Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization

by Reza Aslan

In 1258, the Mongol army, led by Genghis’s grandson Hülegü Khan, arrived at the gates of Baghdad. As per Mongol custom, Hülegü sent an emissary to the Abbasid caliph, al-Mustasim, giving him the option of laying down his arms and surrendering the city. When the caliph refused, Hülegü’s army forced its way through Baghdad’s fortified walls and unleashed a brutal punishment upon its inhabitants. The Mongols burned everything. The books in the Library of Baghdad were flung into the Tigris, turning the waters black with ink. Al-Mustasim’s family was massacred, down to the last child. The caliph himself was wrapped in a rug and kicked to death. No one was spared. Hülegü’s army rounded up Baghdad’s scholars, scribes, and artisans and chopped off their heads. The bodies they left to be picked clean by the birds. The heads they piled into a giant pyramid in the center of the city. The stench of decay carried for miles. By the time the Mongols’ thirst for blood had been sated, Baghdad had been practically depopulated.