Ramadan Battles

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Ramadan Battles
Merimda
11/11/01 at 21:38:19
Salam,

This thread was inspired by an old thread I read in this forum..and plus the fact that the campaign in Afganistan will continue during the month of Ramadan..
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to recount important battles that took place in Ramadan over the course of Islamic history...I'm going to share an account of one imp. battle..I would love if others contributed to this thread with other accounts..even the battle of Badr..I think it would be a great learning experience and reminder for all of us.

***

The Battle of Ayn Jalut (1260)

In this year 658 (1260) the envoys of Hulegu arrived in Egypt with a letter, the text of which was as follows:

From the King of Kings in the East and the West, the mighty Khan:

In your name, O God, You who laid out the earth and raised up the skies.

Let al-Malik al-Muzaffar Qutuz, who is of the race of mamluks who fled before our swrords into this country, who enjoyed its comforts and then killed its rulers, let al-Malik al-Muzzafar Qutuz know, as well as the amirs of his state and the people of his realms, in Egypt and in the adjoining countries, that we are the army of God on His earth. He created us from His wrath and urged us against those who incurred His anger. In all lands there are examples to admonish you and to deter you from challenging our resolve. Be warned by the fate of others and hand over your power to us before the veil is torn and you are sorry and your errors are rebound upon you. For we do not pity those who weep, nor are we tender to those who complain. You have heard that we have conquered the land and cleansed the earth of corruption and killed most of the people. Yours to flee: ours to pursue. And what land will shelter you, what road save you; what country protect you? You have no deliverance from our swords like thunder-bolts, our hearts like rocks, our numbers like sand. Fortresses cannot withstand us; armies are of no avail in fighting us. Your prayers against us will not be heard, for you have eaten forbidden things and your speech is foul, you betray oaths and promises, and disobedience and fractiousness prevail among you. Be informed that your lot will be shame and humiiation. "Today you are recomensed with the punishement of humiliation, because you were so proud on earth without right and for your wrongdoing" (Quran, xlvi, 20). "Those who have done wrong will know to what end they will revert" (Quran,xxvi. 227). Those who make war against us are sorry; those who seek our protection are safe. If you submit to our orders and conditions,then your rights and duties are the same as ours. If you resist you will be destroyed. Do not, therefore, destroy yourselves with you own hands. He who is warned should be on his gaurd. You are convinced that we are the infidels, and we are convinced that you are the evil doers. God, who determines all, has urged us gainst you. Then you will find no dignity, no comfort, no protector, no sanctuary. You will suffer at our hands the most fearful calamity, and your land will be empty of you. By writing to you we have dealt equitably with you and have awakened you by warning you. Now we have no other purpose but you. Peace be with us, with you, and with all of those who follow divine guidance, who fear the consequences of evil and who obey the Supreme King,

Say to Egypt, Hulegu has come
  with swords unsheathed and sharp.
the mightiest  of her people will become humble,
  he will send their children to join the aged


Qutuz assembled the amirs, and they agreed to kill the envoys and to proceed to Salihiyya. The envoys were arrested and imprisoned. The Sultan arranged for the amirs he had chosen to swear loyalty and then gave order to march.

To be continued..taken from Al-Maqrizi, Suluk..




Re: Ramadan Battles
Merimda
11/11/01 at 22:03:35
The amirs set out unwillingly, because they were reluctant to encounter the Tatars. On Monday, 15 Shaban (July 26 1260), al-Malik al Muzzafar Qutuz, with all his troops of Egypt and those of Syria, the Bedouin, the Turcomans, and others who had rallied to him, emerged from the citadel and set out for Salihiyya.

That day the Tatar envoys, four in number, were brought before him. They were killed. Qutuz spared a youth who was with the envoys and enrolled him among his own Mamluks.

In Cairo, Fustat and the rest of Egypt proclamations were issued to go out on the Jihad for the cause of God and defend the religion of the Prophet of God, may God bless and save him. Qutuz sent orders to the governors to rouse the troops for the campaign. Those who hid themselves and were discovered were to be flogged.

