Jalaal Ad-Deen and preparation to fight the Tatars
By ruining both regions of Khuraasaan and Khwarezm, the Tatars took control of the north and middle regions of the vast state of Khwarezm, and advanced westward to the end of the Khwarezmid State and its borders with Iraq. But they had not yet approached its southern part, which was under the control of Jalaal Ad-Deen ibn Muhammad ibn Khawaarizm Shaah, the son of Muhammad ibn Khawaarizm Shaah, who had previously fled, a few months earlier, from the Tatars to an island in the Caspian Sea, where he died.
Jalaal Ad-Deen began to prepare to fight the Tatars. He mobilized a great army from his state, which was joined by a Muslim Turkish king, Sayf Ad-Deen Bughraaq, leading 30,000 fighters, and he was a brave audacious leader, of sound opinion and good war strategy; and further 60,000 Khwarezmid soldiers who fled from different cities in the north and middle of the Khwarezmid state after their decline; and Maalik Khaan, the governor of Herat, whose city had previously been overthrown by Genghis Khan, along with a brigade of his soldiers. In this way, the army of Jalaal Ad-Deen had a great number of soldiers. Jalaal Ad-Deen set out with his army to a region near Ghaznah called Balq, a hard place amidst high mountains, where he lay in wait of the Tatarian army until it came.
One of the fiercest battles broke out between the united forces of Jalaal Ad-Deen and the Tatars, in which the Muslims fought desperately in defense of the ends of the Khwarezmid State, as in case of defeat, there would be nothing more to possess. The fanaticism of the Muslim fighters, the hard nature of the rocky and mountainous region, the great multitudes of Muslims, the bravery of the Turkish brigade led by Sayf Ad-Deen Bughraaq, and the good field leadership of Jalaal Ad-Deen, had a strong impact on the steadfastness of the Muslims in facing the legions of the Tatars.
This terrible battle lasted for three days, and in the end Allaah The Almighty Sent down His victory upon the Muslims, and the Tatars were defeated for the First time in the Muslim territories, and suffered massive casualties, and the rest fled to their king, Genghis Khan, who was centered in Taloqan, north-east of Afghanistan.
The Muslims' spirits rose very high, before this battle, it was inculcated in the hearts of a lot of people that the Tatars could hardly be defeated; and now, the union of the Islamic armies in Ghaznah produced its fruits. In this battle, a union was established between the armies of Jalaal Ad-Deen, the remains of his father's army, the Turkish brigade led by Sayf Ad-Deen Bughraaq, and Maalik Khaan, the governor of Herat. The Muslims then chose a suitable place (for the battle), and utilized all available means. Thus, victory was their share.
Jalaal Ad-Deen was then rest assured about his army, and sent to Genghis Khan in Taloqan, inviting him to another round of fighting. Genghis Khan was worried for the first time. He dispatched a greater army under the leadership of one of his sons to fight the Muslims. The Muslim army, in turn, got ready; and both armies met in Kabul, the Afghani fortified city, surrounded from almost all its sides by mountains: the high mountains of Hindu Kush in the north, Paropa Mizus in the west, and the Mountains of Solomon in the south and east.
There, the great Battle of Kabul broke out, and the fighting was more ferocious and brutal than it had been in the previous Battle of Ghaznah. The Muslims were steadfast and achieved a great victory over the Tatars, and succeeded to rescue tens of thousands of Muslim captives from the hands of the Tatars.
The Muslims not only had their spirits raised high, killed a great number of the Tatars, and rescued thousands of Muslim war prisoners from the hands of the Tatars, but they also took a great amount of precious and valuable war spoils from the Tatarian army.
However, those spoils turned to be a severe adversity and a cause of certain destruction.
In this connection, it was narrated on the authority of ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf, May Allaah Be Pleased with him, that he said that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa salam, said: "By Allaah, I am not afraid of your poverty in so much as I am afraid that worldly wealth will be bestowed upon you as it was bestowed upon those who lived before you, whereupon you will compete with each other over it, as they competed with each other over it, and it will destroy you as it destroyed them." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]