The Khanates

With the history of the Mongols or Tatars lopsided, twisted and written according to every historian’s whim, one could see a lot of misconceptions and deficiencies in the era incidents happened and the periods the khanates carried out specific military actions or their time of rule. History is replete with erroneous calculations and time constraints. Even the names of the spelling names khanates cause alarms because of the linguistic differences and misspellings. Below is the succession of the most famous khans whose historical remains are still available for further elucidation by the modern researcher having the will to continue expounding regardless of the trivialities and malevolence of their global encounters or the adoration and high circumventions of their encounters with societies, communities or nations on a global scale. Reading through several research books and papers loaded with literary criticisms, the author of this book feels not all historians have the same opinions.

1.      Genghis Khan: Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols conquered the largest land empire, notably from Eastern and Western Asia. From Korea to Hungary, Genghis Khan displayed the most strategic military operations never seen before in modern human history. Tough and resilient in their attempts to invade new lands, the Mongols fought with vigilance and valor. The Mongols not only restricted their incursions into other lands primarily to suppress their new subjects but instead benefited from commerce especially fabrics made from gold and silk.[i] Apart from being a barbaric, merciless killer and plunderer, Genghis Khan was, as “…one biographer put it, his was “a persistent cycle of pragmatic learning, experimental adaptation, and constant revision driven by his uniquely disciplined and focused will.” He was the greatest conqueror the world ever knew because he was more open to learning than any other conqueror has ever been…”[ii] Born in 1162 or 1167 along the Onon or Herlen rivers, his father was Yesukhei while his mother was called Hoelun.[iii] After massively capturing his enemies and causing much destruction to his new enemies, Genghis Khan later created harmonious relationships with his new subjects. There are written records that state that he had a clot of blood on his right hand when he was conceived by his mother Hoelun–a sign that created much consternation among his people. Undoubtedly, he was perceived to become a great leader after growing up to adulthood–a sign that materialized in the end. “Genghis Khan by the help and leading of Mongol people captured the northwest of China in 1205 and Kin Empire in 1211, he later reached the coast of the yellow river and captured Beijing in 1215. Finally, he came through west in 1219 with a population of 700,000 people.” [iv]

2.      Chagatai Khan: After the death of Genghis Khan, his sons inherited different lands and amalgamation of communities. For Chagatai Khan, he extended his dominion to as far as eastern and western Turkistan. Chagatai Khan who was an inspiring leader did not harm the communities he captured nor did he interfere with their religious beliefs. Transoxiana was mainly inhabited by Muslims while local nomadic communities in Mongolia continued with their practices of Shamanism.[v] It was in 1326 when Tarmashirin took over the leadership of the Chagatai Khanate, thus bringing a lot of changes to the areas that were under his control. Chagatai and Ogedei were brothers.

3.      Ogedei Khan: The son of Genghis Khan, Ogedei had two sons whose names were Cityük and Godan. The elder brother Cityük was born the year of the Cow and at the age of 28 took over the khanate throne, even though, six months later, in the year of the Kui-Serpent, he died. His younger brother Godan ascended the throne in the year of the Ke-Horse even though he died of leprosy in the year of the Ji-Sheep.[vi] In 1231, Ogedei ordered his commander Chormaghan Korchi to invade Iran, Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Georgia.[vii] With 30-40 thousand well-armed troops, the defeat of Jamaluddin’s forces ended systematically. Batu became the successor of Ogedei Khan. It was during Ogedei’s rule when religious freedom was accepted with Daoism and Buddhism and Islam and Christianity given credence even though the Mongols opposed Halaal slaughter of livestock.

4.      Mongke Khan: Mongke took the mantle of leadership after the death of his cousin Guyuk in 1248.[viii] Despite Batu being exempted from the succession of the Khanate, he was not in good terms with Guyuk, however, he had the chance to work with Mongke as his viceroy of the West while Mongke concentrated on the East.[ix] By 1242 the Kingdom of Hungary was in total wreckage and had to be abandoned by Batu, but despite encamping at the Steppes of the Volga, Batu’s focus was on the lower Volga Steppe where he built a capital he named Sarai. Batu was born to a concubine and that is why he was excluded by his father Jochai or Jochi who died early 1227 from the succession. The Mongols sent three envoys to Die Viet which is the current day Vietnam. By 1258, the Mongols defeated the Vietnamese.

5.      Hulagu Khan: Whether Hulagu or Hulegu, he rose to prominence during Caliph Mansur’s reign. Hulagu was more inclined to Islam than Machiavellianism.[x]

6.      Berke Khan: It is common for historians to narrate the congenial defining relationships between leaders and how they at times become avowed enemies due to differences of thoughts and ideas. Berke Khan was a formidable leader during the reign of the Muslim leader Mamluk Sultan Al-Zahir Baibars (ruled between 658 AH/ 1260 CE and 676 AH/ 1277 CE).[xi] Friendship between Al-Zahir Baibar and the Mongol Berke Khan flourished to the extent Berke reverted to Islam while Al-Zahir named his eldest son after Berke. With the Mamluks dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 until 1517 when the Ottoman occupation rose to prominence (1517-1798), did the Mamluks vanish from the scene. The term Mamluk was an amalgamation of slaves drawn from Turkmen, Arabs, Turkish and others from various regions. The two leaders enjoyed cordial relations with Berke hosting guests and clerics from Al-Zahir’s domain especially from Hijaz. He has been noted to have built mosques after reverting to Islam and abandoning his shamanistic beliefs. It was Hulagu Khan’s conquering of Baghdad in 656 AH (1258 CE) and his deliberate killing of Caliph Al Musta’sim that caused outcries in the Muslim world. Hulagu and Berke were cousins with Berke being the son of Chinggis Khan.[xii] After the death of Berke Khan in 676 AH (1266 CE), his son Abgha Khan succeeded him.

7.      Kublai Khan: There were Christian monks of the Nestorian Church who paid a visit to Kublai Khan during his rein in Persia. Previously a large population of the followers of Nestorius who died July 28, 450, founder of Nestorianism, existed in the end of the fifth century up to the thirteenth century of the Christian Era (CE) especially in Asia. Quite different in religious tenets from the larger Catholicism and Protestantism, Nestorius’ Nestorianism was mainly immersed in the long-standing divinity of Jesus and that was whether he had two divine characteristics and how the two co-existed.[xiii] On the other hand, there was the monophyte belief that the nature of Jesus was partly divine, and partly subordinately human. The discovery of a stone tablet in 1623 (or 1625) in Xian in China broke barriers that the Nestorian tablet was a factual testament that the Assyrian Church foundations had reached China by the seventh century. It is amazing that monotheistic Christology that had its roots in Assyria, Byzantium, Persia and Egypt, finally fragmented in to different sections and with the arrival of Islam and later the Mongol invasion, Islam became the major religious force. Genghis Khan’s division of his empire was known as “Ulus.” His    eldest son Jochi died six months before his father though he was to have dominated between the Irtysh and Ural rivers to as West as the Pontic-Caspian Steppe and to the Aral Sea and Amu Darya River in northern Khorezm.[xiv]

8.      Ariq Borke: He was the grandson of Chinggis Khan of the Golden Horde.[xv] A Khwarezmian refugee who wrote a book called Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣirï

9.      Temür Khan: Also known as Öljeytü Khan, he was the son of  Crown Prince Zhenjin and the grandson of Kublai Khan. Considered the sixth great khan of the Mongol Empire, he was succeeded by Külüg Khan. His reign was mainly in China and was known as Emperor Chengzong of Yuan. He ruled from May 10, 1294 to February 10, 1307.

10.  Mahmud Ghazan Khan: His reversion to Islam in A.H. 694/A.D. 1295 was an era of delight and great achievement for his kingdom and as well for his Muslim subjects. Even though Ghazan’s conversion to Islam was real, there was another objective: to win the hearts and minds of Mongols who had reverted earlier and to dedicate his strength and strategies to defeating Baiku, a man who was his rival. It was his viceroy or Na’ib Nawruz who was behind his reversion. His father, Arghun died a pagan. Though he left several wives behind, Ghazan got attracted to Bulughan Khatun who was a widow of his father. Even though it is forbidden for a male Muslim to marry a father’s widowed wife, in Mongol Yasa, it was permissible. “However, one of the 'ulama' offered a legal opinion which provided a solution to this impasse: since Arghun had been a pagan, his marriage to Bulughan Khatun was not legal, and therefore Ghazan could now wed her with impunity. The Khan was happy with this suggestion, married Bulughan Khatun (in a Muslim manner), and 'he adhered to Islam. Without this [solution], he would have apostatized.”[xvi]

11.  Tamer lane: The name Tamer Lane that has been westernized is a Turkic version, but to Persians, his real name is Timur-i-lang, meaning Timur the lame.[xvii] Some researchers refer to him as the most strategic fighter who moved with speed like a whirlwind to capture new lands and free Muslims and others who were subjugated by more powerful forces.

