7 – He Was an Equal Opportunities Butcher
Although Timur considered himself a Muslim, some of his most vicious acts were carried out against his fellow Muslims. After dealing with the Georgians, Timur focused on Syria and in particular, Aleppo and Damascus. It was his conduct at the latter city that ensured he was declared an enemy of Islam. It is entirely possible that those who lived in Damascus at the time could see the smoke rising into the sky that signified the destruction of Hama and Aleppo. Now, it was their turn and the only thing preventing them from annihilation was a Mameluke army brought by the Sultan of Egypt.
Damascus stood a chance with these legendary warriors to call upon but then, disaster struck. The Mamelukes held their own in the initial skirmishes but word came from Egypt that the Sultan’s throne was under attack; they were ordered to return as soon as possible. Now, Damascus was at the mercy of Timur, but it still took his army a full month to capture the city. Indeed, this only happened because the residents surrendered, probably because they were running out of supplies. Timur showed no mercy and ordered the plunder of the city followed by all-out slaughter.
The scale, and the manner, of the massacre at Damascus, is truly horrifying. There are reports that some residents were crushed to death in wine presses, while others were burned. Rape and general slaughter were the norms in the city as thousands of people died. The survivors were carted off to slavery although when mothers were snatched, the children were left behind to starve. Finally, Timur ordered his men to bring the best craftsmen, artisans, and skilled workers back to the empire’s capital.
Timur claimed that he only destroyed Damascus because Muawiyah I, the caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, murdered Hasan ibn Ali. This had happened in 670 AD. He also cited the murder of Husayn ibn Ali by Yazid I in 680 AD as another reason. Why were these deaths important to him? Both men were grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. In later life, Timur would gain an arch-nemesis and once again show that he was not a man to mess with.