| Babai Revolt | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sultanate of Rum | Babais | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Kaykhusraw II | Baba İshak  Baba Ilyas | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 60,000 | 6,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 40,000 | All Babais were killed | ||||||
TheBabai revolt was a thirteenth-centuryrebellion that took place in the southeastern territories of theSultanate of Rum starting in 1239 and lasting for three years. The revolt was spearheaded byBaba Ishak, who led theTurkomans against the authority of the Sultanate.
Gıyasettin had ceded power to his ministers, notablySa'd al-Din Köpek, who was suspicious of a rebellion byAfshar immigrants who had settled in Anatolia, migrating from Persia after the Mongol invasion. He accordingly imprisoned the suspects which led to their movement towardsAleppo within theNizari Ismaili state.[1] He had the leaders fromKhwarazm imprisoned.
The revolt began in 1239 aroundSamsat (now inAdıyaman Province) and spread quickly to Central Anatolia.Baba Ishak, who led the revolt, was a follower ofBaba Ilyas, theqadi (judge) ofKayseri. He declared himselfAmir al-Mu'minin, Sadr al-Dunya wa l-Dīn, and "Messenger of God."[2] Although the Seljuk governor ofMalatya tried to suppress the revolt he was defeated by the revolutionaries aroundElbistan (in modernKahramanmaraş Province). The revolutionaries captured the important cities ofSivas, Kayseri andTokat in Central and North Anatolia. The governor ofAmasya killedBaba Ishak in 1240, but this did not mean the end of the revolt. The revolutionaries marched onKonya, the capital. The sultan saw that his army could not suppress the revolt, and he hiredmercenaries ofFrench origin. The revolutionaries were defeated in a decisive battle on the Malya plains nearKırşehir.[3]
Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī († 1240)[4] was an influential mystic fromGreater Khorasan, who was themurshid ofAybak Bābā who in turn was themurshid of one of the leading actors of theBabais Rebellion, namely Baba Ishak as well. Eventually, Bābā Eliyās Khorāsānī was held responsible for the insurrection organized by Bābā Ishāq Kafarsudī, and consequently executed by Mubāriz’ud-Dīn-i Armāğān-Shāh,[5] the supreme commander-in-chief of the armies of Rum.[citation needed]
The revolt was suppressed with much bloodshed. However with the diversion of resources needed to suppress the revolt, the Seljuk army was severely affected. The defence of the eastern provinces was largely ignored, and most of Anatolia was plundered. The Seljuks lost the valuable trade colony inCrimea on the north of theBlack Sea. The Mongol commanderBaiju Noyan saw this as an opportunity to occupy East Anatolia, and in 1242 he capturedErzurum. In 1243, he defeated Kaykhosrow's army in thebattle of Köse Dağ, and the Seljuks became vassals of the Mongols.[3]
