islamic monarchy with traditional Mongol customs more closely integrated with Muslim, Turic, and Persian traditions. The famous traveler Iban Batuda passed through Iran during the reign of Abu Sahed and even spent some time in his entourage, calling him quote the most beautiful of God's creatures. While a later scholar from Egypt termed Abu Sahed an illustrious and brave prince. However, not very long after Iban Batuda met this Muslim Iranian Mongol prince, he died leaving no heirs in 1335. Hence, the Ilhanith completely collapsed and Iran would be fought over by smaller successor states until the invasion of Dimur.
16:18 The first Mongol Khan to convert to Islam was Burke Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde. According to the Syrian scholar Iban Fad al- Umari, Berke accepted Islam in Bkar in 1251 or 1252 while in the company of the Sufi Sheh Safadin Bakarzi. Upon coming to the throne, he sent an extensive series of letters to the Mluk Sultan Babers declaring his fidelity to Islam and listing the households in his domain that had embraced Islam. While seemingly many of his vassels became Muslim, he was ultimately succeeded in 1266 by a non-Muslim Mango Demur who was backed by Kubla Khan. Mangu was succeeded by his younger brother Todd Mangu in 1280 who
17:06 was also a convert to Islam but he resigned from the position of the Khan after 7 years to spend the rest of his days with Sufi she after Mangu stepped down from the Khan of the Golden Horde in 1287 two non-Muslim Khans ruled in succession with the general noai as kingmaker during a period of instability. However, Noai died in the year 1300 and the last non-Muslim Khan of the Golden Horde, Tokta died in 1312, leaving an opening for Osbe Khan to seize power with the help of Toka's former vazier. Iban Batuda considered Osbe Khan one of the seven greatest leaders of his day and spent Eidal Fra
17:54 in his court where he reports that the Islamizing Khan staggered in drunk. Obe Khan is otherwise remembered as a strong leader that constructed a new capital at New Sarai and asserted the place of Islam in step society. A saying among the no people, a Turk people around the step for instance, is that religion has remained with us since Obehan using his reign as a start of a new era in Muslim Tartar history. Obehan embraced Islam at the hands of a Sufi Sheikh. Although different sources name different shehs of different lineages, once he came to power, he is known to have eliminated several non-Muslim Mongol families. But
18:41 generally he also patronized the Eastern Orthodox Church of his Russian subjects. Similar to Gazan, he maintained certain elements of the Mongol Yasa and mixed them with Islamic Sharia. For example, he also married his father's widow. After reigning for around 28 years, Obehan died in 1341, leaving the throne to his favorite son, Tini Be and all the succeeding Khans of the Golden Horde. From then on would be Muslim. Trending to the east, the first Muslim Chagatai Khan was Moubarak Sha who came to rule in 1252 as an infant with his presumably non-Muslim mother as regent.
