230 chapter six
1963). This marked the influence of the Turkish Saljuqs, which was
the beginning of the sweeping Turkish influence in Islamic history
for centuries to come.
The Collapse and Restoration of the Caliphate
The final blow to the weak Islamic caliphate came at the hands of
the Mongols, whose destructive waves created havoc in the Islamic
world. History books are full of examples of their brutality, destruc-
tion and devastation of any sign of culture. In 1258 the caliph with
his few hundred officials met the Mongol commander Hulagu in an
unconditional surrender, but they were all put to the sword. In Syria,
Hulagu’s progress was eventually halted. His army was destroyed in
1260 by Baybars, the Mamlùk Egyptian commander.
But it was the Ottoman Turks, kinsmen of the Mongols, who were
to restore the past military glory of Islam and reinstate the Islamic
caliphate. In 1516 the Ottoman Turk leader Salim revived the
caliphate to a person who, supposedly, was the last in line of the
Abbasìd caliphs (ibid.). Under the name of al-Mùtawakkil, this pre-
viously unnoticed person became the first restored caliph.
Intellectual Diversity
The intellectual environment that surrounded the writing on Islamic
economics during that period had three distinctive influential factors:
the spread of Islamic religio-political philosophy, the increasing inter-
est in the critique of the Greek philosophy, the development of the
Islamic juridical philosophy, and the separate movements in the Islamic
state. While the first three factors have been highlighted above, the
effect of the last factor needs a further examination.
Had the separate political movements in the Abbasìd caliphate
affected the intellectual development in the Islamic land? And if it
had, was the effect favourable or unfavourable?
Although it is difficult to generalize, it can be said that, with very
few exceptions, the intellectual development, surprisingly, witnessed
further progress under the separate dynastic movements that led to
the dismemberment of the caliphate. This, of what seems to be an
interesting result, is in contrast to what could be expected.