Chapter 7: The fall of Constantinople, the subsequent mass conversions and the resurgence of an old belief
The news struck like lightning in the camp of the besiegers. Sultan Jabir, the leader of this expedition- adventure to Roman lands was no more. His son, Najib, was quickly called for to replace the power vacancy and the first decision he made was to call off the attack. Already there were mutters that it was bad luck to continue on immediately this fight and some even questioned if it was Kismet to take the Queen of Cities.
“I am so close, yet so far… is it His will for me to claim the city? Let me be the instrument to bring Constantinople under Muslim rule!”
Najib cancelled all this superstition, calling for instead to raid the countryside and capture Thrake and Kaliopolis from the Romans. When the morale was high enough once more, the siege would continue upon Constantinople
And indeed, it did not take long to reinstall the morale and the 2nd Hafsid invasion of Greece lasted a year and 3 months, such was the paralysis of the Roman Empire.
The logical question after the obvious conclusion of the invasion was…what happened in Constantinople? What was the fate of the child Basilissa ?
Sultan Najib entering Constantinople(from Entrée de Mehmed II dans Constantinople, Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B...ry_of_Mahomet_II_into_Constantinople-1876.jpg
The few, apocryphal accounts that escaped the official documentation of the glorious and triumphant annexation of New Rome and the calm transition from one power to another, noted the following : the besiegers were bedazzled with the wealth and opulence that Constantinople harbored. Much pillaging happened in homes, churches , even Hagia Sophia itself. The latter was turned into a Mosque, with the Ecumenical Patriarch handling over his office to the Sultan, rendering Orthodox Christianity headless.
The child Basilissa had fled from the city when the siege was stopped: she took refuge on the last Byzantine holdings in the Caucasian mountains and later on the Italian remnants of the Empire. She did not live for long as pneumonia claimed her life: after her death, the title of the Roman Basileus became “elective” as in who had the most to buy it through elections, eventually passing into the hands of a Karling. In the end though, it was abolished in a strife for power between petty factions.
From then on, to exercise power over the Roman vassals, Sultan Najib called himself also the “Caesar” of the Romans, a title which did not sit too well with the Greek vassals- either converted to Sunni or retaining their Orthodox faith.
With time the population began to accept the new order of things and to evade the jizya tax, they converted to Islam
However an event occurred that would change the map of the Muslim world forever: during his stay in Krete, Sultan Najib and his Court Imam- a relative of the dynasty, discussed about theology. It was then, that the Court Imam presented a book which apparently belonged to an old ancestor of the Hafsid Dynasty, an Emir Umar.
“ I tell you this my Sultan and of my blood, you now have the opportunity to not only become a great worldly ruler, but also to command spiritual highness with this! Truly, how “divine” are the Caliphs who overran the Abbasids? They are just some Bedouin riders who captured the palace and brought their terms at sword point. Can you consider them your spiritual liege? I certainly cannot! For I believe, aside from this opportunity, that the Ibadi faith is closer to my ideas…”
Sultan Najib pondered and rubbed his beard. He was a zealous fighter of Islam, but was he also a zealous fighter of the Sunni faith? For who did he really fight for? He might as well fight for this new faith and inherit to his children both secular and spiritual lordship.
“Yes…let us depose of this usurper Caliph and install the Ibadi in their place!”
Of course, his decision to turn to the Ibadi faith caused an uproar in the Hafsid Sultanate: dubious Muslim vassals reinsured their doubt upon the Sultan and the Romans found the cause to start schismatic demands to their overlord
The Sultan was stronger though and quickly ended this riot. His victories silenced any potential upstart and the Sultan had the advantage to demand for them to follow this new creed, at least in name.
With the rebellions dealt with, Sultan Najib- the Magnanimous Conqueror- had to expand his domain furthermore, as to plant the seed of this new old faith in the most holy of places: Arabia.