19:28 He or really his mother lost power in 1260 when a non-Muslim claimant Alhu was appointed by the Kakan. But when Alhu died in 1266, his wife put Mubarak Sha back in charge who was now an adult. But sadly he was overthrown by a cousin and fellow Muslim not even a full year later. That cousin was Kayasudin Barak. Barak rose to power during a civil war against a claimment to the Khan named Kaidu. And his short reign would be defined by the struggle against this very claimment. When Kaidu from his base in modernday Shing Jang defeated and killed Barak in 1271, he became the de
20:14 facto kingmaker, appointing a non-Muslim ally to the Khan of Jagatai. Unfortunately, other than their clearly Muslim names, very little is mentioned in our sources regarding how Mubarak Sha or Sudin Barak became Muslim as well as whether Moubarak Sha was raised Muslim or converted before coming to power the second time. After Barak, it isn't until the 14th century that another Muslim ruler of the Chagatai Khan came to power with Talik Khan, whose mother was a Muslim, reigning for only about one year. A ruler that Iban Batuta considered just as strong as Obehan established Islam as the religion of dynasty and state. His name was Aloudin Tarmirin of the Chakatai Khan who became
21:02 Khan in 1331. Iban Batuta who passed through Central Asia on his way to the Delhi Sultanate metarin and considered him another one of the greatest leaders in his day. Dharmmashirin likely became Muslim in Ghazna in modern day Afghanistan sometime shortly after 1325. Although the exact date and process of his conversion is unclear, he did achieve a reputation as a just and faithful Muslim leader building many mosques and madrasas across the Chakatai Khan as well as going out of his way to attract merchants from places like Mamluke Egypt. After ruling for only 3 years, he was overthrown by a coalition of anti-Muslim Mongols who set off a
21:48 religiously inflamed civil war. Something that Iban Batuda learned to his dismay many years later. His immediate successor Bzan seems to have been a Muslim, but unlike Dharmashirin, he did not attempt to apply Islamic law to the state. Instead, he favored the Yasa. It wouldn't be until 1339 that another Muslim ruler Ali Sultan came to power at least in the western half of the Chagatai Khan. Ali Sultan ended the Chagatai's patronage of the Franciscan Catholic Dascese in Al-Malik ordering the death of the friars there. After Ali Sultan, all of the main Chagatai Khans would be Muslim. The eastern half of the Chakatai domain had become effectively
22:35 independent by this time and eventually came to be known as Moalistan. This eastern branch of the Chakatai Khanit continued to be ruled by Buddhist Khans up until 1347 when Toglak Timur came to power. According to the historian Mirah Dougl promised a Sufi Sha after seeing this shak's confidence in front of the Khan that if he came to power he would embrace Islam. While the sheh died before Tlakimur came to power his son arrived at his court and reminded the Khan of his promise. The sheh's son is named Maana Arshiduin and he along with Toklak Demur publicly converted 160,000 Mongols to Islam and spread it across
23:22 the whole country. This is another prominent example of Sufis being credited with Mongols's conversion. With Touglakur, all of the Mongol successor states outside of the Yuan dynasty became Muslim. China itself was not under Mongol rule much longer. However, the Red Turban Rebellion against the Yuan succeeded in 1368 and ushered in the Ming dynasty. An interesting fact about that, by the way, the Ming started a mass campaign of persecution against many Muslims who worked in the Yuan dynasty's administration. These Muslims were kicked out and they ended up moving to what are today the countries of Malaysia and Indonesia and they jumpstarted the Islamization of
24:07 Southeast Asia. I have a video about that if you want to watch. In Islamic lands, however, the now Muslim Mongols don't just disappear from the record. They now integrated with Turk and Iranian elites that they ruled over and became integral parts of Muslim society and state going forward. The great conqueror Timour delay himself claimed succession from Changes Khan and rose to prominence in 1370 in the area of the Chakati Khanit and conquered an empire out of the successor states of the Ilhanit. The Golden Horde persisted well into the early modern society, although it broke apart into many
24:55 smaller totter Muslim khanits. For information about that, check out the video that I mentioned earlier about the how the totter became Muslim. And India too would end up under the rule of Muslim Mongols who would then be called the Moguls. Having gone from world conquering punishments of God to followers of that very God in only a century, the Mongols became a central part of Muslim history from then on. The Mongol invasions, as you can see on this chart, mark a watershed. They mark a time period when Islam went from Arab dominance to Turo, Mongol, Persian dominance. The last direct descendant of Changes Khan to rule a part of the Islamic world or actually any part of
25:42 the world was named Sayyed Mir Muhammad Alim Khan who ruled the emirate of Bkar and who was overthrown by the Red Army in 1920. With Alim Khan's removal, the line of the Mongols of theQenized line going all the way back to 1206 was removed from power. He died in 1944 in Kabul. See you next time. Don't forget to subscribe and press the bell icon. On the screen right now, you can see the names and tiers of the patrons. You can join them by pledging a dollar or more to support the channel. Thank you for watching.
