Life After Death
The Arabs were too severely crushed to stop the roaring
and raging storm of Mongol invaders. It was the Mamluke ruler of Egypt —
Saifuddin Kutuz (Al-Malik Al-Muzaffar) who defeated them for the first time in
1260, thereby shattering the myth of Mongol invincibility. After him, Ruknuddin
Baybras inflicted several defeats on the Mongol armies, forcing them out of
Syria. In this way, at least the western wing of the Muslim world was saved
from destruction.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, however, the center of the Muslim land was presenting a desolate and hopeless picture. The situation there was a repetition of what had happened to Jerusalem in the 6th century B.C., when Prophet Uzair (AS) was overwhelmed with grief and had, according to the Qur’an, said to himself, “how shall God bring this city to life after its death?” (Al-Baqarah 2:259). But despite the widespread devastation and degradation, just as the Israelites had risen again, so did the Muslim, and the words of the Qur’an — “Then we gave you a chance against them, and strengthened you with wealth and children, and increased your number” (Al-Isra 17:6) — were fulfilled once again.
There was, however, a significant departure from the pattern set by the Jewish history. The previous Muslim Ummah was composed of a single race, and therefore their renaissance had to take place exclusively from within that race. There was no such limitation in the case of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and, as a result, the process of her revival was accomplished by the efforts of a number of non-Arab nations.
Almost miraculously, the barbaric Mongols themselves started to embrace Islam, and this provided the Muslim world with powerful defenders and guardians. Similarly, the Temurid and Ottoman Turks also converted to Islam, the former laying down the foundations of a strong Muslim dominion in India and thereby strengthening the eastern wing, and the latter establishing themselves initially in Asia Minor and then founding the Great Ottoman Empire.
The terms “Turkey” and “Ottoman Empire” are often treated as synonyms, although present-day Turkey constituted only a small part of that largest of all modern states which extended into Asia, Europe, and Africa. The capital of Byzantine or the Eastern Roman empire, Constantinople, was conquered by Muhammad II in 1453 and became the Ottoman capital. The Turks were then able to establish their domination over the whole east Europe, and also accepted the challenging and stupendous task of protecting and leading the heart of the Muslim land, including North Africa. Moreover, the institution of the Caliphate was revived and the lost greatness of the Muslims was recaptured in its totality, although this was achieved by the efforts of the Turks and not by those of the Arabs. The Ottoman empire reached its zenith under Selim I and his son Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, when the Turk armies advanced through the Balkans and Hungary into Austria, and later in 1683 when they again reached up to the gates of Vienna.
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