The Seljuk Turks

They represent the new Islamic power replacing the Ghaznawids in Khurasan and the Islamic east and supplying Islam with new blood that helped in its steadfastness and victory and spread to the Byzantine lands. Prior to their arrival the Abbasid Caliphate was unable to safeguard its borders because of its conflict with the Fatimid caliphate in Cairo. The Byzantine state took this opportunity to attack the Islamic borders adjacent to it and to penetrate northern Syria and Al Jazira. Fortunately, the new Turkish power came in time to rescue the Abbasid Caliphate from imminent collapse when in 463 A.H. (1071 A.D.). Sultan Alp Arslan, leader of the Seljuk armies, scored a decisive victory over the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes and took him a prisoner in the battle of Manzikert on the upper Euphrates, to the north of Lake Van near Armenia. It is reported that Tughrel, the Sultan of the Seljuks, wrote to the Abbasid Caliph Al Ka'em Bi Amri-Allah expressing his allegiance and re-affirming his wish to raise the banner of Islam and to exalt the word of Allah by spreading Islam westward.

The Abbasid Caliph endorsed him in 432 A.H./1040 A.D. as a Sultan on the Seljuks, thus giving the young Seljuk state legitimacy and evoked its religious zeal in fighting the Byzantines and restoring the lands they had previously occupied in Armenia and Anatolia. This battle gave the Seljuks a great reputation as defenders of Islam and proselytizes. As a result, the Seljuks spread Islam in Asia Minor. Alp Arslan sent his cousin Suleiman Qatalmesh to Anatolia and settled his men there, thus establishing the state of the Seljuks of Rum. Since then, Islam spread in Asia Minor which is known to now as the Islamic Anatolian lands.

The Seljuks also introduced some Persian and Turkish customs brought from the east that were unknown to the Umayyids, Abbasids and Fatimids. For instance, they used the "Galish" the horse tail (banner) as a banner in front of the army. Later on the Galish was used to mean the army vanguard.

Another example is carrying the Ghashiya of the Sultan on public occasions as an emblem of the Sultanate. The Ghashiya was a leather saddle with gold embroidery to be carried in the presence of the Sultan. This custom was introduced into Egypt and Syria by Saladin and his successors and remained in later times as a symbol of loyalty to the Sultan.

The Seljuks also introduced the religious schooling system to motivate Muslims for holy war or Jihad and to counter sectarianism. An example was the Nizamiya school founded by the Seljuk minister Nizam-al Mulks in Baghdad. Nur-al-Din Zangi in Syria and Saladin in Egypt followed suit. However, it is to be noticed that religious schools also existed in Alexandria late in the Fatimid rule prior to Saladin. The first school of this kind was called " Al Hafizia" founded by Radwan Ibn Al -Walkhshi, Minister for the Caliph Al -Hafiz the Fatimid (533 A.H.). Abu Al - Taher Ibn 'Awf of the Maliki was selected as the teacher for this school. His tutor was Ibi Bakr al- Tartoushi who wrote: "Seraj al-Muluk" and "Al -Hawadith Wal Bed'a".

Ten years later in 544 A.H. Al Adel Ali Ibn Al -Sellar, a minister for the Fatimid Caliph Al Zafer, built another religious school in Alexandria and selected Abu Al - Tahir Ahmad Al -Salafi, author of "Travel Dictionary M'ujam Al-Safar", of the Shafi'i as teacher. It is safe to say that the Ayyubids were behind the building of schools in Egypt and Syria imitating the Seljuk policy.

The Seljuks followed the tradition of their ancestors the Samanids by increasing the number of Turkish mamluks, providing them at an early age with military and Islamic education, for employment later on in the army and in the administration. This system was explained by the Seljuk minister Nizam al-Mulk Al - Tusi in his book "Siyassa Namah" to guide Seljuk rulers. Thus, the Seljuk state was marked by military organisation. Most of its territories in Persia, and Syria were divided into military estates ruled by mamluks in return for their military services during war. The high ranking mamluks were called "Atabegs" deriving from 'father' and 'prince' and were originally guardians or tutors of the Seljuk princes. Later on the title was an honorary one granted to senior officers to mean, army commander or sultan's deputy.

The Atabegs were appointed originally as educators to the minor children of the Seljuks, and were given estates in return for their services; they quickly gained power and influence through these estates. One of the most famous Atabegs early in the 6th Hijra century (12th century A.D.) was Amir Imad al-Din Zangi, founder of Mosul and Aleppo Atabegs, son of Qassim al-Oawla Ak Sungur, who started his life as a mamluk for Sultan Malikshah Al -Seljuki. Through Zangi and his son Nur al-Din Mahmud emerged leaders like Najm al-Din Ayyub and his son Saladin who was influenced by the Seljuk systems and who introduced them to Egypt and Syria. Such systems remained during the Ayyubids and during the Turkish Mamluks where this Islamic educational military system crystallized, enabling it to check the Mongol invasion in the east and to expel the crusaders from Egypt and Syria in the west. Al Qalqashandi gives an account in his book: Subh El A 'asha (vol. 4, p.6) saying:

"The Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt worked hard to use the best of the preceding state, and refined it to become better organized than other states, giving its king pride over all others".