Ain Jalut and Baibars (1260-1277)

Part oneA letter from Hulagu

By 1260 the Mongol empire had split into four parts: the Yuan in China and Mongolia, the Chagatai khanate in Central Asia, the Golden Horde in the west, and the Ilkhanate of Hulagu in Iran and the Middle East. Hulagu had taken Baghdad, Aleppo and Damascus. Egypt was next.

His envoys reached Cairo with a letter for Qutuz. It reminded him of what had happened to other lands and told him to submit. The Mongol horses were swift, it said, their arrows sharp and their soldiers as many as the sand, and no fortress would stop them. Only those who begged for protection would be safe.

Qutuz called a council of commanders, ministers and scholars. Many of the princes were afraid and held back. Qutuz told them they had lived for years on the public treasury and now shrank from the enemy. He would go forward, and whoever wanted to fight could come with him, and whoever did not could go home, since God was watching. Then he wept and asked who would defend Islam if they did not. The princes agreed to fight.

Qutuz had the envoys put to death, an act that shocked many, since the Mongols held envoys to be untouchable, and it closed any road to surrender. He sent Hulagu a reply of his own, ending with the words "We flee from disgrace, not from death."

Part twoThe battle at the Spring of Goliath

The moment favoured Egypt. The Great Khan Mongke had died in 1259, and a struggle for the throne began among his brothers. Hulagu took the main part of his army back toward the east, and left his general Kitbuqa in Syria with a force that most accounts put at around 20,000 men. Qutuz raised an army of about the same size. The Frankish lords of the coast, who had been courted by both sides, decided the Mongols were the greater danger, stayed neutral and let the Mamluk army pass through their lands.

Qutuz chose the ground with care. The Mongols were almost unbeatable on open plains, so he chose Ain Jalut in Palestine, the Spring of Goliath, a valley hemmed in by hills. Its name recalled the place where David was believed to have defeated Goliath. Qutuz hid the main army among the trees and slopes on both sides. Baibars, who knew the ground from earlier years, took a smaller force into the valley as bait.

On 3 September 1260 Kitbuqa led his army into the valley. Baibars fought and fell back, again and again, drawing the Mongols deeper, using the same trick of the false retreat that the Mongols themselves had mastered. When the moment came Qutuz gave the signal, and Mamluk horsemen came down on both flanks. The Mongols fought bravely and broke the Mamluk left wing. Qutuz saw his line waver. He took off his helmet so his men could see his face, and charged. One account says he cried out "Wa Islamah", "O Islam!", and prayed for victory. The Mamluks rallied around their sultan. Kitbuqa was killed, and the Mongol army broke.

Damascus fell to the Mamluks five days later, and Aleppo within a month. For the first time the Mongols had been decisively beaten in the open field.

From the Quran

فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِٱلْجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مُبْتَلِيكُم بِنَهَرٍ فَمَن شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّى وَمَن لَّمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُۥ مِنِّىٓ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةًۢ بِيَدِهِۦ ۚ فَشَرِبُوا۟ مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنْهُمْ ۚ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُۥ هُوَ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ قَالُوا۟ لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا ٱلْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ ۚ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ ٱللَّهِ كَم مِّن فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةًۢ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ۝٢٤٩ وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا۟ لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ قَالُوا۟ رَبَّنَآ أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ ۝٢٥٠ فَهَزَمُوهُم بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ دَاوُۥدُ جَالُوتَ وَءَاتَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُلْكَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُۥ مِمَّا يَشَآءُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلنَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّفَسَدَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ۝٢٥١

²⁴⁹When Saul marched forth with his army, he cautioned: “Allah will test you with a river. So whoever drinks ˹his fill˺ from it is not with me, and whoever does not taste it—except a sip from the hollow of his hands—is definitely with me.” They all drank ˹their fill˺ except for a few! When he and the ˹remaining˺ faithful with him crossed the river, they said, “Now we are no match for Goliath and his warriors.” But those ˹believers˺ who were certain they would meet Allah reasoned, “How many times has a small force vanquished a mighty army by the Will of Allah! And Allah is ˹always˺ with the steadfast.” ²⁵⁰When they advanced to face Goliath and his warriors, they prayed, “Our Lord! Shower us with perseverance, make our steps firm, and give us victory over the disbelieving people.” ²⁵¹So they defeated them by Allah’s Will, and David killed Goliath. And Allah blessed David with kingship and wisdom and taught him what He willed. Had Allah not repelled a group of people by ˹the might of˺ another, corruption would have dominated the earth, but Allah is Gracious to all.

Part threeBaibars builds a state

Qutuz did not live to rule in peace. About seven weeks after the battle, on the road back to Cairo, he was killed during a hunt. Most accounts name Baibars among the killers. Qutuz is said to have promised him Aleppo before the battle and then gone back on it. Baibars became sultan, and he ruled from 1260 to 1277.

He is often called the true founder of the Mamluk state. He joined Egypt and Syria into one realm and enlarged the army and the navy. He repaired castles and roads and improved the old postal service with relays of horses and carrier pigeons, so that news crossed from Syria to Cairo in days. He fought the Ilkhanate in the east and took fortress after fortress from the Franks on the coast. In 1262 he set up a member of the Abbasid family who had escaped the fall of Baghdad, al-Hakim I, as caliph in Cairo, and the Abbasid line of caliphs there lasted until 1517.

Baibars also found a Mongol ally. Berke, khan of the Golden Horde, had become a Muslim and was at war with his cousin Hulagu. When Baibars heard of it he wrote to Berke, welcoming him into Islam and urging him on, and Berke sent back letters declaring his loyalty to the faith. Baibars was himself a Kipchak from Berke's lands. The war between the two Mongol cousins kept Hulagu from ever taking his revenge for Ain Jalut. In Egypt and Syria Baibars is still remembered as a hero, sometimes called a second Salahuddin.

In a valley named for Goliath, a former slave halted the army that had taken Baghdad.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Hikma HistoryBattle of Ain Jalut: Death of Mongol Invincibility (1260) (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Cairo
• Gaza
• Acre
• Ain Jalut
• Damascus
• Aleppo

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter