﻿Herat, one of the great cities of Khurasan, found itself surrounded
by a Mongol army in early 1221. The morale of Herat’s defenders was
boosted by the energetic and charismatic presence of the Qadi, Wahid al-Din Bushanji. Everyday he
walked a circuit of the walls in armour and flanked by fierce ghazis, encouraging the
Herati to resist. Until on one of these circuits, he lost his footing and tumbled over the walls.
Bruised but unharmed, he landed in the ditch below the parapet, with nothing between him and
50,000 troops of the Khan. But fortune smiled upon the Qadi.
His fall and survival caught the eye of the Mongol commander, who ordered the Qadi brought to him.
Carried to the commander’s ger, the Qadi found this was no mere general, but Prince Tolui,
the fourth son of Mongol Emperor Chinggis Khan. Tolui asked his men to check the Qadi
for injuries, and found none. Through his interpreter, Tolui asked:
“What person art thou— of the race of Adam, or a pari, a demon, or an angel,
or dost thou hold a charm bearing the names of the Ulugh Tingri? Speak truly, how it is.”
The Qadi bowed his head as he answered. “I am an unfortunate man of the learned class,
and one of those who blesses or prays; but I had one thing with me.”
To which Tolui asked, “what hadst thou with thee?”
And the Qadi responded,“the sight of a sovereign like thee had fallen upon me,
and through the felicity thereof, I remained in safety.”
An intelligent man, the Qadi recognized flattery as his best chance of survival. And Tolui looked
favourably on his answer, commanding that: “This person is a sagacious man, and wise,
and may be qualified for the service of my father, Chinggis Khan. It is necessary
that ye take care of him in order that he may be conducted to his presence.”
The Qadi remained in Tolui’s service as he took the submission of Herat.
In a few months, Mongol forces returned to this city to crush it for rebelling.
But for now, Tolui took the Qadi with him to meet his father. In the summer of 1221, they met
Chinggis Khan at the besieged fortress of Talkan. Tolui told his father of this remarkable judge,
blessed by Eternal Tengri to survive a fall from the walls of Herat. Always eager to have men of
knowledge and heavenly connection in his service, Chinggis Khan brought the Qadi into his court.
Chinggis apparently showed favour to him, consulting him as an adviser, and interrogating
him, asking of the Kings of Iran past and present, and of the traditions of the prophets.
Of the Prophet Muhammad, Chinggis asked through his interpreter:
“Did Muhammad foretell aught respecting my rise and sway?”
The Qadi spoke of the hadith which were said to prophesize the arrival of the Turks and Mongols.
Chinggis indicated he appreciated the answer: “My heart bears evidence
that thou speakest the truth.” Chinggis Khan often complained of the
late Khwarezm-shah Muhammad, calling him Muhammad Aghri, Muhmmad the Robber. “The Khwarezm Shah was
not a monarch: he was a robber. Had he been a monarch he would not have slain
my envoys and traders who had come to Otrar, for kings should not slay ambassadors.”
One day in his discussions with the Qadi, Chinggis inquired whether his legacy would
be great, for taking his vengeance on Muhammad Khwarezm-shah. “Will not a mighty name remain
behind me?” he asked the Qadi. The Qadi, with his head bowed, replied
“If the Khan will promise the safety of my life, I will make a remark.”
“I have promised thee its security.” spoke the Khan.
Taking a breath, the Qadi spoke: “A name continues to endure where there are people,
but how will a name endure when the Khan’s servants martyr all the people and massacre them,
for who will remain to tell the tale?” Upon this, Chinggis threw his bow and
arrow to the ground, and turned away from the Qadi. The Qadi stood still,
preparing himself for what he believed was certain death for angering the Khan.
After a minute, Chinggis turned his head back, and said: “I used to consider thee a sagacious
and prudent man, but, from this speech of thine, it has become evident to me that thou dost not
possess complete understanding, and that thy comprehension is but small. There are many
kings in the world, and, wherever the hoofs of the horses of Muhammad, the Aghri, have reached, there
I will carry slaughter and cause devastation. The remaining people who are in other parts of
the world, and the sovereigns of other kingdoms that are, they will relate my history.”
