LIBERALITY

In the Mongol empire religious orders generally thrived. The Mongols were known for their liberality as regards the faiths of those under their rule, and the treatment of clerics and divines who fell into their hands was usually respectful. The Mongols did not adhere to any one particular faith, and in later years though different faiths had officially been proclaimed in the main Mongol states, religion was not the basis of hostilities even though occasionally used as an excuse. Within and without their frontiers the Mongol rulers adapted a laissez-faire attitude to people's beliefs. However, this attitude may not have been entirely altruistic. The Mongols were probably hedging their bets and playing spiritually safe. In addition to this liberal attitude, it was the wish of the Great Khan that all his subjects should pray for him and his well-being, and to this end the Mongol rulers courted the religious classes. The Mongols were determined to keep the goodwill of whatever god was ruling in the heavens. As a result of this policy, Islamic judges, clerics, and foundations; Christian priests and monks; and Buddhist lamas and monks were all exempted from forced labor and taxes.

Evidence of the Mongols' special regard for religion was evident from the early years of conquest. During Chinggis Khan's devastating advance on the Islamic lands of central Asia in 1218-22, he halted outside the gates of Khwarazm not only to give the traditional Mongol, spine-chilling ultimatum to the citizens of the besieged city but also to offer safe passage to the Sufi leader, Sheikh Najm al-Din Kobra [1145-1221], whose name and reputation were well known to the Great Khan. The holy man declined the offer, however, though he did accept safe passage for 70 of his disciples,

"I have lived for seventy years in Khwarazm with these people through both bitter and sweet times and now a time of calamity has befallen [us]. If I were to flee and go from amongst them, such behaviour would be far from [the spirit of] manly honour and magnanimity." Subsequently, after much searching, his body was found amongst the slain.'

This was not an exception but the rule. Thirty years later his grandson, Hiilegii, stood before the gates of the Islamic capital, Baghdad, and openly worried about the consequences of the actions he was then contemplating. In the end, on the advice of his Islamic advisor and spokesman, Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-74), he had arrows shot into the besieged city offering safe conduct to various groups but with clerics of different creeds included prominently. "The class of snyyids [supposed descendants of the Prophet's family], ddnishmands [for Mongols this meant Muslim clerics], erke'iin [Christian priests], sheikhs [well-respected community leaders, often clerics] and such as are not fighting us are safe from us."-