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Timur proclaimed himself to be a pious Muslim and that he was the ‘Sword of Islam’. He claimed that he was conquering territory to expand Islam and to punish those Muslims who had deviated from the teachings of the Koran. In proclamations, he stated that he wanted to unify all Muslims into one realm a long-term aim of many Muslims conquerors. Timur made sure that any remaining nomads in Central Asia converted to Islam. Indeed, Timur made sure that Islam was adopted by his subjects. Timur’s reign was a disaster for the Christian Church in the East. Form the time of Christ there was a flourishing Church in Western Asia. They were Nestorians and there were Churches from China to Syria. Christianity had flourished in the East despite periodic persecutions from the Mongols and others.
The rise of Timur was to witness the end of the expansion of the Churches in the East. The massacres of Christians by Timur (1336–1405) destroyed many bishoprics, including the ancient Christian city and cultural capital Ashur. The Timurid army completed the eradication of Christians from much of central and southern Mesopotamia/Iraq. Around the 1390s many Christianity disappeared from Central Asia. After the depredations of Timur the Eastern Churches were destroyed apart from mountainous areas of Syria and Iraq. Many argue that the real causes of the collapse of the Nestorian Churches especially in Central Asia was because of the Black Death. It cannot be denied that Timur and his campaigns played a critical role in the demise of Christianity over much of the Middle East and Central Asia .<ref>Darwin, John. After Tamerlane: the rise and fall of global empires, 1400–2000. (London, Bloomsbury Press, 2008). pp. 29 </ref>.
====Timur and Devastation====
