The Chaliphate - Muir - The Search For Mecca

A.D. 1261-1520] OVERTHROWN BY OS.MAXLIS 595
in the more fitting task of mediating peace, or heading a A.H. 659-
procession of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, each holding ^^
aloft their scriptures, and praying for deliverance from
the plague. In the eighth century of the Hijra, the
Caliph, in company with the Sultan, received a deputation
bearing precious gifts from Mohammad, son of Taghlak,
who prayed for a patent of investiture from him, and for
the mission of a Doctor of 'Abbasid lineage to instruct
his Indian subjects in the faith. But, whether in honour
or in neglect, we seldom find the so-called Caliph, throughout
these two hundred and sixty years, other than the tool
and servant of the ruler of the da\'.
But a new power now rose in the East, which was soon Rise of the
to crush the Memlilk dynasty, that namely of the Osmanlis.^ Osmanlis,
Like other hordes that overspread the West, these, in the
seventh century of the Hijra, issued from the steppes of
Central Asia beyond the Caspian. In the eighth centur)'
they achieved the conquest of Asia Minor, and eventually
crossing the Bosphorus, planted the crescent on the walls of
Byzantium.
After a long struggle on the plains of Syria, the Memlfik who conarms
finally gave place to the Osmanli. In the year 922 M'emlfik«
A.H., on the fateful field of Merj Dabik, the Egyptian troops 922 a.h.
suffered defeat, and Kansuh al-Ghuri, the last but one of "^^ ''''^'
the Memluks, was left on the field. The remnant fled to
Damascus ; but the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, who had followed
in Kansuh's train, waited on Sellm the conqueror at Aleppo,
and was by him courteously received. Tumanbe}-, the last
of the Egyptian dynast)', vainly endeavoured to resist the
advance of his enemy, whose offers of peace were rejected.
On the Egyptian plain of Ridaniya his troo[)s were finally
defeated, about the close of 923 A. II. ; and on the first da)'s Sehm enters
of the following year, Selim made his triumphal entry into p'-^"^'
Cairo, with the Caliph in his train. There Al-Mutawakkil Jan.,
used his influence with the Conqueror to stay the tumult
and rapine raging in the city, and to save the Memluk
chiefs, of whom some thousands fell victims to Osmanli hate.
The Sultan, who had fled across the Nile, was bctra)-ed
'
So called from 'Othin.ln (pronounced in the West Osmdii), son of
Ertogliral, who settled in Asia Minor in the latter half of the seventh
century, a.h.
'S'? a.d.