Woman Between Islam and Western Society
12. Conclusion
~ 494 ~
After the Tatars had slaughtered the male Muslims
on a massive scale, they took the women captive
and brought them into their homes as mistresses
and wives. From within the Tartar homes, these
Muslim women were to play a crucial role, for,
filled as they were with the zeal and fervor of Islam,
they burned with the desire to serve its cause, and
set about converting their capturers with a large
measure of success. Those Tartars who were not
immediately converted by their womenfolk at least
softened to such a degree in their attitude towards
Islam that when they came into contact with
Muslims elsewhere in the world, they were very
easily converted. This was thanks to the preliminary
seeds having been sown within their very own
homes.
The first Tartar ruler who converted to Islam was
Barka Khan, who ruled from 1256 to 1267. It
appears that his mother was a Muslim, and had
trained him in the ways of Islam from early
childhood. His formal conversion came just after his
coronation, when he had a conclusive discussion on
Islam with a Muslim merchant. Ghazan Khan’s
brother, Aljai, whose wife was a Muslim, succeeded
