خوارزم شاه علاء الدين محمد

Ala' al-Din Muhammad, Khwarazm-shah, sultan of Khwarazm. He ruled Khurasan and Transoxiana, cut the Abbasid khutba in his lands, and died in 617 AH after his dispute with the Tatars. ^{1 2}

Al-Suyuti says that he marched on Baghdad, but a great snow fell on his army at Hamadhan for twenty days, and he turned back. In 592 AH he crossed the Jayhun with fifty thousand, and sent to the caliph al-Nasir asking for the sultanate and the restoration of the seat of the sultanate as it had been for the Seljuq kings. The caliph demolished the seat of the sultanate and sent back his envoy without an answer. ¹

Al-Suyuti describes him in this place as having been tyrannical and insolent, and as having enslaved the great kings. This is the source's description. ¹

Al-Suyuti says that he betrayed the Tatar merchants and killed the envoys of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan marched against him, and he fled to an island, and died there alone in 617 AH. ²

In Shadharat al-Dhahab he disguised himself with three of his companions and entered the Tatar lines to reconnoitre them, and they were seized. Two died under the beating without confessing, and he and his companion fled at night. ³

Ibn al-Athir says that he ruled for twenty-one years. He says that no one after the Seljuqs ruled as he did, from the borders of Iraq to Turkestan, Ghazna, part of India, Sistan, Kirman, Tabaristan, Jurjan, the lands of the Jibal, Khurasan and part of Fars. He describes him as learned in jurisprudence and the principles, and honouring of scholars. ⁴

Ibn al-Athir relates from a servant of the Prophet ﷺ's chamber that he met him in the middle of the iwan, forbade him to kiss his hand, seated him beside himself, and asked him about Medina. ⁴