WORDS OF WAR
His native Mongolian name, we are told, was Tamer. In his youthful years, however,when he was struck in the knee by and arrant arrow he picked up and added designation as Timur-i lang, or something to that linguistic effect. That short-term nickname, which separated him from the usual run of Tamors, Timors and Timurs I suppose was, for a short time, the Tamer who limped when he walked. That tag ,logically, seems to have become and actual portion of his name in his ultimate time of fame, due, perhaps, to a rather loose habit of spelling things as they sounded in a time when grammar and lexicography were not deemed to be important in judging a man for what he really might be.
As Tamerlane,this crippled youth, mounted on his favorite horse, became the scourge of the entire generation in which he lived a man known to be fearless in all forms of danger, widely known and reverenced by men of might, brawn and dexterity throughout the known world of his time.
While others, without his stern will self-motivational powers, might have withdrawn from the fray entirely claiming to be, in all likelihood handicapped. Tamerlane is said to have sought out trouble where none seemed to exist. He dealt with it quickly, without mercy, ruthlessly, we say today,and went on to other things which, in his judgment had to be settled once and for all. His fame rested, so often, on his latest, cruelest accomplishment. There were no re-runs. His was a one-time onstage show and when he died in 1405 A.D. his empire disintegrated as well.
At this moment entering the 2lst century is and especially good time for us to review the actions of old Tam. He has also been called (quote)The Sword of Islam.(Unquote) He belonged to a Turkish Mongol clan which had accompanied the Mongol armies westward and settled in the Karshi Valley near Samarakand. He was born April 9, 1336, in what is today Uzbeckistan. The area was vast administrated ineptly by various strong men. Tamerlane associated himself with one of them and even after a crippling defeat gained complete control. He set himself up at Samarakand and began his conquest to the east and west. Never has and area be so devastated as were Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and other areas well known to us today. The so-called atrocities of the present war in Iraq and Afghanistan are petty little incidents compared to those purpertrated by Tamerlane - called The Great by many who admired him - and his deeds. A mention of several might suffice: At Sabzawar in Afghanistan, Tamerlane directed that a tower be constructed out of live men heaped on top of one another and cemented together with brick and mortar. At Isfahan he ordered a general massacre and used the heads of seventy thousand people be used to build a memorial minaret. Taking Baghdad in June 1401 the slaughter which followed was so severe that the dead were piled us as one hundred twenty towers overlooking the ruins of the city. He set off in August of 1404 to reconquer China which had only recently escaped from the previous Mongolian occupation.
Americans and Europeans had best glance at the many books written about Tamerlane to gain some perspectives of the nature of the enemy we face in our immediate future unless conditions change soon ...and radically so both here and
there.
The sword of Islam has been unsheathed.
It appears that leaders of the Tamerlane type are in charge and working to win while we are debating among ourselves if this is, as some insist, is, indeed another war between the world's two major faiths ...Islam and Christianity.
What have you decided?
A.L.M. September 19, 2004 [c635wds]
