خروج التتر إلى بلاد الإسلام

In 617 AH the Mongols appeared in the lands of Islam. They were a large kind of Turks whose dwellings were in the mountains of Tamghaj from the direction of China, as Ibn al-Athir introduces them in "al-Kamil". ¹

Ibn al-Athir says that for years he avoided mentioning their news out of awe at it. He counts it as the great event before which the days and nights were barren, and says that what Nebuchadnezzar did to the Children of Israel cannot be compared to it. This is Ibn al-Athir's own judgement, not the museum's. ¹

According to Ibn al-Athir they came out from the edges of China and made for Turkistan, Kashgar and Balasaghun, then beyond the river to Samarqand and Bukhara. A group crossed into Khurasan, then al-Rayy, Hamadhan and the lands of the Jibal to the edge of Iraq, then Azerbaijan and Arran. They reached the Derbent of Shirvan, the lands of the Lan and the Lakz, and the Qipchaq, in less than a year. ¹

Ibn al-Athir describes that they did not need supplies, because they had their sheep, cattle and horses with them. He says they bowed to the sun at its rising and did not forbid any animal. He explains their success by saying that Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, had seized the lands and destroyed their kings, so when he was defeated there was no barrier and no defender left. He mentions Genghis Khan in the course of this account. ¹

617 AH, with a Gregorian equivalent (around 1220 CE) that is derived. ²