Why and How the Mongols became Muslim

Summary

This video explores the Mongols' conversion to Islam despite their initial devastation of the Islamic world. It discusses the Mongols' religious tolerance, the influence of Muslim merchants and leaders, and the strategic adoption of Islam by Mongol rulers like Berke Khan and Ghazan. The video also touches on the Mongols' continued shamanic practices alongside their new faith, reflecting a complex interplay of religion, culture, and politics.

Takeaways

• ⏳ The Mongols' interaction with Islam began in the 12th century through trade with Muslim merchants.
• 🌍 The Mongols showed religious tolerance when it was advantageous, but also persecuted beliefs contrary to their customs and laws.
• 🔥 The conquest of the Khwarezmian Empire was particularly devastating, causing the deaths of millions.
• 📚 Early Muslim figures like Hasan and Ja’far Khoja were among Chinggis Khan’s close allies.
• 📈 The Mongols' proximity to Muslim populations in the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and Chagatai Khanate facilitated conversion.
• 👥 Muslims were valuable to the Mongols for their skills in craftsmanship, administration, and healing.
• 🔮 The Mongols valued Islamic holy men for their abilities in alchemy and astrology.
• 👤 Conversions among the Mongols began in the 1240s, with figures like Korguz and Baiju playing significant roles.
• 🕌 Berke Khan's conversion to Islam was notable and marked a shift in the Golden Horde's religious orientation.
• 📜 The Mongols' conversion to Islam was not a complete abandonment of their traditional beliefs but an integration into their worldview.
• 📉 The full Islamization of the Mongols was a gradual process that took several generations and varied across different khanates.

Q & A

What was the initial Mongol attitude towards Islam?

Initially, the Mongols were religiously tolerant when it suited them, allowing Muslims to serve in prominent roles and continue their religious practices.

How did the Mongols' interaction with Islam begin?

The Mongols' interaction with Islam began in the twelfth century through trade with Islamic merchants who brought textiles and metal tools in exchange for furs and animals.

Who were some of the Muslims that were close allies of Genghis Khan?

At least two Muslims, Hasan and Ja’far Khoja, were among Genghis Khan’s close allies during his escape to lake Baljuna, where they swore loyalty to him.

What was the impact of the Mongol conquest of the Khwarezmian Empire?

The conquest resulted in the deaths of millions and was highly destructive, causing immense suffering across what is now Uzbekistan through eastern Iran and Afghanistan.

Why did some Mongols convert to Islam?

Proximity to Muslim populations, the usefulness of Muslims in various roles within the Mongol Empire, and the influence of Sufis and Islamic leaders were key factors in the conversion of Mongols to Islam.

How did the Mongols' religious practices change after conversion to Islam?

Even after converting, Mongols often continued to observe shamanic practices and standard cultural actions alongside their professed Islamic faith.

What role did Islamic craftsmen, administrators, and healers play in the Mongol Empire?

Islamic craftsmen, administrators, and healers were quickly spread across the Mongol Empire, commanding armies, and serving as valuable assets due to their skills and manpower.

Why did the Mongols find Muslims useful?

The Mongols found Muslims useful because they provided skills and manpower that the Mongols lacked, such as in administration, craftsmanship, and healing.

What was the significance of the conversion of Korguz, an Uyghur, to Islam?

Korguz's conversion was significant because he was a high-ranking official in the Mongol government, marking one of the highest-profile converts at the time.

How did the Mongols' treatment of other religions compare to their treatment of Islam?

While the Mongols were generally tolerant of other religions, they did persecute specific beliefs they saw as contrary to their customs and the laws of Genghis Khan, the Yassa.

What was the role of Sufis in the conversion of Mongols to Islam?

Sufis played a significant role in the conversion of Mongols to Islam by proselytizing to the Mongol leadership and military, and were often held in high esteem in Mongol courts.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Mongol Empire's Interaction with Islam

The Mongols, despite their initial destruction of Islamic regions like the Khwarezmian Empire and the sack of Baghdad, showed religious tolerance and many converted to Islam. This conversion was partly due to the Mongols' exposure to Islam through trade and alliances with Muslim merchants like Hasan and Ja’far Khoja. The Mongols' religious tolerance was strategic, as they did not persecute based on religion but rather targeted practices contrary to their customs. However, they also valued the skills and knowledge that Muslims brought, such as administration and craftsmanship, which led to a more thorough integration of Islam into Mongol society.

