Timur Persian: تیمور‎‎ Timūr, Chagatai: Temür, Uzbek: 'Temur'

AMIR TEMUR

PLAN:

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  1.Early life
  
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  2.Personality
  
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  3.Military leader
  

Timur (Persian: تیمور‎‎ Timūr, Chagatai: Temür, Uzbek: 'Temur'; died 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane^[1] (Persian: تيمور لنگ‎‎ Timūr(-e) Lang, "Timur the Lame"), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia.^[2] He was also the first ruler in the Timurid dynasty.

Born into the Barlas confederation in Transoxiana during the 1320s or 1330s, Timur gained control of the Western Chagatai Khanate by 1370. From that base, he led military campaigns across Western, South,Central Asia, Caucasus and southern Russia and emerged as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating theMamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the declining Delhi Sultanate. From these conquests he founded the Timurid Empire, but the empire fragmented shortly after his death.

Timur is considered the last of the great nomadic conquerors of the Eurasian Steppe, and his empire set the stage for the rise of the more structured and lastingGunpowder Empires in the 1500s and 1600s.^[3][4]:1

Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. "In his formal correspondence Temur continued throughout his life as the restorer of Chinggisid rights. He even justified his Iranian, Mamluk and Ottoman campaigns as a re-imposition of legitimate Mongol control over lands taken by usurpers[.]"^[5] As a means of legitimating his conquests, Timur relied on Islamic symbols and language, referring to himself as the "Sword of Islam" and patronizing educational and religious institutions. He converted nearly all the Borjigin leaders to Islam during his lifetime. "Temur, a non-Chinggisid, tried to build a double legitimacy based on his role as both guardian and restorer of the Mongol Empire."^[6] Timur also decisively defeated the Christian Knights Hospitaller at Smyrna, styling himself a ghazi.^[7]:91 By the end of his reign, Timur had gained complete control over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, and Golden Horde and even attempted to restore the Yuan dynasty.^{[citation needed]}

Timur's armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and were feared throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe,^[7] sizable parts of which were laid waste by his campaigns.^[8] Scholars estimate that his military campaigns caused the deaths of 17 million people, amounting to about 5% of the world population.^[9][10]

He was the grandfather of the renowned Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled parts of South Asia for over three centuries, from 1526 until 1857.^[11][12] Timur is also recognized as a great patron of art and architecture, as he interacted with Muslim intellectuals such as Ibn Khaldun and Hafiz-i Abru.^[7]:341–2

Emir Timur feasts in the gardens of Samarkand.

Timur was born in Transoxiana near the city of Kesh (modern Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan) some 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Samarkand, part of what was then the Chagatai Khanate.^[13] His father, Taraqai, was a minor noble of the Barlas,^[13] who were Mongols^[14][15] that had been Turkified.^[16][17][18]

According to Gérard Chaliand, Timur was a Muslim,^[19] and he saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir.^[19] Though not a Borjigid or a descendent of Genghis Khan,^[20] he clearly sought to invoke the legacy of Genghis Khan's conquests during his lifetime.^[21]

His name Temur means "Iron" in old Turkic languages (Uzbek Temir, Turkish Demir). Both Timur and Demir are popular male names in Turkey today.^{[citation needed]}

Later Timurid dynastic histories claim that he was born on April 8, 1336, but most sources from his lifetime give ages that are consistent with a birthdate in the late 1320s. HistorianBeatrice Forbes Manz suspects the 1336 date was an invention designed to tie Timur to the legacy of Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, the last ruler of the Ilkhanate descended from Hulagu Khan, who died in that year.^[22]

At the age of eight or nine, Timur and his mother and brothers were carried as prisoners to Samarkand by an invading Mongol army. In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle.^[22]:116 In around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries crippled him for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in Khorasan in what is today the Dashti Margo in southwest Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the names of Timur the Lame and Tamerlane by Europeans.^[7]:31

Timur was a Muslim, possibly belonging to the Naqshbandi school of Sufism, which was influential in Transoxiana.^[23] However, his chief official religious counsellor and adviser was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Baraka, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e-Amir.^[24][25][26] Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Alid" stance. Despite this, Timur was noted for attacking the Shia with Sunni apologism.^[27]


Timur facial reconstruction from skull

Timur is regarded as a military genius and a tactician, with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligent – not only intuitively but also intellectually.^[4]:16 In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars, was able to learn the Persian, Mongolian, and Turkic languages.^[7]:9 More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the law and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims.^[7]