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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Hardly ever has Islam survived a more disastrous and more mournful event than the destruction of Baghdād by the Mongols of Hūlāghū Khān in the middle of the month of al-Muharram of the year 656/January, 1258. The Mongol conqueror, after having subdued the Assassins, turned against the capital of the ‘Abbāsids and captured it without any resistance. The fall of the ‘Abbāsid caliphate was followed by a veritable reign of terror which lasted for forty days. Baghdad was plundered during this dismal period, its entire population was massacred mercilessly with the exception of the Christians, the co-religionists of Hūlāghū Khān's wife and father. The Caliph al-Musta'ṣim and his sons fell victims to the fury of the enraged conqueror, who put them to death. And to complete the disaster, a great conflagration destroyed many parts of the city.
page 41 note 1 For the details see Strange, G. Le, Baghdād during the ‘Abbāsid Caliphate, Oxford-London, 1900, p. 343.Google Scholar
page 41 note 2 See Strange, Le, op. cit., p. 340.Google Scholar
page 41 note 3 As for Persian literature, the following historical works contain narratives of this event: (1) The Ṭabaqāt an-Nāṣirī, written shortly after 656/1258, is a contemporary authority on the times of Hūlāghū; (2) the Jāmi‘ at-tawārīkh, Rashīdaddīn's well-known work, finished in 710/13107ndash;11, provides a fairly clear account of the siege operations; (3) the history of Wassaf, the historiographer of Ghazan, the Ilkhan of Persia, written in 700/1300–1, contains only the data related also by Rashldaddln. See Strange, Le, op. cit., pp. 340–1.Google Scholar
page 42 note 1 See the edition of Ahlwardt, W., Gotha-Göttingen, 1860, pp. 383–8.Google Scholar
page 42 note 2 See Strange, Le, op. cit., p. 343, note.Google Scholar
page 42 note 3 Seemypaper, ‘The Ta'rīkh al-islīm of adh-Dhahabī, ,’ JRAS., 1932, pp. 815–855.Google Scholar
page 42 note 4 See the MS. of the Bodleian Library (Ury), No. 654, fols. 248–250, under the title Kā'ina Baghdād.
page 42 note 5 See the edition of Būlāq, A.H. 1299, vol. i, pp. 12–14.
page 42 note 6 See the Mukhtasar ta'rīkh al-baskar of Abulfidā, printed at Istanbul 1286, vol. iii, pp. 204–5, according to which an-Nāṣir Dā'ud, the son of al-Malik al-Mu'ażżam, died on 27 Jumādā'1-Ūlā, 656/2 June, 1258.
page 42 note 7 See the edition of Wüstenfeld, xxi, 3.
page 43 note 1 See his “Beiträge zur arabischen Literaturgeschichte”, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Leipzig, 1932, p. 70.Google Scholar
page 43 note 2 I have to thank the obliging courtesy of the direction of the Archaeologisches Institut des Deutschen Reiches, Abteilung Istanbul, which has been so kind as to have the poem photographed from the MS. of the Aya-Sophia library and to obtain for this purpose a special permit from the Ministry of Public Instruction at Ankara. The photograph is reproduced in the accompanying plate.
page 43 note 3 In the MS. of the Bodleian Library 
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page 44 note 1 MS. 
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page 44 note 2 MS.
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page 44 note 3 Ibid.
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page 44 note 4 Ibid.
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page 44 note 5 Ibid.
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page 44 note 6 Sic!
page 44 note 7 MS. BOdl. 
page 45 note 1 Baghdād, said to be so called because one of its inner gates was set askew (izwarrat—so Qāmūs, s.v., but for other explanations see Le Strange, Baghdād, p. 11).
page 45 note 2 The zunnār, or cord waistband, was one of the distinguishing marks of Jews and Christians.
page 45 note 3 A quarter of Baghdad near the Bāb Badr; Strange, Le, op. cit., pp. 270–2.Google Scholar
page 46 note 1 See Goldziher, , Bemerkungen zur arabischen Trauerpoesie, Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. xvi, 1902, pp. 307–311.Google Scholar
page 47 note 1 Ibid., pp. 327–330, where we read that according to Ibn Rashīq in his ‘Umda fī maḥāsin ash-shi'r, he could not find any nasībs in the marathi with the exception of a qaṣāda by Durayd ibn as-Simma. But even this exception is explained by the circumstance that this poem was written one year after the death of the lamented person, when the blood-ransom for his sake had been fulfilled already, so that th–14.
page 47 note 2 Ibid., pp. 313–314.
page 47 note 3 Ibid., pp. 314–320.
page 47 note 4 The same wa kam is repeated by Abū Nuwās thirteen times in a qaṣāda (Dīwān, ed. by Cairo, Iskandar Asaf, 1898, p. 140)Google Scholar. See the note in Goldziher, , op. oit., p. 315.Google Scholar