05:00

📚 Proximity and Utility: Reasons for Mongol Conversion to Islam

The Mongols' conversion to Islam was largely influenced by their proximity to Muslim populations in regions like the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and Chagatai Khanate. Muslims were the majority, which facilitated the spread of Islam among the Mongols. Additionally, the Mongols found Muslims useful in various roles such as craftsmen, administrators, and healers, which encouraged their integration and conversion. The Mongols also valued the skills of Muslims in alchemy and astrology, rewarding them handsomely, which further promoted the adoption of Islam.

10:02

🧙‍♂️ Mongol Leaders' Conversions and their Impact

Several Mongol leaders converted to Islam, including Baiju, who became a Muslim and requested a Muslim burial, and Berke Khan, who fought against his cousin Hulegu. The conversion was not merely a change of faith but an addition to their existing beliefs, incorporated into their worldview. Leaders like Ghazan and Oljeitu demonstrated a flexible approach to religion, with Oljeitu converting to multiple faiths throughout his life, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. These conversions were often strategic, aimed at gaining support or legitimizing rule.

15:04

🕌 The Establishment of Islam within the Mongol Khanates

The process of Islamization within the Mongol Khanates was gradual and varied. In the Ilkhanate, Ghazan's conversion was followed by a period of religious intolerance, but this was short-lived. His successor, Oljeitu, embraced Islam, showcasing the religion's growing influence. In the Golden Horde, Özbeg Khan's conversion solidified Islam's position, and he used force to ensure its adoption. However, even as Islam became more prevalent, Mongol traditions and Chinggisid ideology persisted, indicating a complex interplay between religion and culture.

Keywords

💡Mongols

The Mongols were a nomadic people from Central Asia who, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, created one of the largest empires in history. In the video, the Mongols are discussed in the context of their interactions with the Islamic world and their eventual conversion to Islam. Their military conquests and the impact on Islamic regions are central to the video's narrative.

💡Islamic world

The Islamic world refers to the collection of regions where Islam is the predominant religion, which includes parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. The script discusses the Mongols' conquests and the subsequent impact on the Islamic world, including the destruction of cities and the conversion of the Mongols themselves to Islam.

💡Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. The video mentions him as a key figure whose conquests and policies set the stage for later Mongol interactions with Islam. His legacy and the empire he built are central to understanding the Mongols' later adoption of Islamic practices.

💡Religious tolerance

Religious tolerance is the practice of allowing the free exercise of different religions. The script suggests that the Mongols were religiously tolerant when it suited them, which facilitated their interactions with the diverse Islamic cultures they encountered. This tolerance is contrasted with the later forced conversions and the Mongols' own adoption of Islam.

💡Khwarezmian Empire

The Khwarezmian Empire was a powerful state in Central Asia during the time of the Mongol conquests. The video describes its catastrophic destruction by the Mongols, which resulted in the deaths of millions and had a profound impact on the Islamic world.

💡Sack of Baghdad

The sack of Baghdad refers to the Mongol conquest and destruction of the city in 1258, which was a major cultural and religious center of the Islamic world. The video highlights this event as a significant moment of devastation for the Islamic world and a turning point in Mongol-Islamic relations.

💡Yassa

The Yassa was the body of laws and decrees instituted by Genghis Khan to govern the Mongol Empire. The script mentions that some Mongol leaders held the Yassa above the Islamic law, or Sharia, indicating a period of tension between Mongol customs and the newly adopted Islamic faith.

💡Golden Horde

The Golden Horde was one of the Mongol Empire's divisions and was based in the western steppes of South Russia. The video discusses the Golden Horde in the context of Mongol conversion to Islam, noting the influence of the predominantly Muslim population in the region.

💡Ilkhanate

The Ilkhanate was another division of the Mongol Empire, covering much of present-day Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The script describes how Mongol leaders in the Ilkhanate converted to Islam, which was a significant development in the Mongols' integration into the Islamic world.