Qutuz proceeded to Salihiyya, where he made camp and where his forces were assembled. Having summoned his amirs, he spoke with them about the expedition, but they all declined and refused to go. Qutuz said to them:

“Amirs of the Muslims! For a long time you have been eating the money of the treasury and now you do not want to fight. I, myself, will set out. He who chooses the Jihad will accompany me; he who doesn’t can go home. God observes him, and the guilt of those who violate the women of the Muslims will be on the heads of the laggards.”
He addressed the chosen amirs and had them swear agreement to the expedition. The others could not but agree, and the meeting broke up.

When night came the Sultan rode about, had his drums beaten, and said, “I shall fight the Tatars by myself.” When the amirs saw the Sultan’s action, they too went, however unwillingly. Qutuz ordered the amir Rukn al-Din Baybers al Bunduqdari to go ahead with some troops to seek intelligence of the Tatars. He came to Gaza in which there were some Tatars. They withdrew when he arrived, and he took possession of Gaza.

To be continued..

Re: Ramadan Battles
Merimda
11/16/01 at 23:47:04
The Sultan and the main forces made camp by Gaza and stayed for one day. Then he took the coastal road to the town of Acre, which was then in the hands of the Franks. They came out to greet Qutuz and wanted to join him as auxiliaries. He thanked them and gave them robes of honour and obtained their oath that they would be neither for him nor against him. He swore to them that if any of them, on horse or on foot, followed him and tried to harass the army of the Muslims, he would return and fight them before meeting the Tatars.

He summoned the amirs, and he urged them to fight the Tatars. He reminded them of the carnage, the enslavement, and the fire, which had befallen other lands and struck fear in them with the thought that the same could happen again. He urged them to save Syria form the Tatars and to defend Islam and the Muslims, and he warned of God’s punishments. They burst into tears and swore together that they would strive to fight the Tatars and drive them out of the land. The Sultan ordered the amir Rukn al-Din  Baybars al-Bunduqari to advance with a detachment, and he did so until he encountered the Tatar van guard. He wrote to the Sultan to inform him of this and began to skirmish with the Tatars, sometimes advancing, sometimes retreating, until the Sultan joined him near Ayn Jalut.

When Kitbugha and Baydara, the two deputies of Hulegu learned of the advance of the army, they gathered together the Tatars who were scattered through Syria and set out to fight the Muslims. The vanguard of the Muslim army met the Tatar vanguard and defeated them.  On Friday, 25 of Ramadan (September 3) the two sides met, and in the hearts of the Muslims there was great fear of the Tatars. The sun had just risen, and the valley was full of men. There was much shouting from the peasants in the villages and a continuos beating of the Sultan’s and the amir’s drums. The Tatars were disposed towards the mountain.  When the two armies clashed, one of the wings of the Sultan’s army was thrown into confusion and part of it destroyed. When this happened al-Malik al Muzaffer took off his helmet, threw it too the ground, and cried with all his might, “O Islam!” He then hurled himself, with those around him, straight at the enemy. God granted him victory. Kitbugha, the commander of the Tatars, was killed; then Al-Malik al-Said Hasan ibn al-Aziz, who was with the Tatars, was also killed. The rest were defeated, and God made them turn their backs to the Muslims, who followed them, killing and capturing them. The amir Baybars proved his courage in the presence of the Sultan.

To be continued..
Re: Ramadan Battles
Merimda
11/17/01 at 00:44:59
It happened during this battle that the young man who had been with the Tatar envoys and whom the Sultan had spared and enrolled among his won mamluks was riding behind him when the armies met. When the battle was joined he aimed an arrow at the Sultan, but was observed by someone near him, seized, and killed on the spot. According to another version, he in fact shot the arrow at the Sultan, hit his horse, and knocked it down, leaving the Sultan standing on his feet. Fakhr al-Din Mama dismounted from his horse, gave it to the Sultan, and when the led horses brought, mounted one of them.

The army pursued the Tatars as far as the neighbourhood of Baysan, where they turned and fought an even fiercer battle than the first. But God defeated them, and their chiefs and many of them were killed. The Muslims had been violently shaken. The Sultan cried out three times in a loud voice, heard by most of the army, “O Islam! O God, give your servant Qutuz victory over the Tatars.” When the Tatars had been defeated for the second time, the Sultan dismounted form his horse rubbed his face in the dust, kissed it, and recited a prayer with two prostrations, in thanksgiving to God, and then rode on. The troops advanced, their hands full of booty.

From: Al Maqrizi "Suluk"


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