Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 313 Past and Future
The history of the Arab Empire is actually quite interesting.

As an empire founded on religion, their integration of religion and politics is relatively unique and has had a profound impact on later Islamic countries.

But even Muslims often know very little about the early history of Islam.

The origin of Islam is even less clear, so much so that in the 21st century, there are still Muslims who believe that Allah and Jehovah are not the same god.

As for 13th century Turks like Elder Ilham, they were completely in the dark and knew nothing about the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

He was also very happy to be able to chat with Garys over a glass of wine today, so he let Garys talk more and expand his knowledge.

Hearing Elder Ilham's words, Arsalan on the side also pricked up his ears and listened carefully. He also filled Gairis's glass with wine, appearing quite humble like a student.

"The history of Islam can actually be traced back to six hundred years ago. At that time, the Prophet Muhammad was born into a merchant family in Mecca..."

Gairis did not put forward some conspiracy theory or some statement that was inconsistent with the Islamic historical view. He just repeated what the jurists said.

For example, when the Prophet Muhammad was in his 30s, he began to receive revelations from God through the angel Gabriel. These revelations eventually formed the Quran, the core scripture of Islam.

The Prophet Muhammad's teachings emphasized the uniqueness of God and advocated that believers should approach God through prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage.

He called for social justice, poverty relief and care for the disadvantaged, and opposed the idolatry, tribalism and social inequality of the time.

In Gairis's opinion, the Prophet Muhammad was indeed the Prophet Muhammad because he was changing the society at that time in his own way. As for the future?

Few living people can predict the future, and Islamic history proves this.

Along with the Prophet Muhammad's actions, the local nobles in Mecca strongly opposed it.

After all, his actions were breaking certain rules that had been in place since ancient times.

Even the second orthodox caliph, Umar, physically beat the Prophet Muhammad to a pulp during this period.

For this reason, the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina in 622, which was the first year of the Islamic calendar.

After the migration, the Prophet Muhammad established a new political and religious community in Medina. He was not only a religious leader but also a political leader.

He signed a "coexistence agreement" with the Jewish tribes in Medina, trying to establish a multi-faith coexistence society. Of course, in the end, the Jewish tribes in Medina were "dealt with" by the Prophet Muhammad.

There are many interpretations of this, but in conclusion, the local Jews in Medina were "dealt with".

During this period, the Meccan nobility continued to pose a threat to Muhammad, and several conflicts broke out between the two, the most notable of which were the Battle of Badr (624) and the Battle of Uhud (625).

In 630 AD, the Prophet Muhammad returned to Mecca and formally established his Islamic political and religious rule.

In Mecca, the Prophet destroyed the local idols and turned the Kaaba in Mecca into the holiest place in Islam.

After that, many Arab tribes converted to Islam, and Muhammad's influence reached its peak.

But even so, Arabia during this period was still a corner on the edge of the world. The Eastern Empire was fighting a bloody battle with Sassanid Persia, and Iraq was winning every battle...

Perhaps, when Iraklius received the news of Arab unification at that time, he would only feel confused and felt that it had nothing to do with him.

When the Prophet Muhammad died in 632, he did not clearly designate a successor, which sparked controversy over leadership succession.

Finally, in an election, Abu Bakr became the first caliph.

This also triggered the signs of division.

The core dispute is whether leadership should be determined by bloodline or by election.

The former means Ali and the latter means Abu Bakr.

This is also the distinction between Sunnis and Shiites. Of course, history has once again proved one thing: the dead cannot control the living.

Because the Sunnis were born through elections, they welcomed the Umayyad dynasty after the end of the era of the Four Caliphs.

If you don't inherit from the prophet's bloodline, you can inherit from your own bloodline, right...

Moreover, the Umayyad family was once a famous clan of Quraysh in Mecca, and they firmly opposed the Prophet Muhammad before he conquered Mecca.

The dispute and division between the two factions appeared from the beginning of the Caliphate system.

Abu Bakr died of old age and was succeeded by Umar.

Under Umar, the Caliphate expanded at an unprecedented rate, conquering Mesopotamia and parts of Persia from the corners of the world and eventually destroying the Sassanid Empire that ruled Persia at the time.

In addition, Egypt, Palestine, North Africa and Armenia were seized from the Eastern Empire.

In 636, in the Battle of Yarmouk near Damascus, Umar defeated a larger force with a smaller one, ending the Byzantine Empire's rule in Syria.

But this caliph, who had physically defeated the Prophet Muhammad and successfully expanded the Caliphate to an unprecedented level, was assassinated by a Persian slave.

Although history records that the Persian slave was captured and executed in Medina, other accounts claim that Ali rescued the Persian slave from his pursuers and miraculously delivered him to Iran.

Whether the latter is true or not, it represents the complex political situation at the time.

You know, the Shiites even built a tomb for the Persian slave and held a festival to celebrate the killing of Omar.

Then Caliph Osman, who compiled the Koran, came to power and was assassinated. When he was buried, he was not even allowed to be buried in a Muslim cemetery, but was sent to a Jewish cemetery.

Then Ali came to power. During Ali's rule, the situation turned into irreversible chaos, and he eventually died from a poisoned sword.

After Gairis had sorted out the relationships between the various forces at that time, namely: the Migrants, the Ansar, the Meccans, the Egyptians, the Kufans and the Basrans.

Elder Ilham was already shaking his head and becoming drowsy.

But history is like this. No matter how it is whitewashed or beautified, once the things that happened during that period are summarized, it will be stripped of its sacredness, leaving only cruelty and boredom.

In such a fierce political conflict, has the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad really not been changed?
Faced with this problem, Elder Ilham actually already has his own opinion.

