Did the Mongols Destroy Islam?

The end of the Islamic Golden Age

Michael Koy

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The History Inquiry

The end of the Islamic Golden Age is a complicated series of events, as it is difficult to pinpoint the impacts each factor had on the decline of Islam in the 13th century. The most common explanation is the Fall of Baghdad at the hands of the Mongols, but this is a simplification, as it blatantly ignores the events that occurred before and after the sack. On the flip side of the coin, the impacts of the Mongol Invasions on Islam cannot be underestimated, as cities were burned and it marked the final nail in the coffin for the Islamic Golden Age in the East. Subsequently, this sequel to our two-part series aims to explore the decline of Islam and the aftermath of the Mongol Invasions that symbolically destroyed the famed Golden Age.

Organization

An issue that constantly occurred during the research process was the sheer size of the Islamic World. Furthermore, the notion of a “Golden Age” itself is a mere umbrella term that generally covers the time period from the 8th to 13th century, but it must be noted that each piece of the Islamic World had different experiences at the same time. To highlight the true enormity of the Islamic World, Muslim Spain could have been in an age of culture and learning while cities in Persia and Iraq could have been burning to the ground.

As a result, this article will be divided into two distinct sections, with the first part dedicated to the decline of the Muslim East while the following paragraphs aim to cover the fall of the Muslim West, and by the end, there will be some common trends that can be applied for the entirety of the gigantic Islamic World.

End of the Golden East

The sponsorships and internal stability created by the Abbasid Caliphate allowed Islam to reach its golden age centred around Baghdad. However, the Abbasids would enter decline a mere fifty to seventy-five years after their rise to power, and their internal turmoil brought down the Islamic Golden Age in Iraq and Persia.

First came the Civil Wars which shattered the strength of the Abbasid Caliphate from 813–833 C.E, and with the weakening of the Caliphate, foreign forces chipped away at its borders, while the Caliphs themselves lost all political importance by the late 9th century.

The Mongols

The Abbasids would continue to decline, and its Holy Capital of Baghdad, although retaining its religious importance and large libraries and palaces, began a slow population decline due to the civil wars and turmoil. By the 1200s, the former Eastern Abbasid Lands would be divided between Seljuq Turks, local Persian Dynasties, and the remnants of the Abbasid Lands in Iraq.

This fragile political landscape allowed the Mongols to enter the stage and march through the Abbasid Territories with little resistance aside from the brutal siege of Baghdad which killed roughly two-thirds of the population while the countless manuscripts and documents were thrown into the river. Furthermore, the famed canals and irrigation systems of Mesopotamia, the heartland of the Arab World had already been in decline as the weakened Abbasids neglected their upkeeping, and the sudden Mongol Invasion put an end to any hopes of restoring the vital infrastructure.

The economic backwardness of modern Iraq; from the fertile “Cradle of Civilization” to today’s dry landscape, can largely be attributed to the failure to repair and keep the water infrastructure in the late Abbasid and Mongol eras.

The Subtle West

The end of the Golden Age in the Western Muslim World was far slower and subtle. However, two reasons ring true, which are internal instability soon after the generations of the Golden Age, which brought a slow end to the scientific innovations and think of the major cities, and then the final fall attributed to invaders.

For instance, Egypt, the educational and scientific centre of Islam next to Baghdad, had begun to decline due to floods in the Nile and internal conflicts. By the 1020s A.D, Egypt was in economic turmoil and internal squabbling amongst its ethnically diverse elite and military, while Crusader and Turkish invaders conquered the outer regions of the state.

Moreover, the decline of Fatimid Power in Egypt had a profound effect on the Levantine coast, as the area was thrown into turmoil with competing Empires struggling for control. The Levantine Coast as a whole was greatly depopulated by the late 12th Century, as the Ancient Cities were constantly raided and decimated by a mixture of Fatimids, Byzantines, Buyids, Mongols, and Crusaders.

The Far West

The 11th Century was a turbulent time for the Great Caliphs and Empires of the Western Islamic World. For instance, the Cordoba Caliphate of Spain had entered into decline after a series of weak rulers, which led to the Christians regaining ground while the great universities and libraries of the state began to stagnate.

Furthermore, the Mediterranean as a whole began to be wrestled from Muslim hands, as the Greek Islands were reconquered in the late 10th Century while Sicily, one of the largest and most strategically important islands had surrendered to the Normans by 1091. This power shift was the result of the rise of Medieval Europe, and the disunity of the Muslim World. First came the decay of the Abbasids, which concluded with the first reconquests of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus by the Byzantines. Next came the disunity and fall of the Western Islamic Empires, with the declining Fatimids and Cordobans failing to hold back the increasing militaries of Europe.

Conclusion

To understand the end of the Islamic Golden Age, the big picture must be divided into smaller pieces, with each place having different reasons for the decline. However, some common trends do emerge, namely the instability resulting in the lack of powerful Caliphates that ruled over all Islamic Lands during the first centuries of the Islamic Golden Age.

Furthermore, the number of internal wars and political intrigue aided in the slowdown of scientific progress and innovations. With a whole bag of reasons and factors, the Decline of the Islamic Golden Age is an example of the true complexity and speed of Civilizational Decline, as no single event shaped the course of the story.

source https://medium.com/the-history-inquiry/did-the-mongols-destroy-islam-df0ce87e0f98