💡Sufism

Sufism is a mystical Islamic tradition that emphasizes personal and direct experiences of the divine. The video suggests that Sufis played a role in the conversion of Mongol leaders to Islam, highlighting the influence of Sufi teachings on the Mongols' religious practices.

💡Sharia

Sharia is the Islamic legal system derived from the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. The script mentions that some Mongol leaders held Sharia law over the Yassa, indicating their adoption of Islamic legal principles and a shift in their governance.

Highlights

The Mongols were known for unleashing a series of unrelenting horrors upon the Islamic world.

Many Islamic authors over the thirteenth century called the Mongols a punishment sent by God for their sins.

Many Mongols in the west of the empire converted to Islam before the end of the thirteenth century.

Some heirs of Chinggis Khan held the sharia over the yassa.

Mongols might have been religiously tolerant when it suited them.

Mongolian interaction with Islam began in the twelfth century with Islamic merchants.

At least two Muslims were among Chinggis Khan’s close allies during his escape to lake Baljuna.

Muslim merchants continued to serve in prominent roles in the Mongol Empire.

Chinggis Khan’s general Jebe Noyan proclaimed religious freedom in the Tarim Basin in 1218.

The conquest of the Khwarezmian Empire resulted in the deaths of millions.

The sack of Baghdad in 1258 was an immense blow to the psyche of the Islamic world.

The Mongols did not persecute on the basis of religion, but they did persecute specific beliefs contrary to steppe custom.

The majority of the population in the major centers of the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and Chagatai Khanate were Muslims.

Islamic craftsmen, administrators, and healers were quickly spread across the Mongol Empire.

Muslims were many of the highest-ranking members of the bureaucracy under the reign of Ogedai.

The Mongol search for skills particularly rewarded Muslims with aptitude in alchemy and astrology.

The conversions of the Mongols and their servants began in the 1240s.

Berke Khan, known for his war against his cousin Hulegu, converted to Islam.

Islam for the early converts like Berke was not a change of identity, but an acceptance alongside their existing beliefs.

The Ilkhan Ghazan portrayed himself as the first true Muslim Ilkhan.

Oljeitu, Ghazan’s brother and successor, is an extreme example of a Mongol prince’s flexible approach to religion.

In the Golden Horde, it took until the reign of Özbeg Khan to gain the support of influential noyans within the Horde.

Islam proved an aspect of these monarch’s identities, but it took many generations for all elements of Mongol culture and Chinggisid ideology to be driven out.

Transcripts

The Mongols were known for unleashing a series of unrelenting horrors upon the Islamic world,

from the catastrophic destruction of the Khwarezmian Empire to the sack of Baghdad.

No shortage of Islamic authors over the thirteenth century called the Mongols a punishment sent

by God for their sins.

Yet, many of the Mongols in the west of the empire before the end of the thirteenth century

converted to Islam, and in time some of the heirs of Chinggis Khan held the sharia over

the yassa.

In today’s episode of our series on the Mongols, we explore why so many Mongols chose

to convert to Islam.

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The Mongolian interaction with Islam began in the twelfth century as Islamic merchants

brought valued goods such as textiles or metal tools in exchange for furs and animals.

At least two Muslims, Hasan and Ja’far Khoja, were among Chinggis Khan’s close allies

during his escape to lake Baljuna, where they swore loyalty to him.

As Chinggis Khan expanded the Mongol Empire, initially Muslims found little reason to lament

it.

Muslim merchants continued to serve in prominent roles, acting as emissaries and spies on behalf

of the Khan, who rewarded them and encouraged them to make the difficult journey to Mongolia.

When Chinggis Khan’s great general Jebe Noyan entered the Tarim Basin in 1218 pursuing

their fleeing foe Kuchlug, he proclaimed that all those who willingly submitted were free

to worship as they chose.

The region swiftly threw out Kuchlug’s garrisons and accepted Mongol rule, not as conquerors

but liberators.

The next stage of Mongol expansion was not so well received.

The highly destructive conquest of the Khwarezmian Empire resulted in the deaths of millions

across what is now Uzbekistan through eastern Iran and Afghanistan.

