Tuzk-e-Taimuri - Early History

Early History

Timur was born in Transoxiana, near the City of Kesh (an area now better known as Shahrisabz, "the green city"), some fifty miles south of Samarkand in modern day Uzbekistan, part of the Chagatai Khanate. His father, Taraqai, was a minor noble belonging to the Barlas tribe. The Barlas, a Mongol tribe which originally were Mongolian tribes that became Turkified. According to Gérard Chaliand, Timur was a Muslim Turk but he saw himself as Genghis Khan's heir. Though not a Chinggisid, he clearly sought to invoke the legacy of Genghis Khan's conquests during his lifetime.

At the age of eight or nine, Timur and his mother and brothers were carried as prisoners to Samarkand by an invading Mongol army.

In his childhood, Timur and a small band of followers raided travelers for goods, especially animals such as sheep, horses, and cattle. At around 1363, it is believed that Timur tried to steal a sheep from a shepherd but was shot by two arrows, one in his right leg and another in his right hand, where he lost two fingers. Both injuries caused him to be crippled for life. Some believe that Timur suffered his crippling injuries while serving as a mercenary to the khan of Sistan in Khorasan in what is known today as Dasht-i Margo (Desert of Death) in south-west Afghanistan. Timur's injuries have given him the name of Timur the Lame or Tamerlane by Europeans.

Timur was a Muslim, but while his chief official religious counsellor and advisor was the Hanafi scholar 'Abdu 'l-Jabbar Khwarazmi, his particular persuasion is not known. In Tirmidh, he had come under the influence of his spiritual mentor Sayyid Barakah, a leader from Balkh who is buried alongside Timur in Gur-e Amir. Timur was known to hold Ali and the Ahlul Bayt in high regard and has been noted by various scholars for his "pro-Alid" stance. Despite this, Timur was noted for attacking Shiites on Sunni grounds and therefore his own religious inclinations remain unclear.