Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE BASIS OF INTER-COMMUNAL RELATIONSwith some estimating the dead to be eight hundred thousands, while otherreports suggest the dead numbered a million, and still others putting theestimate at two million people. We can only say what Muslims arerecommended to say at the time of a calamity: “To God we belong and to Him dowe return... All power belongs to God, the Most High, the Almighty.”The Tartars entered Baghdad towards the end of the month of Muĥarram,and continued the killing of its population for forty days. The Caliph, Al-Musta`şim Billāh, was killed on Wednesday, 14 Şafar and his grave waserased. On the day of his death he was 46 years of age and 4 months. Hisreign lasted for 15 years, 8 months and a few days. His eldest son, AĥmadAbū al-`Abbās, was killed at the same time at the age of 25, while his middleson, `Abd al-Raĥmān, who was 23, was killed a short while later. Hisyoungest son, Mubārak, and his three sisters, Fāţimah, Khadījah andMaryam, were taken prisoner.The most prominent scholar in Baghdad, Shaikh Yūsuf ibn Shaikh Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī, who was hostile to the Minister, was killed together withhis three sons, `Abdullāh, `Abd al-Raĥmān and `Abd al-Karīm. All thenobility in the city were killed one by one. Prominent among these wereMujāhid al-Dīn Aybak, and Shihāb al-Dīn Sulaymān Shāh and many others.Anyone who belonged to the `Abbās ruling family might be called out, andhe would have to go with his women and children to al-Khallāl graveyard,where he would be slaughtered like a sheep. The Tartars might choose someof his daughters or other women in his household to keep as prisoners. Themost prominent and eldest scholar in Baghdad, `Alī ibn al-Nayyār, who hadeducated the Caliph when he was young, was also killed as well as mostimāms and scholars in the city. Mosques were abandoned and nocongregational or Friday prayer was held in any mosque for several monthsin Baghdad.After forty days, when the massacre was over, Baghdad was in total ruin,with only the odd person walking about. Dead bodies were placed in heapsin the streets. Rain had changed their colour and their bodies had begun torot. The smell in the city was most awful and there were outbreaks of severaldiseases which moved far and wide, reaching as far as Syria. People werethen facing scarcity of necessary commodities, an unabating massacre, as wellas epidemics. Those were indeed hard times.When safety was announced for the survivors, those who were hiding inholes and graveyards came out. They looked so pale as though they werebrought back from the dead. They were practically unrecognizable, to theextent that a father might not recognize his son, and brothers might not64