The dead cannot control the living, even if they are prophets.

Arsalan, who was standing by, took the opportunity to ask a question.

"If even the scriptures handed down from that era have been distorted in various ways, then is there really a 'true religion' in this era?"

Gailis looked at Arsalan, wondering why this guy asked such a strange question. He did not give a positive or negative answer, he just stretched out his palm towards Arsalan, and when Arsalan was puzzled, a pool of wine appeared in his palm.

Garys shook his hand, and the wine splashed on Arsalan's face, then he stood up and left.

It was not until a long time later that Arsalan realized what had just happened.

The palm of his hand, which was originally dry and empty, suddenly began to ooze out wine. This was a tiny sign, a miracle that had been repeated by Garys.

[During the Battle of Hodebiyya, due to lack of water, his companions asked him to help provide water. Muhammad stretched out his finger, and water flowed from his fingertips. Soldiers came to drink until they all had enough water.]

——Sahih Bukhari

……

Both Elder Ilham and other people in the settlement discovered a problem in their interactions.

Gailis was the only one among them who could recite the Koran by heart.

Even though Garys and the elders had discussed many things that were not suitable for spreading, Garys's knowledge was too strong.

All of a sudden, Elder Ilham started to discuss with everyone, suggesting inviting Gairis to be the Imam, and everyone help him build a mosque.

In this way, it would appear that their Yuktu tribe was pious enough.

However, during this discussion, an unexpected piece of news hit everyone in the settlement like a bolt from the blue.

They were a few people dressed in rags, covered in mud and blood. They had no weapons on them and were left with only themselves and the horses under them.

When they passed by the settlement of the Yuktu tribe, someone dismounted to ask for water to drink, and then brought the bad news.

The Battle of Bassiani organized by Suleiman II was lost. It was an army of 400,000, but was defeated by the Georgians in Bassiani!

The Sultan himself died in battle!

According to legend, in the early stages of the war, the Sultan almost defeated the Georgian central army.

But the Georgians launched a surprise attack by an advance party at night, causing chaos on the Sultan's flank. The Sultan managed to gather his forces for a counterattack and almost turned the tide.

But at this moment, the Sultan's flag fell in the dim light of dawn!

For a moment, the morale of the flank troops was on the verge of collapse, and they fled one after another.

And these few defeated soldiers among them were among them. They ran the fastest after abandoning their weapons and armor and leaving only their horses.

When hearing the news, Gairis's expression showed an indescribable meaning, and Arsalan felt the same after thinking about it.

But the other people in the tribe no longer cared about what was happening with the 400,000-strong army at this time. They were just in a panic and at a loss.

Because the place called Bassiani is too close to them!
In the Battle of Shamkol five years ago, Georgia won a great victory over the Muslims, successfully expanded its sphere of influence, and approached the Rum Sultanate.

But now, the Sultan was defeated in Bassiani. Not to mention whether the young men who were conscripted from the tribe returned safely, as long as Georgia took advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy, they would suffer a war disaster here.

This is not a fortified city like Erzurum. It doesn't even have a wall, so it is impossible to stop the Georgian army from advancing westward.

It didn't take much time for everyone in the tribe to gather together.

This Turkic tribe made a decision - to migrate, or to return to a nomadic life.

Nomadism, nomadism, many people only understand the nomadism part, but nomadism is the more critical aspect.

For nomads, moving with the water and grass is only a part of their economic life.

Many times, the movement and migration of nomads is not to ensure that livestock have access to suitable environmental resources in all seasons, but to escape various natural or man-made risks.

Among these, man-made risks also include oppression from higher-level rulers and certain exploitation.

In the 20th century, the Republic of China government issued a report stating that residents in a certain place in northwestern Sichuan lived a nomadic life.

The local government reported: "They are free to pay animal taxes as they wish. The government dares not force them. Otherwise, they will move their homes and drive their cattle away, and flee to the wilds."

This is also one of the reasons why nomads do not need to bear too much taxation. After all, if you collect too much tax, nomads do not rely on farming to make a living, so they can just run away with their cattle and sheep to escape from political authority and exploitation.

The problem that Arslan is worried about also contains such elements.

Nowadays, their tribe doesn’t have much land to farm and has few sunk costs, so naturally they have to pack up and run away.

After understanding the reason, Gailis did not stop the actions of the Yuktu tribe. He just found Elder Ilham and had a chat with him.

Still outside the rather shabby tent, Gailis sat cross-legged on the ground and asked, "It's almost autumn now. Will you come back in the autumn?"

Elder Ilham did not drink, but seemed a little hesitant. He glanced at the farmland in the distance and seemed reluctant to leave.

Compared to farming, nomadic life is indeed more difficult, but it can at least help them avoid war.

Now they have to leave as quickly as possible, so it is impossible for them to wait until the farmland is harvested.

"I will be here waiting for you to come back. I promise that by then, nothing here will change."

Elder Ilham didn't know why Garys could say such a thing, but it didn't matter anyway.

It would actually be a good thing if someone could stay here and help them look after the fields.

"By that time, I hope that more people from your tribe will come to farm with me, not just Arsalan."

Elder Ilham nodded again and said nothing more.

In this way, in the midst of the busyness, in less than a day, the people of the Yuktu tribe who remained in this settlement were ready to migrate.

In this tense atmosphere of life and death, racing against time, there were only two exceptions, one was Garys and the other was Arslan.

In the mountains of Anatolia, a little light of civilization was lit up.

Faced with the cold wind blowing from the north, Garys chose to stay here and face the Georgian's blade.

(End of this chapter)