This excerpt is taken from Sheikh Hafiz Mubashir Hussain Lahori's book Signs of the Day of Judgment in the Light of Authentic Hadiths.
Sign of the Day of Judgment: War with the Turks
عن عمرو بن تغلب رضى الله عنه قال سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول : من أشراط الساعة أن تقاتلوا قوما نعالهم الشعر أو ينتعلون الشعر وإن من أشراط الساعة أن تقاتلوا قوما عراض الوجوه كأن وجوههم المجان المطرقة
Hazrat Amr bin Taghlib (RA) narrates that he heard the Noble Prophet (PBUH) say: "Among the signs of the Day of Judgment is that you will fight a nation whose shoes will be hairy. It is also among the signs of the Day of Judgment that you will fight a nation whose faces will be broad, as if they are layered shields (thick or beaten)."
Reference: Ahmad (94/5) Bukhari: Book of Jihad: Chapter on Fighting the Turks (2927) Abu Dawood (4303) Ibn Majah (406/2) Sunan Kubra (179/9) Muslim (2912)
عن أبى هريرة رضى الله عنه قال قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : لا تقوم الساعة حتى تقاتلوا الترك صغار العيون ، حمر الوجوه خلاف الأنوف كأن وجوههم المجان المطرقة
It is narrated from Hazrat Abu Huraira (RA) that the Noble Prophet (PBUH) said: "Before the Day of Judgment is established, you will fight the Turkic nation who have small eyes, flat noses, and red faces, as if their faces are some kind of shields."
Reference: Ahmad (421/2) Bukhari (2928) Muslim (2912) Abu Dawood (4303) Sharh al-Sunnah (425/7) Ibn Hibban (360/8) Musannaf Abdul Razzaq (375/11)
It is narrated from Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) that the Noble Prophet (PBUH) said: "Some people of my Ummah will settle in a lowland place and name it Basra. This place will be near a river called Tigris. There will also be a bridge over it. It will be a large and densely populated city of Muslims. When the last era comes, the descendants of Qatoura will come, whose faces will be broad, eyes small, and they will camp by the riverbank. The people of Basra will be divided into three groups. One group will hold the tails of oxen and head towards the forest but will be destroyed. The second group will seek safety from the descendants of Qatoura but will also perish. The third group will fight with their children behind them and will attain martyrdom."
In one narration, it is said that one group will seek safety and become apostates, and another group will fight whose killed are martyrs and the survivors will be victorious.
Reference: Ahmad (54/5 - 60) Abu Dawood (4306) Mawarid al-Zaman (1873)
It is narrated from a companion (Abu Imamah bin Sahl Ansari RA) that the Noble Prophet (PBUH) said: "Do not provoke the Abyssinians and Turks until they provoke you."
Reference: Abu Dawood: Book of Jihad (4302) Ahmad (461/5) Majma' al-Zawa'id (551/5) Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah (402/2)
It is narrated from Hazrat Abu Huraira (RA) that the Noble Prophet (PBUH) said: "The Day of Judgment will not be established until you fight the cities of the non-Arabs, Khuz and the people of Kerman. Their faces will be red, noses flat, eyes small, and their faces will be like layered shields, and their shoes will be hairy."
Reference: Bukhari: Book of Virtues: Chapter on Signs of Prophethood (3590)
Benefits:
(1) Fighting the Turks is a sign of the Day of Judgment, which has already appeared.
(2) The Prophet (PBUH) mentioned some clear characteristics of them: "Small eyes, flat nose, red and broad (or thick) faces."
(3) The Turks are also called Banu Qatoura. Qatoura was a slave woman of Ibrahim (AS) from whom this lineage descended.
(4) The Turkish regions lie between Eastern Khorasan, western China, and northern India.
Reference: Al-Nihayah (153/10) Mu'jam al-Buldan (23/2)
(5) According to historical narrations, from the descendants of Yafith, son of Prophet Noah (AS), a person named Turk was born whose descendants spread in the eastern lands (Mongolia, China, Gobi Desert) and were called Turks. Among the Turks, descendants of Turk bin Yafith bin Noah, there was a person named Al-Najah Khan who had two sons named Mongol and Tatar. From these two, the Mongol and Tatar nations emerged, and thus in history, they were known by various names such as Turk, Mongol, Tatar, Turkmen, etc.
(6) Among the tribes descended from Turk bin Yafith, one tribe known as Seljuki was the first to accept Islam.
(7) These tribes lived a wild life deprived of the subtleties of nature in barren deserts, mountains, and forests, eating dogs, cats, and all kinds of animals' meat, moving like nomads from place to place, often fighting among themselves. In the 6th century Hijri, these people appeared as Tatars, bringing slaughter, destruction, and devastation across the Islamic world like a locust swarm, spreading from east to west. Millions were killed by them, thousands of cities were reduced to rubble, and great empires were destroyed.
