Did the Mongols Destroy Islam?
The end of the Islamic Golden Age
The end of the Islamic Golden Age is a complicated series of events, as it is difficult to pinpoint the impacts each factor had on the decline of Islam in the 13th century. The most common explanation is the Fall of Baghdad at the hands of the Mongols, but this is a simplification, as it blatantly ignores the events that occurred before and after the sack. On the flip side of the coin, the impacts of the Mongol Invasions on Islam cannot be underestimated, as cities were burned and it marked the final nail in the coffin for the Islamic Golden Age in the East. Subsequently, this sequel to our two-part series aims to explore the decline of Islam and the aftermath of the Mongol Invasions that symbolically destroyed the famed Golden Age.
Organization
An issue that constantly occurred during the research process was the sheer size of the Islamic World. Furthermore, the notion of a “Golden Age” itself is a mere umbrella term that generally covers the time period from the 8th to 13th century, but it must be noted that each piece of the Islamic World had different experiences at the same time. To highlight the true enormity of the Islamic World, Muslim Spain could have been in an age of culture and learning while cities in Persia and Iraq could have been burning to the ground.
