In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Abridged Book
Ramadan
Events and Lessons
The Battle of Shaqhab
The Time
On Saturday
the second of Ramadan
in the year seven hundred and two
Hijri.
The Battle of Ain Jalut was not
decisive in eradicating the Tatars
from the lands of Sham,
and a lesson for them.
A military and psychological lesson
lessened the intensity of their aggression
and made them reconsider
and reorganize their affairs
anew,
and correct their excessive confidence
in their strength and numbers.
Indeed, the Tatars remained,
wounded from the Battle of Ain Jalut,
for a period.
Then they attacked the lands of Sham once again,
thinking that they
could this time
satisfy the Muslims
and quench their hearts' anger towards them.
So they prepared a large
force during the days
of Ghazan, grandson of Hulegu,
who sent his commander
Qutlugh Shah.
He allied with the Crusaders
and marched with his army
into the lands of Islam again.
So the decisive battle
occurred at Shaqhab.
The location of the battle
and its time.
This battle is called
the Battle of Shaqhab
or Marj al-Saffar,
because it took place in a location
called Shaqhab,
beneath Mount Ghabaqib,
and it is on the northern side
Marj al-Saffar
and Shaqhab, a place near
Damascus, on the border of
the Hauran region.
It is approximately
37 kilometers from Damascus,
roughly.
It began on Saturday,
the second of Ramadan,
in the year 700
Hijri.
It lasted for three days,
from the afternoon of Saturday
until the morning of Monday,
the fourth of Ramadan.
Before the battle,
it was the custom of the Tatars
to inflict upon the Muslims
psychological warfare before they reached
them,
by sending threats that
instilled terror in the ranks of the people
so they would surrender their cities.
Then the Tatars would advance,
and whoever fled, fled.
They would kill and capture,
and take captive whoever remained,
and burn whatever was before them,
green and dry alike.
This is what instilled
fear of them in the hearts of the people
at that time.
And in this engagement,
the role of the devoted scholars emerged
in strengthening the people,
encouraging them
and rallying them to fight their enemies.
Amidst the wave of panic
that afflicted the people,
Imam Taqi al-Din
Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him,
played a witnessed role
in dispelling the people's fear
of the Tatars, and rallying
their ranks, and mobilizing them
to the battlefield,
and engaging in the fight himself.
He also undertook
He was tasked with urging the Sultan and the Emirs
to confront the Tatars
and promised them victory.
He swore allegiance to him to that effect.
Also,
he had a great stance
in dispelling doubts about fighting
these Tatars,
who were outwardly professing Islam
falsely and deceitfully, adhering to the law of
the Yassa.
And we do not forget the wise fiqh
in his fatwa to the Islamic army
regarding the permissibility of breaking the fast in Ramadan
to strengthen them.
This was among the great deeds
that had a significant impact
in the victory of the Muslims
at that time.
This event occurred during the reign of the Caliph
Al-Mustakfi Billah
and Sultan Al-Nasir
Muhammad ibn Qalawun,
and they were residing in Egypt.
News had reached them
of the Tatars' resolve
to devastate the lands of Sham.
Al-Nasir answered the call
and personally attended the battle.
Ibn Kathir said:
"On the eighteenth,
a large contingent arrived
of the Egyptian army,
including Emir Rukn al-Din
Baybars al-Jashankir,
and Emir Husam al-Din
Lajin, known as
Al-Astadar Al-Mansuri,
and Emir Saif al-Din
Kiray Al-Mansuri.
Then another contingent arrived after them,
including
Badr al-Din, the Master of Arms,
and Aybak al-Khazindar.
This bolstered spirits
and reassured many people.
However, the people
were in a great state of panic
from the lands of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs
and those surrounding areas.
The Aleppine army retreated,
and the army from Hama [retreated] to Homs.
Then they feared that they would be surprised
by the Tatars.
So they came and encamped in the Marj
on Sunday, the twenty-fifth of Sha'ban.
And the Tatars arrived
at Homs and Baalbek,
and wrought great corruption in those lands.
The people were agitated,
greatly agitated,
and feared intensely.
The city was in turmoil
due to the delay in the Sultan's arrival
with the rest of the army.
The people said,
"The Syrian army has no strength
with these Egyptians
to face the Tatars, due to their vast numbers."
"Their only course of action
is to retreat from them, stage by stage."
And people spread rumors.
So the commanders gathered
on the aforementioned Sunday
in the Green Field,
and pledged to confront the enemy.
They emboldened themselves,
and a proclamation was made throughout the city,
that no one should depart from it.
So the people settled down.
The judges sat in the mosque,
and a group of jurists
and the common folk swore allegiance to fight.
And Sheikh
Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah proceeded
to the army that had arrived from Hama.
He met with them in al-Qutayfah,
and informed them
of the pact made by
the commanders and the people to confront the enemy.
They agreed to this,
and swore allegiance with them.
And Sheikh Taqi al-Din
Ibn Taymiyyah was swearing
to the commanders and the people,
"You shall, in this encounter,
They were victorious over the Tatars.
The emirs would say to him,
"Say, 'If Allah wills.'"
And he would say, "If Allah wills."
This was a confirmation, not a mere statement.
He used to interpret in this regard
certain verses from the Book of Allah,
including His saying, exalted is He:
"That is so, for whoever has retaliated
“That (is so). And whoso hath retaliated with the like of that which he was made to suffer and then hath (again) been wronged, Allah will succour him. Lo! Allah verily is Mild, Forgiving.” (22:60)
and then transgressed against him
after that, Allah will surely support him.
Indeed, Allah is Pardoning
and Forgiving."
People have discussed the manner
of fighting these Tatars,
in a way that is
because they profess Islam
and are not rebels against the ruler.
For they were not
in obedience to him at any time
and then they disobeyed him.
So Sheikh Taqi al-Din said,
"These are of the same kind as the Khawarij.
They believed that they
were more deserving of authority.
And these claim that they
are more deserving of establishing the truth than the Muslims.
And they criticize
the Muslims for what they are involved in,
namely sins and injustice,
while they themselves are involved
in something far greater than that,
many times over.
So the scholars and the people understood
this point.
And he used to say to the people,
"If you see me on that side,
with a copy of the Qur'an on my head,
then kill me."
So the people were emboldened in fighting the Tatars,
and their hearts grew stronger,
and their intentions.
Praise be to Allah.
On Wednesday,
the twenty-eighth of Sha'ban,
the Syrian armies marched out
and encamped on the bridges
on the side of al-Kiswa.
And the judges were with them.
So the people became divided into two groups regarding them.
One group said:
"They only marched
to choose a location for the battle.
For indeed, the place they are heading towards
has abundant water,
so they will not be able to fight effectively there."
And another group said:
"They only marched in that direction
to flee and to join
the Sultan."
Then, on Thursday night,
they marched towards the area of
Al-Kiswa, which strengthened
people's suspicions of their flight.
And the Tatars had already reached
Qara.
And it was said that they reached
Al-Qutayfah, causing the people
great distress.
And there were no villages left around the city.
And the citadel was filled,
and the houses,
streets,
and pathways became crowded.
And the people were agitated.
Sheikh Taqi al-Din
Ibn Taymiyyah went out on Thursday morning
of the aforementioned month
through the Bab al-Nasr gate with great difficulty.
A group accompanied him
to witness the battle himself,
along with those with him.
So they thought he was only leaving
to flee.
Consequently, he faced blame from some people.
They said, "You prevented us
from fleeing,
and now you yourself are fleeing the city."
But he did not respond to them.
And the city was left without
a ruler.
Thieves and ruffians began to roam
through it and the people's gardens,
destroying and looting
whatever they could.
And they were cutting apricots before their season.
And likewise, the remaining ones who...
and wheat and barley
and all other vegetables
And We place a barrier between people and their desires.
The report of the army
The routes to the covering (of the Ka'bah) were cut off.
And a sense of desolation spread over the land.
and settled communities
...and people have no other concern than
Ascending to the minarets
They look right and left.
And towards the direction of the covering.
Then they say
We saw dust
They fear it might be from the Tatars.
and they marvel at
The report of the army, despite its large numbers.
Where did they go?
And they do not know what he did.
Allah, by them.
And hopes were cut off.
And the people persisted in supplication.
and supplication
And in prayers, and in every state.
That was on a Thursday.
The twenty-ninth of Sha'ban.
And people were in
Fear and terror beyond description.
From him (may Allah be pleased with him).
However, relief from that situation came.
Soon, but
They do not know.
As narrated in the hadith of Abu Razeen.
Allah is amazed
...from despairing of His servants.
And his jealousy intensified.
He looks upon you, despairing and dejected.