No favour remained for the Qadi in the Mongol court. At his first opportunity, he fled,
making his way to Ka’in, in Quhistan, which had been spared the ravages of the Mongol army.
It was there in 1225, that he told this story to Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani,
who recorded it for us. DISCUSSION
The section we have just listened to was written down by Juzjani in the 1250s, after he fled to the
Delhi Sultanate in India. While I have adapted it, the quotes are directly from the text, and I will
share the full excerpt below. He tells us that he learned this story directly from the Qadi himself.
If Juzjani is true in this statement, and the Qadi in his tale, then he has recorded
one of the few stories of an individual who personally met with Chinggis Khan.
Juzjani was a Khwarezmian refugee who fled the Mongol invasion, and was a man with no love
for the Mongols and Chinggis Khan in particular, who throughout his work he calls “the accursed.”
Juzjani loved a good rumour about the Khan; for instance he gives us a very detailed story of
Chinggis conspiring to murder his eldest son, Jochi, and his version of Chinggis Khan’s death
is simply fanciful. At a glance, it might feel easy to dismiss this story of Juzjani as another
rumour. But a few things are important to keep in mind here: first of all, aside from his flourish
for the dramatic and the odd rumour, Juzjani was actually rather well-informed on things.
His accounts of the routes of the Mongol conquest of Khwarezm and Jebe and Subedei’s pursuit of
Khwarezm-shah Muhammad are rather accurate; he even notes that he had heard rumours that Jebe
and Subedei had crossed the Caucasus into the steppes, but was unsure of the veracity of this.
Of course, we know this to be true. His description of the siege of Baghdad is also
quite accurate and up-to-date. His report of the details of Berke Khan’s conversion to Islam are
also supported by later sources, and not merely wishful thinking on his part—though he certainly
has a few other claims about Khans secretly being Muslims which are less reliable. Juzjani had a
very strong, and understandable bias against the Mongols, but he’s not easily disregarded.
Furthermore, specifically naming the Qadi, an Islamic judge, also seems to reflect a true
encounter. But the internal details are also quite good; Tolui did return to his father at Taliqan
after taking the first submission of Herat. And what we are told of Chinggis’ personality
seems to align well; we know Chinggis looked for men singled out for their heavenly connections,
but also their luck, knowledge and courage. Hence the favouritism he showed to the Daoist Master Qiu
Chuji, who travelled from China to meet Chinggis Khan shortly after the Qadi met him. Like with the
Qadi, Chinggis asked hard questions of the Daoist, and never responded to him with violence.
The distaste regarding Muhammad Khwarezm-shah is also well borne out by what we know of Chinggis
and the Mongols; by the time they wrote the Secret History of the Mongols likely in 1252,
Muhammad Khwarezm-shah had been written out of the story altogether, replaced by his more
courageous son Jalal al-Din. And Chinggis asking about the kings, past and present,
of Iran fits in well with nomadic leaders seeking information on their neighbours.
Other travellers to Mongol lands experienced similar interrogations, as did Ibn Khaldun
in his meeting with Emir Temur. Perhaps the biggest reason I suspect this is authentic,
is that knowing Juzjani, if he was to fabricate an encounter with Chinggis Khan,
he would have made him look much worse like he does in his other chapters, and would
have made him more violent; have him threaten to kill the Qadi, or physically punish him,
or make Chinggis secretly a Muslim. But he does none of these things; instead, he leaves us with a
plausible encounter, a rather more human depiction of the Khan than in Juzjani’s other chapters.
Thus, this may reflect an actual, direct interaction with Chinggis Khan;
and unlike other accounts, such as the biography of Qiu Chuji and his journey, or the Secret
History of the Mongols, it isn’t coloured by a need to glorify the Khan or the interaction.
I am interested in this actual line-of-connection with Chinggis Khan, as Juzjani also gives one of
the only descriptions of Chinggis’ physical appearance. If the Qadi story is authentic,
then presumably he was also the source for this. But we’ll talk about that more in a
future video on what the sources say about the khan’s appearance.