The Mongols Enter Diyar Bakr and al-Jazira

دخول التتر ديار بكر والجزيرة

c. 1231 CE · 628 AH

In 628, after Jalal al-Din ibn Khwarazm-shah was routed by the Mongols at Amid, they plundered the countryside of Amid, Arzan and Mayyafariqin, then marched on the city of Sa'ird. Its people fought them until they were granted safe-conduct; they trusted and surrendered, and once the Mongols had them in their power they put them to the sword. Ibn al-Athir reports from a merchant that the dead were estimated at more than fifteen thousand. They did the same at Tanza, then went to the valley of al-Qurayshiyya, where a Kurdish group called the Qurayshiyya fought them, repelled them and held their ground, so the Mongols turned back without reaching their aim. They then marched unopposed to Mardin and plundered its countryside, while its people sheltered in the citadel; to Nusaybin of al-Jazira, where they stayed part of a day, plundered its environs and withdrew; to the mountains of Sinjar, the Khabur and 'Arabanan; and to the village of al-Mu'nisa, a day's march from Nusaybin on the way to Mosul, whose people took refuge in an inn, and the Mongols killed everyone in it. Ibn al-Athir also tells of a man who hid in a room full of straw and watched through a window: when they wished to kill someone, the victim said 'la billah' ('no, by God') and they killed him anyway. Later he saw them playing on horseback, laughing and singing in their own language, 'la billah'. He tells too of a man with seventeen companions who was met by a Mongol horseman ordering them to bind one another; none dared kill his companion until the man took a knife and killed him, and they escaped. They then went to Bidlis and burned the city after its people had fortified themselves in the citadel and the mountains; to Bakri, in the districts of Khilat, one of the strongest places, which they took by storm, killing all within; and to Arjish, where they did likewise in Dhu'l-Hijja. A group came from Azerbaijan into the districts of Irbil and on the way killed Turkmen of the Ayvā'iyya, Kurds and al-Jawzaqan, plundering the villages until they entered the land of Irbil. Muzaffar al-Din, lord of Irbil, marched out with his troops, seeking reinforcement from Mosul's forces; when he learned they had gone back to Azerbaijan, he stayed put and did not pursue them. The Mongols reached al-Karkhini and Daquqa and returned safely, no one having frightened them ¹.