Encyclopedia of Islam

Tamerlane

  

659  J

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through Persia into Turkey. One of his great vic-

tories was over his fellow Muslims, the Ottomans, 

at Ankara in 1402.

Tamerlane emerged at a time when the h

anaFi

l

egal

 s

chool

 was the dominant form of i

slam

 in 

Central Asia. He included Hanafi scholar Abd al-

Jabbar Khwarazmi among his prominent advisers, 

but he largely distanced himself from the majority 

of the scholarly community. Instead he seemed to 

favor the Sufis. For example, he honored Sayyid 

Baraka, a Sufi shaykh who resided in Tirmidh, 

and allowed his burial in his own tomb, the Gur-

e Amir. While using Islam to unite his empire 

(much of it carved out from Islamic lands), he did 

not impose his faith on conquered lands. He was 

known for his inclusion of Shii Muslims and even 

Christians in his army.

Economically, his early goal was to make the 

Silk Road the exclusive connecting link between 

China and Europe. His rise to power coincided 

with the emergence of the Ming dynasty (1368–

1644) in China. Toward the end of his life, he 

decided to move against China and restore the 

former Yuan rulers. In the winter of 1404–05, he 

launched another expedition, but his age caught 

up with him and he died along the way before 

entering Ming territory. His body was returned to 

Samarkand and buried at the Gur-e Amir.

Tamerlane became the fountainhead of the 

Timurid dynasty, which maintained power in Cen-

tral Asia until the Uzbek leader Muhammad Shay-

bani (ca. 1451–1510), emerged out of Kazakhstan 

and conquered Tamerlane’s former capital. Subse-

quently, the Uzbeks became the dominant force 

in the surrounding area, now called Uzbekistan. 

About the same time, Tamerlane’s lineage would 

establish itself in India through Babur (r. 1526–30), 

founder of the m

Ughal

 

dynasty

 (1526–1857).

See also c

entral

 a

sia

 

and

 

the

 c

aUcasUs

.

J. Gordon Melton