Though most of Iran submitted peacefully to the Mongol Noyan Chormaqun over the 1230s,

with the arrival of Hulegu in the 1250s a new wave of massacres were unleashed, culminating

in the sack of Baghdad in 1258 and death of the ‘Abbasid Caliph, an immense blow the

psyche of the ummah.

At the end of the 1250s, it seemed that soon the whole of the Muslim world would become

the subject of the Grand Khan.

The initial period after the Mongol conquest was, for many Muslims, not easier.

Claims of Mongol religious toleration have been greatly over-exaggerated and coloured

by our modern perception of the term.

While it is true that the Mongols generally did not persecute on the basis of religion,

the Mongols did persecute specific beliefs they saw as contrary to steppe custom and

the laws of Chinggis Khan, the great Yassa.

These infractions, such as halal slaughter or washing of dirty things in running water,

resulted in Mongol oppression.

Both Chinggis Khan’s son Chagatai in the 1230s and Khubilai Khan in the 1280s forbade

halal slaughter on pain of death.

A Khwarezmian refugee to the Delhi Sultanate writing around 1260, Juzjani, wrote of his

sincere belief that Chagatai and other members of the Mongol leadership intended a genocide

of the Muslims.

Why did Islam succeed in converting the Mongols of western Asia, after such a low point?

It was a matter of proximity.

The majority of the population in the major centers in the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and

Chagatai Khanate were Muslims, ensuring that not only could Sufis and others proselytize

to the Mongol leadership, but also their military.

Efforts by Buddhists or various Christian representatives, be they Catholic, Syriac

or Nestorian, lacked comparable resources, and their efforts were generally restricted

to attempting to convert the highest-ranking Mongols.

While this brought them some influence, in contrast to the image in most historical narrative

sources monarchs tended to convert once enough of their followers had done so for it to be

a sound decision for their legitimacy.

More Mongols simply had closer proximity to Muslim populations than they ever did Christian

or Buddhist, leading to a more thorough conversion than any Franciscan friar could ever accomplish.

Similar proximity prompted the slow sinicization of the Mongols in Yuan China.

The Mongols also found Muslims very useful.

Islamic craftsmen, administrators, and healers were quickly spread across the Mongol Empire,

accompanying every Khan and Noyan on campaigns and in their camps.

In short order they commanded armies, often of their own locally raised forces, to fight

for the khans.

The various Islamic peoples of Central Asia, be they Turkic or Iranic, provided a plethora

of skills and manpower the Mongols lacked.

By the reign of Ogedai, Muslims were many of the highest-ranking members of the bureaucracy.

Mahmud Yalavach, his son Mas’ud Beg, and ‘Abd al-Rahman, served as heads of the Branch

Secretariats the Mongols established to govern Central Asia and China.

These men were answerable only to the Great Khan.

The presence of many Islamic jurists in Chinggisid courts is well attested, and a merchant with

fiscal ability could be richly rewarded in lucrative ortogh arrangements with Mongol

princes.

The Mongol search for skills they saw as useful particularly rewarded Muslims with aptitude

in alchemy and astrology.

The Khans of the Ilkhanate spent considerable sums on alchemists who claimed to be able

to produce gold or prolong life, much to the chagrin of the Ilkhanate’s viziers.

Astrologists who could determine the future also received great rewards, for the Mongols

put great stock in this.

The duties of Mongol shamans fell to influencing events within the current life, rather than

with the next level of existence.

Thus, for the Mongols, it was useful to accumulate holy men to interact with the supernatural

beyond what their own shamans could.

It also explains why, once they did convert, the Mongols continued to commune with shamans,

which makes it difficult for many to accept their conversions as sincere.

As historians like Devin DeWeese or Peter Jackson have argued though, we cannot gauge

the authenticity of any Mongol conversion as our vantage point centuries later, and

the nature of our sources leaves us unable to determine the conviction of each convert.

The Mongols actively selected aspects of sedentary societies which benefitted themselves and

therefore could choose to profess Islam while continually observing shamanic practices and

standard cultural actions.

The conversions of the Mongols and their servants began in the 1240s.