In 654 AH (1256 AD), Genghis Khan was born whose real name was Temujin. His father was a chief, but when Temujin was only twelve years old, his father died, and other chiefs denied his leadership. However, Genghis Khan used courage, patience, and bravery to face the situation and forced all tribal chiefs to obey him. After consolidating his position, he plundered surrounding areas, conquered all of China, and laid the foundation of the great Tatar empire.
The region of Turkestan was under the rule of Sultan Alauddin Khwarazm Shah, a very submissive ruler. Genghis Khan had not yet targeted Islamic lands for conquest but had established trade relations with Khwarazm Shah by agreement. However, a tragic incident changed the situation. A Tatar caravan passed through Khwarazm Shah's territory, and the governor of Utrar suspected them as spies, arrested them, and with Khwarazm Shah's permission, killed them and looted their goods. When Genghis Khan learned of this, he sent envoys to Khwarazm Shah demanding retribution and compensation, but the Shah foolishly killed the envoys. Filled with the desire for revenge, Genghis Khan turned towards Turkestan, capturing historic cities like Herat, Balkh, Bukhara, Samarkand, destroying them completely, and killing thousands and millions to quench his wrath. After Khwarazm Shah's death, his son Jalaluddin came to power but was unable to stop the Tatar invasion, so he left his kingdom and fled to India. The Tatars took advantage of the opportunity, destroyed Ghazni and Ghor, and trampled Central Asia, Khorasan, Persia, Azerbaijan, reaching as far as Russia. During this time, Genghis Khan died, followed by his son Ogedei Khan and then his grandson Mongke Khan ascending the throne. Meanwhile, the Abbasid Caliphate was ruled by Caliph Al-Mustasim. Mongke's brother, Khan Salah Shams al-Din Bukhari, had embraced Islam, so the Tatars did not attack Baghdad because every Khan had pledged allegiance to Al-Mustasim. During this period, the Ismailis were oppressing people in Iraq, so Mongke Khan appointed his brother Hulagu Khan as the ruler of Iran to establish peace in Iraq. Hulagu Khan defeated the Batiniyya and captured the fortress of Alamut, and after Mongke Khan's death, he was appointed his successor.
The Abbasid Caliphate had become no more than a flickering lamp due to continuous incompetent and ineffective rulers, losing its glory and power. When Hulagu Khan was planning the destruction of Baghdad, the incompetent Caliph Al-Mustasim was on the throne, uninterested in governance, delegating all powers to his minister Ibn al-Alqami, who betrayed the Muslims and invited Hulagu Khan to attack Baghdad. The Muslim community was divided, fragmented into sects and groups, engaged in religious disputes and conflicts between Shia, Sunni, and Hanafi factions, preoccupied with minor issues, bloodthirsty against each other, unaware of the great dangers ahead and unprepared to confront them.
Moreover, during Al-Mustansir's reign, a strong army was prepared to repel the Tatar invasion, but Ibn al-Alqami advised Caliph Al-Mustasim that the expenses of such a large army could not be met by the state's income, so the useless army should be disbanded. The incompetent Caliph unconditionally followed this advice, breaking up a large part of the Baghdad army, and the remaining soldiers were paid not from the treasury but by collecting taxes from the citizens, creating animosity between the people and the army.
Hulagu Khan took advantage of these circumstances as a golden opportunity and invaded Baghdad. Ibn al-Alqami had disbanded most of the army through conspiracy. The remaining army could not resist the Tatar locust army for long and surrendered, thinking it was better to lay down arms. However, the Tatars entered the city and mercilessly massacred children, elderly, women, and men, looted the city, burned buildings, schools, and libraries to ashes, and threw them into the Tigris River. Piles of corpses and towers of heads were made. Millions of Muslims were killed, turning the Tigris River red with blood. Baghdad, once a cradle of civilization, knowledge, and arts, was left with nothing but human corpses, rubble, and burnt ashes, with destruction and devastation everywhere. All traces of Muslim greatness were erased, and Baghdad lost its importance forever. The destruction of Baghdad was a great tragedy that caused waves of grief and sorrow throughout the Islamic world.
With the killing of Caliph Al-Mustasim and the fall of Baghdad, the central Muslim Caliphate ended. Although some autonomous and semi-autonomous Muslim states remained in various parts of the world, the central Caliphate was absent for nearly four decades, until in 699 AH the Caliphate was established under the Ottomans.
It is also a strange decree of fate that people from Genghis Khan's lineage embraced Islam, and those same people who had destroyed Islam and Muslims also served Islam. As the poet says:
The mischief of the Tatars is evident from the tale,
Guardians came to the Kaaba from the idol houses.
Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes in the events of 694 AH that "In this year, Ghazan, the great-grandson of Genghis Khan and king of the Tatars, openly accepted Islam through Amir Nuzun, and most of the Tatars also embraced Islam. Ghazan took the Islamic name Mahmood, attended Friday sermons, destroyed idol temples, imposed jizya on them, returned the looted goods to other regions, and established justice and fairness. When people saw rosaries in the hands of the Tatars, they thanked Allah for His grace and favor."
Reference: Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya
