Baghdad’s eventual isolation from the Arabic speaking world was caused by its position between the Mongol-Persian Ilkhanate to its east and the Arabic-Mamluk sultanate to its west. With the death of the caliph, considered to be the last spiritual leader of Islam, Baghdad had lost much, from its nearly annihilated population; the destruction of its irrigation systems, built during the time of Mesopotamia; and the end of the Islamic Golden Age. The Islamic capital shifted west towards Cairo and Damascus after the siege, altering the course of Islam’s development. Islam itself, beyond that of Baghdad, temporarily lost its claim to religious superiority after the siege (Gilli-Elewy, 2011). The “city of peace” no longer, it would take Baghdad until