Summary

Even though each khan displayed different characteristics in terms of waging wars and dealing with subjects in captured lands, they had opposing indistinguishable objectives in their pursuit of territorial expansions. Some fought with valor and vigor by rending the world asunder while others were more reconciliatory and humanistic in approach. To the Muslim theologian or religious scholar, the most wretched of all was the one who died outside Islamic domain, because, dying out of the pale of Islam, is the gateway to hell on the Day of Judgment, though, the impending punishment is preceded by intolerable punishment in the grave–a punishment whose duration and nature of pain and desolation in terrible darkness is only known to Allaah Almighty. The Qur’an clearly states regarding the punishment for the disbelievers in the grave and the Hereafter:

وَأَمَّآ إِن كَانَ مِنَ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ الضَّآلِّينَ * فَنُزُلٌ مِّنْ حَمِيمٍ

And if he is one of the rejecters, the erring ones. He shall have an entertainment of boiling water… (56:92-93)

That is, in the grave he would be greeted by boiling water,

وَتَصْلِيَةُ جَحِيمٍ

And burning in hell. (56:94)

That is, in the hereafter, he would be consigned to Hell.”

Regarding the doom in the grave, Allaah expounds repeatedly in the Qur’an: While a dreadful doom encompassed Pharaoh’s folk.‏ The Fire; they are exposed to it morning and evening; and on the day when the Hour upriseth (it is said): Cause Pharaoh’s folk to enter the most awful doom (Ghafir 40:45-46). For every dead human being, after the Angel of Death takes away the soul, inside the grave, two angels whose names are Munkar and Nakir, are responsible for questioning. For the disbeliever, despite his or her requests rejected by the angels, will suffer tremendously unbearable squeezing that will last until the Day of Judgment.

For the Angel of Death whose name Malakul Mawt, his work of retrieving the souls of the believers and disbelievers is a daily, hourly occurrence and the speed he travels, is beyond human comprehension even though some commentators assume it to be the speed of light. “Thou could see, when the wrong doers reach the pangs of death and the angels stretch their hands out, saying: Deliver up your souls. This day ye are awarded doom of degradation for that ye spoke concerning Allah other than the truth, and scorned, His portents (Al-An`am 6:93).”

“And verily, for those who do wrong, there is a punishment beyond that. But most of them know not (At-Tur 51:47).”

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[i] Komaroff, L. (Ed.). (2012). Beyond the legacy of Genghis Khan (Vol. 64). Brill.

[ii] Holiday, R. (2019). Ego is the Enemy. Elex media komputindo.

[iii] Khan, G. (1971). Genghis Khan. Birth, 100, 1162.

[iv] SOLTANI, G., & REZAEI, D. (2019). THE EFFECTS OF INTERACTIONS WITHIN COMMUNAL CONDITIONS IN IRAN AND ANATOLIA WITH IL KH NIDS OVER 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES. Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication, 9(2), 159-177.

[v] Dr. Yunus Emre TANSÜ & Baran GÜVENÇ (2019). “A Brief Overview of The Era of The Chagatai Khan Tarmashirin.” International Social Sciences Journal.

[vi] Tsendina, A. (1999). Godan Khan in Mongolian and Tibetan historical works. Studia Orientalia Electronica, 85, 245-248.

[vii] Nasirov, N. P. Scientific Bulletin, № 1, 2021, pages 79-90.

[viii] May, T. (2018), The Mongol Empire, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press: 135.

[ix] Dawson, C. THE REIGN OF NOGAI KHAN. Academia.edu. Retrieved August 13, 2022.

[x] Siddiq, S. A. (2016). Caliph Al-Mansur and Hulagu Khan and analysis of their political strategies in the light of Machiavellianism (Master's thesis, Gombak, Selangor: International Islamic University Malaysia, 2016).

[xi] Al Asfour, S. (2019). THE NATURE OF THE RELATION BETWEEN SULTAN AL-ZAHIR BAIBARS AND BERKE KHAN. Journal of Al-Tamaddun, 14(1), 117-128.

[xii] Wilson, J. The Conversion of Berke Khan.

[xiii] Adams, R. M. (2021). Nestorius and Nestorianism. The Monist, 104(3), 366-375.

[xiv] Schütz, E. (1991). THE DECISIVE MOTIVES OF TATAR FAILURE IN THE ILKHANID—MAMLUK FIGHTS IN THE HOLY LAND. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 45(1), 3-22.

[xv] Wilson, J. The Conversion of Berke Khan.

[xvi] Amitai-Preiss, R. (1996). Ghazan, Islam and Mongol tradition: a view from the Mamlūk sultanate1. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 59(1), 1-10.

[xvii] Manz, B. F. (1999). The rise and rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press.