The Mongols in the Islamic Lands: Studies in the History of the Ilkhanate

This book brings together a series of studies that deal with the impact of the Mongols in the eastern Muslim world. Their focus is the state established around 1260 by Hülegü, grandson of Chinggis Khan, and the subjects covered include: the development of the land-tenure system; the title ilkhan; the use of Arabic sources for the history of the Ilkhanate; the eventual conversion of the Mongols to Islam; and - most prominently - the ongoing war with the Mamluk Sultanate to the west.The Mongols had a profound effect on the regions that they ruled in the eastern Muslim world, from the first Mongol invasion in 1219 through the breakup of the Ilkhanate in 1335 and the various, short-lived successor states. The influence of their rule - positive as well as negative - on the peoples of Iran and the neighboring countries can be seen in such diverse areas as demography, economics, art and other types of material culture, intellectual and religious life, military affairs, government, etc. This book brings together a series of studies that deal with some of these aspects in the state established around 1260 by Hülegü, grandson of Chinggis Khan: the development of the land-tenure system; the title ilkhan; the use of Arabic sources for the history of the Ilkhanate; the eventual conversion of the Mongols to Islam; and - most prominently - the ongoing war with the Mamluk Sultanate to the west.Contents: Preface; Part 1 Institutions and Historiography: Evidence for the early use of the title ilkhan among the Mongols; Turco-Mongolian nomads and the iqta' system in the Islamic Middle East (1000-1400 AD); New material from the Mamluk sources for the biography of Rashid al-Din; Al-Nuwayri as a historian of the Mongols. Part 2 The Conversion of the Mongols to Islam: The conversion of Tegüder Ilkhan to Islam; Ghazan, Islam and Mongol tradition: a view from the Mamluk Sultanate; Sufis and shamans: some remarks on the Islamization of the Mongols in the Ilkhanate. Part 3 The War Against the Mamluks: Mongol raids into Palestine (A.D. 1260 and 1300); 'Ayn Jalut revisited; An exchange of letters in Arabic between Abaya Ilkhan and Sultan Baybars (A.H. 667 / A.D. 1268-9); Edward of England and Abagha Ilkhan: a reexamination of a failed attempt at Mongol-Frankish cooperation; Mongol imperial ideology and the Ilkhanid war against the Mamluks; Mamluk perceptions of the Mongol-Frankish rapprochement; Northern Syria between the Mongols and the Mamluks: political boundary, military frontier and ethnic affinity; Whither the Ilkhanid army? Ghazan's first campaign into Syria (1299-1300); The resolution of the Mongol-Mamluk war; Corrections and additions; Index.About the Author: Professor Reuven Amitai holds the Eliyahu Elath Chair for the History of the Muslim Peoples, and is Director of The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies and a member of The Institute of Asian and African Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.