He would then continue to laugh.
He knows that your private parts
It is near.
When the end of this day arrived
The Amir Fakhr al-Din arrived.
He made me despair of the bequest.
One of the emirs of Damascus
So give glad tidings to the people of good.
This refers to the Sultan having arrived.
And it has been gathered
The Egyptian and Syrian armies
And He sent me
Reveal whether anyone has approached the city.
from the Tatars
He found the matter to be as he wished.
None of them had knocked on it.
This is because the Tatars
They turned back from Damascus towards the region of
The Egyptian armies
They did not occupy themselves with the city.
Rather, they said, "If we are overcome..."
The land belongs to us.
and we were overcome
Therefore, we have no need for it.
And a call was made throughout the land.
To comfort hearts.
And the Sultan has arrived.
The people were reassured and calmed.
Their hearts
The month was confirmed on the night of Friday.
The judge, Taqi al-Din,
Al-Hanbali, for the sky
It was cloudy.
The lamps were hung.
And I prayed the Tarawih prayers.
The people rejoiced at the arrival of the month of Ramadan.
And the people became on Friday
in severe distress and fear
Certainly, because they
They do not know the news of the people.
While they were in that state
When the Amir came
Sayf al-Din Qurl al-'Adili
So the deputy of the citadel gathered with us.
Then he returned quickly.
and no one understood what
It was reported by him.
And people fell into rumors and falsehoods.
The encounter
The one who bleeds in Shaqhab.
The two armies met at Shaqab.
And it revolved between them
A fierce battle raged.
The scale
at its beginning, for the benefit of the Tatars.
But the Muslims
They remained steadfast despite the many casualties.
until He granted them power
Allah from the necks of the Tatars.
During these three days,
they killed some of them,
took others captive, and seized whatever spoils they wished.
For it was reported
that the Tatars arrived with fifty thousand men,
led by Qutlugh Shah, the deputy of Ghazan.
So the army
donned their armor entirely.
And they agreed to fight
the Tatars at Shaqhab,
beneath Mount Ghabaqib.
When the arrangements were complete,
the Tatar divisions advanced,
like pieces of the night.
And this was at the time of Dhuhr on
Saturday, the second of Ramadan
of that year.
Qutlugh Shah advanced with those accompanying him,
from the vanguard.
They engaged the right flank,
but the right flank held firm against them,
and they fought them with the fiercest of battles.
Then many from the right flank were killed.
So they were reached
by the commanders from the center
and from the left flank,
and they continued in the fight
until they repelled the Tatars
from the Muslims.
The fighting continued between the Tatars
and the Muslims until
each of the two groups
ceased fighting.
And he who was with him went up to a mountain
nearby,
and ascended it,
believing in his heart that he had won,
and that Qutlugh Shah was in pursuit
of the fleeing Muslims.
When he ascended the mountain,
he saw the plain and the rough terrain
entirely filled with armies,
and the Sultan's left flank holding firm,
and its banners fluttering.
So Qutlugh Shah was astonished
and bewildered.
He remained in his place,
and those who were behind
the defeated from the Sultan's right flank
and with them were several
Muslims who had been
captured. At that point,
Qutlūshāh gathered his men
and consulted them about what
to do. Then the Sultan's
kettle drums and trumpets
advanced, shaking
the earth and unsettling hearts
with their sound.
Būlāy did not stand firm,
and he departed from Qutlūshāh's direction
with about twenty thousand
Tatars.
He descended from the mountain after sunset,
and passed by Rabā.
The Sultan and the rest of
his armies spent the night on horseback,
with drums beating.
Those who had been defeated were pursuing them
little by little,
and they were aiming to strike
the Sultan's drums and trumpets.
The Sultan's army surrounded the mountain on which
the Tatars had spent the night.
Qutlūshāh, along with those with him,
was making arrangements.
They descended on foot
and on horseback and fought
the armies.
The Sultan's Mamluks, led by their commanders,
advanced against Qutlūshāh
and Jūbān.
They engaged in a great battle with them,
sometimes
shooting arrows at them,
and at other times confronting them
with lances.
The emirs also engaged
in fighting those in their sector,
taking turns in the battle,
one emir after another.
The Sultan's Mamluks persisted
in the fight,
and on that day they displayed
a level of courage and horsemanship
that cannot be described,
So much so that some of them were killed beneath it.
The three types of horses
And the rulers did not adorn themselves with that.
Until Sunday noon.
Qutluh Shah ascended.
The mountain
And about [number] from his army were killed
A man
Many were wounded, and their thirst intensified.
It so happened that some of
He was taken captive by the Tatars.
He fled and went down to the Sultan.
and to make him recognize that the Tatars
They have unanimously agreed on the descent.
in the magic, to confront
The Sultan's armies
And they were in severe thirst.
The opinion then necessitated
for Allah to grant them relief upon their arrival.
and the army will ride
I turned my back on them.
When they spent the night in that state
They awoke on Monday morning.
The Tatars rode out in the fourth [year].
of the day
They descended from the mountain, and no one bothered them.
They have one
They marched to the river and plunged into it.
At that point, they mounted them.
Allah's trials for the Muslims
And Allah, the Most High, supported them.
with His victory
until they reaped the heads of the Tatars
concerning their bodies
And they drew their swords against them.
killed and captured
until the afternoon prayer
They returned to the Sultan.
Recognize Him through this great victory.
And the rulers continued
and the rest of the armies are in pursuit.
The Tatars to the two villages
The Tatar horses grew weary.
Their souls grew weak.
They laid down their weapons.
They surrendered to be killed.
and the armies kill them
without any resistance
even the lowest of the common people and the youths
killed many of them
and they captured at that time
spoils of war
and one soldier from the army would kill
twenty of the Tatars
or more
then the nomadic tribes of the land
betrayed the Tatars and began their treachery
so they would bring
two or three
up to a large number of Tatars
as if they were guiding them
to a nearby path
a desert plain, and they would deliver them
to the wilderness
and leave them there
so they would die of thirst
and some they led around
and brought them to the Ghouta of Damascus
so the general populace of Damascus came out to them
the general populace of Damascus
and killed many of them
and on Monday
the fourth of the month
the people returned from the Kiswah
to Damascus
and they gave the people glad tidings of victory
and Ibn Kathir said
and they remained in what they were upon
of fear and hardship
so they saw from the minarets
blackness and dust
from the direction of the army and the enemy
so it was strongly suspected that the battle
was on this day
so they implored Allah, the Mighty and Majestic
with supplication in the mosques and the city
and the women came out
and the children onto the rooftops
and they uncovered their heads
and the city cried out with a great cry
and it happened at that time
at that time a great, heavy rain fell
then the people calmed down
and when it was after noon
a notice was read in the congregational mosque
stating that
In the second hour
...of this Saturday's daylight.
The armies of Sham convened.
and Egyptian with the Sultan
in the meadow of Safar
And in it is the request for prayer from the people.
and the command to guard the fortress
and caution regarding the walls
So let people be
and the one who gives the call to prayer and the land.
The day has passed.
It was a tremendously unsettling day.
And the people awoke on Sunday
They speak with a broken [spirit/will].
The Tatars
And the people went out towards the area of Al-Kiswah.
They returned, and with them
something from earnings
And with them were prominent leaders.
The Tatars
And the oppression of the Tatars grew stronger.
And it increases little by little.
until the entire matter became clear
But when people have
From the intensity of the fear
And the abundance of Tatars does not mean they are truthful.
The results of the battle
This was
The overwhelming victory
It was a decisive blow against the Tatar's lineage.
Those who have not returned since then
with major campaigns
to the lands of ash-Sham
The people then found relief from their evil.
The widespread
Rather, they openly declared their Islam.
After a period of time
by the age of their Islam
So, to Allah be all praise for their embracing Islam.
And to Allah belongs all praise.
...for the well-being of the lands of Islam.
from their harm
But among the matters that call for
It is astonishing.
The Mongol Tatar people
that which was done to the world
Islamic, from the categories
The annihilation and the brutal punishment that was inflicted.
returns to the religion
those who were subjugated by them
and whom they swept over
one of the facts that many do not know
is that the Tatars
have a great merit
in spreading Islam in regions
that Muslims had not reached
before them.
They ruled them and conquered countries,
so they became among the best
of people in their adherence to Islam,
even up to our
present time.
Our Muslim brothers in Turkestan
are from the descendants of the Tatars.
And what has happened
to them now in terms of persecution by the Chinese
Buddhists
and they are steadfast in their religion,
patient in their trials,
is nothing but proof of the strength
of their Islam.
We ask Allah to relieve them.
Ramadan:
events and lessons.