One of the first prominent figures to convert was not a Mongol, but an Uyghur named Korguz,

Ogedai’s appointment to head the Secretariat of Western Asia.

One of the most powerful officials in the empire, Korguz’s conversion from Buddhism

to Islam at the start of the 1240s marked the highest-profile convert yet in the Mongol

government.

According to Juvaini, Batu, while preparing for the confrontation with the Hungarians

at Mohi in 1241, ascended a hill to pray to Eternal Blue Heaven, and asked the Muslims

in his army to pray for victory as well.

It is unclear if they were Muslim troops raised from Central Asia and the steppe or Mongol

converts.

One of the main units in Mongol expansion and consolidation was the tamma, a garrison

force permanently stationed in a region made up of nomadic and sedentary troops.

The Mongols in a tamma were forbidden to bring their families with them.

Separated from their homeland, families, and shamans, and taking new wives who were generally

Muslims, these Mongols were thus removed from the infrastructure that encouraged the maintenance

of their traditional religion and made them more susceptible to conversion.

This can best be observed in the case of tammchi Baiju, stationed in the Caucasus and Anatolia

from the early 1240s until the 1260s.

Over roughly twenty years he appears in a variety of historical accounts which demonstrate

not only the presence of many Muslims in his camp, as advisers, administrators, and Sufis

but also the gradual conversion of his men.

By the end of his life, Baiju became a Muslim and asked to be washed and buried in Muslim

fashion on his death.

Perhaps the most famous convert was Berke Khan, known for his war against his cousin

Hulegu over the Caucasus.

Conflicting accounts are given for his conversion: either he was raised a Muslim or converted

in the 1240s through the efforts of the Sufi Shaykh Sayf al-Din Bakharzi.

Certainly, by the 1250s, Berke was a Muslim as multiple independent sources attest to

his adherence, though Mamluk embassies indicate that Berke continued to dress and wear his

hair in the distinctive Mongolian style rather than don Islamic clothing.

While Berke’s war with Hulegu is often portrayed as his anger over the death of the Caliph,

it seems this was a secondary concern to him.

His own letters to Sultan Baybars blame the conflict on Hulegu’s infringement of the

Yassa by failing to send Berke loot from Baghdad and Iraq or consult with him.

The fact that war began three years after Baghdad’s fall, and that Hulegu occupied

Jochid territory in northern Iran and the Caucasus after Mongke’s death, suggests

that Berke’s immediate concerns were more strategic than spiritual.

Islam for the early converts like Berke was not a change of identity, but an acceptance

alongside their existing beliefs and incorporated into a Chinggisid worldview.

Almost certainly Berke, like his Islamic successors, continued to consult with shamans and the

Yassa, yet never felt disloyal to the sharia.

While Berke’s conversion was accompanied by some of his brothers and commanders, there

was no immediate Islamization of the emerging Golden Horde.

Only at the start of the 1280s did both westernmost khanates of the Mongol Empire have Muslim

rulers: Töde-Möngke [r.1280-1287] in the Golden Horde, and Tegüder [r.1282-1284] in

the Ilkhanate.

Once more, the sources hint that shaykhs and Sufis were behind the conversion of both men,

and continued to be held in great esteem in their courts.

For the Ilkhan Tegüder, who upon his enthronement went by the name of Sultan Ahmad, we have

a variety of sources that describe his commitment to Islam, which vary widely and demonstrate

why many doubt the authenticity of the early conversions.

In a letter Tegüder sent to the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun, Tegüder spoke of establishing sharia

law in the Ilkhanate and that their shared religion made it easier for the Mamluks to

submit to him.

Cilician Armenian writers like Het’um of Corycus and Step’annos Orbelian generally

portray Tegüder as a prosecutor of Christians.

Yet at the same time, the Syriac churchman Bar Hebraeus wrote of Tegüder as a friend

to Christians, an upholder of religious toleration who exempted them from taxation and allowed

Hebraeus to build a new church, while the Mamluks were largely skeptical of his conversion.

Taking the throne in 1295, the Ilkhan Ghazan portrayed himself as the first true Muslim

Ilkhan.

