THE ROLE OF ISLAM IN THE POLICY OF THE ILKHANATE KHANS

Abstract

The Ilkhanate included large territories in the Near and the Middle East, where a process of mutual influence of many peoples, tribes and cultures took place. When the Hulagu khan Ahmed Tekuder (1282-1284) converted to Islam, the Muslims of Azerbaijan, who constituted the absolute majority of the country's population, welcomed this move. After the assassination of Ahmed Tekuder, Arghun (1284-1291), Gaykhatu (1291-1295) and Baydu (1295) took the Hulagu throne by turn. This period went down in history as a time of violent internal conflict in the House of Hulagu, freedom of action for representatives of all religions, except Islam, persecution of Muslims, religious, financial and economic, administrative experiments of Hulagu khans. In 1295, Ghazan Khan took the Hulagu throne. He radically changed the attitude of official authority towards Islam. Even before his accession to the throne (June 16, 1295), Ghazan-khan converted to Islam and then was called by the Muslim name Mahmud. The conversion to Islam by Ghazan Khan ensured the prevailing position of the Ilkhanate in the system of international relations of the Near and Middle East. For manageable, strong, stable socio-economic and political life of a huge empire, the optimal choice of unifying state ideology was extremely important. Ghazan Khan successfully completed the way started by Ahmed Tekuder. Since the reign of Ghazan Khan (Mahmud), the Ilkhanate began to claim leadership in the Muslim world. The problem of the "legitimacy" of the Ilkhanate also found its solution. The Ilkhanate bordered the largest states of that time: with the state of nomadic Mongols, governed by the descendants of Juchi Khan, the eldest son of Genghis Khan (known in Russian historiography as the Golden Horde); with the state of the Mamluks sultans of Egypt; with the Mongolian nomadic tribes in Central Asia, descendants of Chaghatai - the son of Genghis Khan.