We finally come to the son of "Ertugrul".. whom he named "Osman".. "Osman I".. the founder of the Ottoman State.
10 February.. of the year 1258 AD.. "Osman" lets out the cry of birth, and comes into the world.. and "Ertugrul" celebrates him.. and the Mongols cross the borders of Anatolia with the utmost ease.. to reach Baghdad.. and history pauses for moments.. and takes up the quill and the ink and the pages.. to record for us an event of extreme importance and gravity.
The fall of Baghdad.
The same date and the same day. I do not know whether the birth of "Osman", the grandfather of the Ottomans, was an outright ill omen or what exactly.. I do not know.. but this strange coincidence is recorded historically.. and it exposes to us the legend of "Ertugrul the vanquisher of the Mongols".. because if he had truly stood up to the Mongols.. they would never have reached Baghdad in the first place.
Before their sweeping of Baghdad, the Mongols had brought down the Khwarezmian state.. and these Khwarezmians are Turks too.. they ruled large parts of Central Asia and western Iran.. the Mongols swept them away with ease.. and swept away along their way extremist sects that had been unyielding to the states of the time.. such as the "Assassins", the followers of "Hasan ibn al-Sabbah".
"Hulagu" sends his envoys to the Abbasid Caliph "Abu Ahmad Abdullah al-Musta'sim Billah".. and this caliph was determined on war with the Mongols.. and "Hulagu" demanded of him, as an order.. that he demolish the fortresses of Baghdad.. and fill in the trenches dug around it.. until he could reach it with his men!
Meaning, "pull down the fortresses of your city and its defences until I come to you".
Of course "al-Musta'sim" refuses.. but his vizier "Mu'ayyid al-Din ibn al-Alqami" betrays him.. and carries out most of the orders.. and diverts most of the army's men away from the front line.. without the knowledge of "al-Musta'sim", who had no idea what was going on around him.. and no one is left guarding Baghdad, and on the front line, except ten thousand men.. the Mongols sweep them away with ease.. and they take "al-Musta'sim" captive and lead him to "Hulagu"'s camp in chains.
And before "Hulagu", "al-Musta'sim" warns him that he is of the lineage of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.. and that no one has ever killed men of the lineage of the House of Prophethood.. and their blood touched the earth.. without death and defeat overtaking him.
And the strange thing is that "Hulagu" believed the story of "al-Musta'sim" despite the difference of religion between them.. but he had innovative solutions.. and accordingly.. he ordered "al-Musta'sim" to be wrapped in a rug of cowhide.. and beaten until death.. and thus his blood would not touch the earth.. and the condition would not be fulfilled!
You wonder here in bewilderment.. where was "Ertugrul", whom the series and the Turkish historians have presented to us as the protector of the sanctum of Islam.. while the Mongols were bringing down Baghdad and killing the Caliph? You will find no logical answer.
The important thing is that "Osman" had been born as we said earlier.. and as the Mongols were advancing he was growing.. and as "Ertugrul" was holding "Osman"'s hand and making him walk, tata.. tata.. when he was two years old.. the Mongols were standing face to face with the Egyptian army at "Ain Jalut" on the Egyptian border.
Where was your hero "Ertugrul" then? Mind you, "Ain Jalut" was the last station before "Jerusalem".. meaning if the Mongols had won that battle.. they would have overrun the first of the two qiblas.
Where was "Ertugrul", your melon of a gallant hero.. and what was he doing besides telling "Osman I" as he sat on his lap, "Come on Osman, my lovely.. be a man!"...?
The important thing is that with the approach of "Hulagu"'s enormous army.. which had opened every city and frontier post it passed through and subdued and humiliated and degraded their peoples and rulers.. it set Egypt before its eyes.. and Egypt at that time had just rid itself of the Sixth Crusade.. and was exhausted economically, socially and militarily by the repeated campaigns against it.. and after the Sixth Crusade.. with no rest.. came the Seventh Crusade.
And the ruler of Egypt was "al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub".. who had met his Lord because of illness during the Seventh Crusade led by "Louis IX", King of France.. and "Shajar al-Durr", his wife, saw that if she announced his death it would destroy the soldiers' morale.. so she kept the matter secret until after the Battle of Mansoura.. and the end of the campaign.. and she was running the battle and drawing the plans in his place.. and she made the commanders "Faris al-Din Aqtay", the leader of the Bahri Mamluks in Egypt.. and "al-Mu'izz Izz al-Din Aybak", the commander of the Burji Mamluks.. understand that these were the instructions of King al-Salih "Najm al-Din Ayyub" himself.. until victory was achieved.. and the Crusader army was defeated and "Louis IX", King of France himself, was taken captive.. and he lodged with us as a prisoner in the "Dar Ibn Luqman" in the city of Mansoura.. and only then.. did "Shajar al-Durr" reveal the matter.. and announce the death of "al-Salih Ayyub".
And shortly before the coming of the Mongols.. the new husband of "Shajar al-Durr", "al-Mu'izz Izz al-Din Aybak", dies.. and Egypt becomes severely drained.. and its army has lost most of its men.. and without sufficient resources for any further fighting.. and then "Shajar al-Durr" follows her husband and her soul pours forth to its Creator.. so Egypt is left with no ruler in truth.
And at that moment the Mongols were already in the Levant.. and a man by the name of "al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Ala'i".. whom we know as "al-Zahir Baybars".. tries to stand up to them.. but he fails, because of the obstinacy of "al-Nasir Yusuf", the ruler of Syria, and his appalling mistakes.. and they annihilate his army entirely.. so he withdraws to Egypt with only three or four thousand soldiers.
And in Egypt "Baybars" meets "Saif al-Din Qutuz".. who ascends the throne in the year 1259 AD.
Not much time passes after this happy occasion.. when the envoys of the Mongols come to him.. and the Mongols had a terrifying method.. for they used to pelt the cities before sending their envoys.. with the heads of the fighters who had refused to surrender.. and send their spies to spread terror and panic and a spirit of defeat among the people.. and indeed the Mongols succeed in inflicting tension and anxiety on the Egyptians.. and their envoys enter upon "Qutuz" in the seat of government.. demanding that he submit to the Mongol Khan.. and otherwise death or extermination.
And "Qutuz"'s reply is decisive and categorical.
In one of the most brilliant moves of psychological warfare in the history of the world.. he slaughters all the envoys of the Mongols and hangs their heads on the gates of Cairo.
And for the first time in their history.. the Mongols feel tension and anxiety.
The man who commits an act like this must be certain of victory.. and possess overwhelming power.. no one risks entering a ferocious battle.. without there being a force backing him.. only the donkey imagines the opposite.
And they were right.
With this move "Qutuz" sends reassurance into the hearts of the Egyptians.. and afterwards calls for holy jihad against the armies of "Hulagu".. and the simple folk and the people of Egypt respond to him.. and he forms a reasonable army.. with which he moves from the area of al-Salihiya east of Egypt to the plain of Ain Jalut in Palestine.
Hulagu advanced toward Egypt with six hundred thousand Tatar soldiers.. so Qutuz came out to him with eighty thousand.. which was all he had after the Crusader campaigns.. forty thousand trained Egyptian soldiers and forty thousand from the people and from the small contingent.. that had come to Egypt with "al-Zahir Baybars".
And "Qutuz" understood that "Hulagu" was not from the country and had not studied it and had no reconnaissance forces.. while the Egyptians knew their land inch by inch.. and he exploits this and works on it.
And at dawn on Friday, 3 September, corresponding to the year 1260 AD; and with the call to war and the terrifying drums of the Mongols.. "al-Zahir Baybars" advances with ten thousand soldiers and engages the vanguard of the Mongols.. and after an hour of grinding and mincing.. he withdraws feigning defeat.
And "Kitbuqa", Hulagu's deputy at the time, was observing the situation and believed that this was the entirety of the Egyptians' forces, and decided to finish the battle quickly and win the apple of the East and the greatest pearl; Egypt, and so control the entire Middle East.. with the consequences of the defeat of the source of its protection and its culture.. so off went "Kitbuqa" chasing the forces of "Baybars" with almost his entire army except 20 thousand soldiers.
When they arrived it became clear that "Baybars" was leading them into a very tight ambush in the hills of the "Ain Jalut" area.. and "Qutuz" came out to them with the main army.. and despite the surprise.. "Qutuz"'s army was under severe pressure on its left wing.. and the soldiers began to falter and their formations began to disintegrate, and it appeared that victory would go to the Mongols.. and the Egyptians would be defeated and the pearl of the East would fall.
And "Qutuz" had a very distinctive strategy in fighting.
"A thousand defeats will add nothing new.. but one victory may change the fate of the world".
Indeed, if he were defeated a thousand times as he would be defeated once.. they would kill him anyway and Egypt would fall.. but if he won.. Egypt would have saved the world from the Mongols.
And because he had nothing to lose.. "Qutuz" raised his helmet and threw it into the air and let out his famous cry "Wa Islamah".. which ignited the enthusiasm of the soldiers.. and he charged himself with the soldiers and secured the left wing.
An enormous, ferocious war of existence.. between a filthy Tatar locust swarm that had exterminated every city it entered.. and a people defending the entire world.. in a small patch of land in an area called "Ain Jalut".
And the terrifying battle continued from dawn until the afternoon prayer.. and ended with a crushing defeat for the Tatars and the capture of "Kitbuqa" himself, and his being sent bound and chained to Cairo with a message to the Emir "Jamal al-Din Aqush", whom "Qutuz" had appointed over Cairo before his departure to the field.. and Emir "Jamal al-Din" carried out Qutuz's orders in the message and executed "Kitbuqa" in the heart of Cairo.
And the legend of the Mongols comes to an end.. while "Ertugrul", the protector of the sanctum of Islam and the planet and the neighbouring galaxies.. changes "Osman"'s nappies.. and fetches him his bottle.
By the way, the last of the Egyptian army's wars with the Mongols was in Turkey.. the Battle of al-Ablastain or "al-Bustan" in southern Anatolia, specifically in the Marash province.. and we exterminated almost all of them.. meaning the battle was fought on the very land of "Ertugrul".. while he was eating kunafa.
"Ertugrul"'s greatest concern in truth.. was that "Osman" would turn out decent and learn not to end up like him.. "Ertugrul" decided to erase his entire black past in his son.. so he taught him archery.. and tried to make of him the knight he had failed to be in his life.
Indeed "Ertugrul" succeeds.. and succeeds in making "Osman" an excellent archer.. he shoots with bow and arrow well.. like the arrow with which "Osman" would kill his uncle.. in order to take over the rule in his place.
And the beginnings of "Osman" before this moment.. deserve a pause.. through which we see the extent of the vileness of this man's history.
But this story would take long to talk about.. so we will continue our discussion of it later.
And as usual.. our talk will have a continuation, God willing.
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Previous posts
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1 - http://bit.ly/32Q5W4t
2 - http://bit.ly/2SJESze
3 - http://bit.ly/2YmsINT
4 - http://bit.ly/2KekUZo
5 - http://bit.ly/31c7XWU
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Note: the map is from the Al-Azhar al-Sharif website http://bit.ly/2KkYMwB
#The_Ottoman_Caliphate 6