Why the name Taimur matters?
By Gokul Kunnath
December 20, 2017
Last year, two of Bollywood’s popular celebrities decided to name their son in memory of Taimur, the 14th century Islamic Emperor from Mongolia. As the parents of Taimur Ali Khan celebrate their son’s first birthday, the controversy surrounding his given name will only grow in the course of time. Thanks to the power of the Internet and social media, people sitting in any part of the globe can share truth and facts widely. One such truth that the world will come to know more about is the deeds of Taimur, the infamous Islamic zealot, who committed one of the most shocking atrocities in history.
After causing havoc in much of central and west Asia, Taimur, who was of Turkic descent, earned the much desired title, “The Sword of Islam” and established himself as the de facto Caliph, Mongol Emperor and defender of Islam. In the process, he terrorized Muslim Arabs, Turks and Persians as well as Christian Armenians and Georgians. Not content with the destruction of the cities and people he conquered, Timur moved southwards.
In 1398, Taimur and his large invading force, marched through the northwest of undivided Bharat, destroying city after city. During the military campaign, he took tens of thousands of Hindus as prisoners. In mid December of the same year, as he sought to advance further towards the east into Delhi, he was confronted with the enormous challenge of an ever increasing number of prisoners who refused to convert to Islam. So, near the outskirts of Delhi, Taimur committed the most horrible and shocking genocide in the history of humanity – the murder of 100,000 Hindus in cold blood.
The singular event was such a crime, that till this day, no man has ever managed to kill so many innocent men, women and children as Taimur in a single day. To shed some light on the magnitude and importance of the genocide committed by Taimur, we need to rely on the book “Zafar Nama”, written by the Persian Muslim Historian, Nisham ad-Din Shami and revised later by another Persian Muslim Historian and Mathematician, Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi, as well as an autobiography titled Malfuzat-i Timuri written by the tyrant Timur himself.
Here are excerpts from Timur’s own Malfuzat-i Timuri:
“At this Court, Amir Jahan Shah and Amir Sulaiman Shah, and other amirs of experience, brought to my notice that, from the time of entering Hindustan up to the present time, we had taken more than 100,000 infidels and Hindus prisoners, and that they were all in my camp. On the previous day, when the enemy’s forces made the attack upon us, the prisoners made signs of rejoicing, uttered imprecations against us, and were ready, as soon as they heard of the enemy’s success, to form themselves into a body, break their bonds, plunder our tents, and then to go and join the enemy, and so increase his [p. 53] numbers and strength.
I asked their advice about the prisoners, and they said that on the great day of battle these 100,000 prisoners could not be left with the baggage, and that it would be entirely opposed to the rules of war to set these idolaters and foes of Islam at liberty. In fact, no other course remained but that of making them all food for the sword. When I heard these words I found them in accord with the rules of war, and I directly gave my command for the Tawachis to proclaim throughout the camp that every man who had infidel prisoners was to put them to death, and whoever neglected to do so should himself be executed and his property given to the informer. When this order became known to the ghazis of Islam, they drew their swords and put their prisoners to death. 100,000 infidels, impious idolaters, were on that day slain. Maulana Nasiru-d din ‘Umar, a counsellor and man of learning, who, in all his life, had never killed a sparrow, now, in execution of my order, slew with his sword fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives.”
Look at the photo of this innocent baby boy below and now wonder why two educated celebrities from Bollywood want to name their son Taimur and glorify the life and deeds of Taimur, the erstwhile blood thirsty Mongolian Tyrant? Do you think it is ignorance of history manifesting itself in a crude form? Do you think it is the sheer arrogance of the Khan family? Do you think it is their crude insensitivity to their own son’s future? Do you think it is a reflection of Saif Ali Khan’s inner joy from the death of innocent Hindus? Why would they remain adamant in their choice of the name even in the face of widespread condemnation? 1 billion Hindus around the world and right thinking people everywhere are asking these legitimate questions. It is high time for the couple to respond to the concerns of the world.
The author is the President of the US Hindu Alliance. He can be reached at contactgokulkunnath@gmail.com
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