For this reason, the Islam of two of his predecessors, Tegüder and Baidu, was denigrated in official

accounts from his reign, predominately the great work of his vizier Rashid al-Din.

Ghazan only came to Islam a few weeks before his enthronement, urged to convert by his

commander Nawruz Noyan and the Shaykh Sadr al-Din al-Hamuwayi during his rebellion against

Ilkhan Baidu.

While his biographer Rashid al-Din portrays Ghazan’s conversion as causing his commanders

and soldiers to follow suit, it seems almost certain that it was in fact the opposite,

and that by converting Ghazan hoped to gain the wavering support of Baidu’s Muslim followers,

which quickly happened.

Upon becoming Ilkhan, on the instigation of his zealous general Nawruz, Ghazan ordered

the destruction of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian centers in Muslim cities in

his empire and imposed the jizya.

However, these harsh measures were quickly rescinded with Nawruz’s downfall in 1297,

though Buddhists did not return to the prominence they had previously enjoyed.

Ghazan before the end of the 1290s donned a turban and even declared jihad against the

Mamluks.

Yet his efforts did not convince everyone.

Outside of Damascus in 1300, the great Mamluk jurist Ibn Taymiyya accused both Ghazan and

his vizier, the Jewish convert to Islam Rashid al-Din, of being false Muslims, and that Ghazan

continued to worship Chinggis Khan in place of sharia.

The life of Ghazan’s brother and successor Oljeitu is the most extreme example of a Mongol

prince’s flexible approach to religion.

His father Arghun had the young Oljeitu baptized a Nestorian Christian and given the name of

Nicholas.

As a teen, he converted to Buddhism, taking the name of Oljeitu.

Under the influence of a wife, he converted to Sunni Islam and became Muhammad Khudabanda.

First attached to the Sunni school of Hanafism, then to Shafi’ism, frustration with fighting

between them drove him back to Buddhism before in 1309 choosing Shi’a Islam.

A number of sources offer explanations for what drove Oljeitu to become a Shi’a, generally

focusing on how advisers, scholars, and emirs in his court convinced him of its merits.

In some accounts, Oljeitu converted back to Sunni Islam shortly before his death in 1316.

Following Ghazan’s reign [1295-1304] the Ilkhanate is considered an Islamic state,

with the majority of its army and upper echelons Muslim The process was slower in the Golden

Horde and Chagatai Khanate.

In the Golden Horde, it took until the reign of Özbeg Khan [r.1313-1341], who seems to

have converted shortly after his accession to gain the support of influential noyans

within the Horde.

In legendary accounts, Özbeg was converted by a Sufi named Baba Tükles, who proved the

veracity of his religion by passing unscathed through an oven wearing nothing but chain

maille, while the shaman he challenged was burnt to death.

However, Baba Tükles does not appear in sources until centuries after Özbeg’s death, though

likely he was influenced by Sufis and jurists in his entourage.

To cement his reign and religion, Özbeg ordered the executions of over a hundred Chinggisid

princes and noyans, larger than purges carried out by other prominent converts, such as Ghazan

in the Ilkhanate and Tughluq Temur in the eastern Chagatai Khanate.

Özbeg’s violent efforts succeeded in permanently making the Jochids Muslims.

Still, in policy Özbeg, Ghazan and Oljeitu largely matched their forebears in providing

taxation exemptions, favours, and other privileges to Christians, especially Franciscan missionaries,

though on a lesser scale than earlier in the thirteenth century.

Their successors, Özbeg’s son Janibeg and Oljeitu’s son Abu Sa’id, proved less welcoming,

as even Christians found their privileges revoked.

Janibeg ordered his men to dress in the fashion of Muslims, while Abu Sa’id sought to become

the protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, one year even sending an elephant

there for inexplicable reasons.

Still, these monarchs showed themselves to continue in their traditions, such as acts

of levirate marriage, marrying their father’s wives, something forbidden by their new religion.

Islam proved an aspect of these monarch’s identities, but it took many generations in

Iran for all elements of Mongol culture and Chinggisid ideology to be driven out, and

in the steppes the process, it can be argued, never truly fully replaced the memory of the

house of Chinggis Khan.

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