And thus he declared an invasion against an underage Emir who ruled most of the area
As the Hafsids signed the peace treaty and Arabia was annexed into the Hafsid Sultanate, Sultan Najin entered in triumph inside the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. As he was upon his horse, inspecting his newly conquered acquisitions, he felt a pain first on his back then on his chest, as if a grip squeezed his heart like a vice. He fell down, the parade ended with haste and..
Of course, an Abbasid wife left, why stay with heretics?
Sultan was now Jabir the second of his name. It was beginning to be murmured that each great conquest was followed with a great loss, particularly with the head of the Hafsid Dynasty…
But as his father before him, he had to prove the world false of this superstition and to place confidence in his rule. Thanks to his father’s conquest of Arabia, and to his maternal heritage, the blood of the Prophet run through him and he was entitled to call himself the Caliph of all Ibadi.
Now with him, the Ibadi faith had a head to lead them and to compete against all the other infidels.
The news of the Ibadi emergence interested the Christian world, and especially the Pope. Not for theological reasons but rather practical ones…the Hafsids were now on their own, with no religious ally to call upon. And so, the Pope called the First Crusade for Greece to commence!
However, it would not last for long. For Sultan Jabir II summoned the Hafsid fleet and made way immediately for Rome, to show the Pope that he would not be trifled with.The Pope,seeing the Hafsid fleet from Rome, was quick to call off the Crusade, bringing shame upon the Catholic world for this turn of events
Court life was no easier and harmonious for the Sultan: for it was rumored his first son could not be chaste and wait for his betrothal to become of age and consume his marriage but rather dallied about with the serving girls of the palace. The Sultan gave him a lesson to remember…
Meanwhile the Court Imam, his kin, and the one who inspired renewed Ibadism, was annoying the Sultan about one decadent imprisoned relative…Sultan Jabir the II was prompt to imprison him, as the Court Imam was also prone to an uprise
The years passed and the Ibadi faith spread among the Hafsid borders. The Sunni Caliph tried to retake back lands belonging to him, but he soon found out that his power was ever waning.
The Sultan and Caliph of the Ibadi, Jabir the II, also kept an eye on his Persian neighbors. One day, he heard that upon his court came a Persian Prince, wishing aid to reclaim the Sultanate of Persia for himself. Caliph Jabir II was quick to comply, he even married his daughter to the Prince on the condition he would renounce Sunni Islam and become Ibadi. The Prince accepted and the Caliph would put a plan in commotion to restore him to power.
Among those years, a new Pope would rise to lead the Catholics. Asking for wider support, he called for the Second Catholic Crusade for Greece, and the liberation of the Romans
The Crusade had mixed victories and defeats, and more Catholics began to show at the Hafsid borders
However, not even the Crusade could keep the Catholics united from their petty infights
Although not in Jabir the II’s lifetime, the 2nd Crusade for Greece failed as well, despite the more organized and numerous support from the Catholics.
In that era though, whatever was pitted against the Hafsids could not stop their even further rise to the heights of glory: in the name of the Ibadi, directly or indirectly one by one the Sunni Muslims fell and converted. Egypt, Africa, Persia all more or less became influenced by Ibadism
To celebrate this event, it was known to the entire world that the Hafsid Sultan and Caliph of the Ibadi was now also Caliph of all the Arabs and Muslims
The peak of the Hafsid Arabian Caliphate stretched from the pillars of Hercules- and Andalusia the old home of the Hafsid renegades – to Mesopotamia and the Red Sea….
The Hafsids were half masters of the Mediterranean!! But beyond glory, power and money, this dizzying effect of supreme rule brought the Hafsid Dynasty in conflict with its traditional values: debauchery, soft life in the palaces and excess of food and drink was frowned upon the temperate populace and religious figures. With the death of the first Caliph of all the Arabs and Ibadi, it was obvious that the Hafsids had grown astray from their humble origins
It would have been intriguing to see if she made a name for herself at the Caliph's court but despite the skills, she didnt make it in the end
