Hulagu desired then that all persons in the harem be counted. Seven hundred women and slave girls were found there, and one thousand eunuchs. The Kalif begged to have those women given him who had never been under sunlight or moonlight directly. The conqueror gave him one hundred. Mostassim chose relatives and they were led forth from the palace. All the Kalif’s best treasures were taken to Hulagu’s camp ground. Around the immense tent of Jinghis Khan’s grandson were piled up great masses of wealth, being a portion of that which the Abbasids had taken from men during half a millennium.
The sack of the city continued seven days and nights in succession; most of the mosques were burned during that time. A deputation came then to beg pity of the conqueror. Seeing that the place if he spared it might yield him some profit he relented after eight hundred thousand human beings had been slaughtered. Those who had hidden from death came forth now into daylight with safety; few were they in number and pitiful to look at. Many Christians had assembled in a church strongly guarded and were saved from death and every evil by the Mongols. The Nestorian Patriarch had power to effect this. A few wealthy Moslems had entrusted the best of their treasures to the Patriarch to keep for them; they had hoped to survive, but all perished.
Hulagu withdrew to the village of Vakaf, some distance from Bagdad, because the air of the city had grown pestilential and loathsome. He summoned Mostassim. The trembling Kalif asked Ibn Alkamiya if there was no way of salvation. “My beard is long,” replied the vizir, referring to a taunt of the chancellor.[1] [[254]]The Kalif and his eldest son were placed each in a felt sack, and trampled to death under horse hoofs. Mostassim’s attendants were cut down, and slaughtered by various methods. Next day the youngest son of the Kalif died, and all of the Abbasids whose names were on the list of that ruling family were then put to death.
The Kalif, whose mother was an Ethiopian slave, was the thirty-seventh of his line. He was forty-six years of age when he died, February 21, 1258, after a reign of fifteen years. Hulagu appointed new dignitaries for Bagdad. The old vizir, Ibn Alkamiya, was continued in office. Among new men was one quite deserving of notice; this was Ben Amran, prefect of a place east of Bagdad and touching it. This man had been a servant to the governor of Yakuba. One day when stroking the soles of that governor’s feet to bring sleep to him Ben Amran himself began to slumber. Roused by his master he said that he had just had a marvelous vision. “What was it like?” asked the governor. “I thought that Mostassim and the Kalifat were gone, and that I was the governor of Bagdad.” His master gave him in answer a kick of such force that he fell over backward. Being in Bagdad during the siege days Ben Amran heard that provisions were scarce in the camp of the Mongols. He tied a letter to an arrow and shot it over the wall with this message: “If Hulagu would learn something of value let him send for Ben Amran.” The letter was taken to the Mongol, and he sent for Ben Amran. The Kalif, who was foolish in all things, permitted the man to go from the city. When brought to the chief of the Mongols he declared that he could obtain a great stock of provisions. Hulagu, though not greatly believing his phrases, sent him off with an officer; Ben Amran took the man to large underground granaries near Yakuba where there was wheat enough to supply all the Mongols for a fortnight, and thus he enabled Hulagu to continue the siege without trouble. Ben Amran received the reward of his treachery, and now was made prefect.
Ibn Alkamiya, the vizir, was accused of treason both before the fall of the city, and afterward. For a long time the books used in schools bore this sentence: “Cursed of God be he who curses not Ibn Alkamiya.” On the Friday next after the death of the Kalif these words were pronounced in place of the usual invocation: [[255]]“Praise to God who has destroyed high existences, and condemned to nonentity dwellers in this abode (of humanity). O God, assist us in woes such as Islam has never experienced: but we belong to God and return to Him.”
Hulagu was now master of Bagdad, and he proposed to the Ulema this question: “Which man is better as sovereign, an unbeliever who is just, or a Moslem unjust in his dealings?” The assembled Ulema gave no answer till Razi ud din Ali, a sage esteemed greatly, wrote as follows: “The unbeliever who is just should be preferred to the unjust believer.” All the Ulema subscribed to this answer.
Every place from the Persian Gulf to Bagdad was subjected. And it is of great interest to note the conduct of some and the fate that befell them. The story of Ben Amran, the prefect, is in strong contrast with that of Teghele, son of Hezerasp, who had given good advice in his day to Shah Mohammed. Teghele had joined the Mongol forces, but expressed regret at the ruin of Bagdad, and the death of the Kalif. Hulagu heard of this and grew angry, Teghele, informed of his peril, left the camp without permission and withdrew to his mountains. A force was despatched to Luristan to bring back the fugitive, whose brother, Shems ud din Alb Argun, set out to appease Hulagu and gain pardon. Argun was met on the Luristan border by Mongols who put him in chains, and slew his whole escort. The Mongols went on then and summoned Teghele to yield himself. At first he refused through distrust of their promises, but he made no active resistance. When at last they gave him Hulagu’s ring as a token of favor he believed, and they took him to Tebriz where Hulagu had him tried, and put to death on the market place.
The throne of Luristan was then given to Alb Argun the brother of the dead man. About this time appeared at headquarters the rival Sultans of Rūm, Rokn ud din Kelidj Arslan, and Yzz ud din Kei Kavus; the latter had come with some fear since he had roused Hulagu by resistance. When admitted to audience he offered the Mongol a pair of splendid boots with his own portrait painted inside on the soles of them. “I hope,” added he, “that the monarch will deign to show honor with his august foot to the head of his servitor.” These words, and the intercession of Dokuz Khatun, Hulagu’s wife, obtained the grace [[256]]which he needed and was seeking. The brothers were reconciled and Rūm was divided between them.
Hulagu now summoned Bedr ud din Lulu of Mosul to his presence. This prince was then more than eighty years old and very crafty. He had been a slave of Nur ud din Arslam, Shah of Diarbekr, who at death left him as guardian to his son Massud. Lulu governed Mosul for this Massud who died in 1218 leaving two sons of tender years. These boys followed their father to that other existence before two years had passed, and the former slave became sovereign. He had reigned in Mosul forty years lacking one, before coming to Hulagu’s presence with splendid gifts and apparently unlimited obedience. When leaving Mosul, Lulu’s friends were in dread for his safety, but he calmed them, and gave this assurance: “I will make the Khan mild, and even pull his ears while I speak to him.”
Lulu was received by Hulagu very graciously and when the official gifts had all been delivered he added: “I have something for the Khan’s person specially,” and he drew forth a pair of gold earrings in which were set two pearls of rare beauty. When Hulagu had admired them Lulu continued: “If the Khan would but grant me the honor to put these two jewels in their places I should be exalted immediately in the eyes of all rulers, and in those of my subjects.” Permission was granted, so he took the Khan’s ears and put the two rings in them very deliberately. Then he glanced at his own suite, thus telling them that he had kept his strange promise.