Why the Qara Khitai might be important

To us, at any rate. Aside from being simply fascinating in their own right.

They were Buddhists, or at least their ruling clans were. And yet they ruled over a multi-ethnic empire whose inhabitants included large numbers of shamanists, Buddhists and Christians, within a majority Muslim population. For decades they were able to pull this off. Of particular importance is the simple question: how could a non-Muslim elite rule a Muslim empire?

The answer, at least for Michal Biran in The Qara Khitai in Eurasian History, is a reliance on a Chinese heritage of divine rulership, military prowess, and perhaps most important of all, justice.

Here is what she has to say about the Qara Khitai's reputation for just rule:

This was not only helpful in attracting their subjects' support, but also had religious meaning, since it could have legitimized Qara Khitai rule even if they did not embrace Islam. In medieval Muslim political theory, justice was the foundation of righteous government ... One of the literary means to stress the importance of justice for the Muslim government was the maxim "Kingship remains with the unbelievers but not with injustice," known also in a variant, "A just infidel is preferable to an unjust Muslim ruler." which from the eleventh century onward was often quoted in Muslim adab works and even attributed to the Prophet.

Why is this relevant today? Well, aside from the increasing number of Muslims who live under non-Muslim governments, consider this quote from Fouad Ajami's 2006 book about the American occupation of Iraq, The Foreigner's Gift:

A shopkeeper of Baghdad quoted in the Saudi-owned Pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, one Mahdi Mansour, provided the kind of verdict the Anglo-American force could hope for: "A just ruler from among the infidels," he said, "is better than a tyrannical ruler from among the Muslims." ... There had to be more Mahdi Mansours if the Americans were to succeed.

But anarchy, the absence of all law and order, is in its own way a tyranny.

There is also a deep message here for America - Biran points out that when the Qara Khitai turned from justice, their Muslim population turned from them and left them to the mercy of the Mongols. Justice for all we pride ourselves on. Why toss it out in an excess of fear and despair?