Prior to embarking on a military campaign against the Khwārazm Shāh Dynasty in retaliation for the murder of his envoys, Chinggis Khan went to a hill and prayed for help from God. According to the Jāmiʿ al-tavārīkh, a universal history compiled for the Mongol rulers in Iran by Rashīd al-Dīn Fażlallāh Hamadānī (d. 1318), Chinggis Khan addressed his God as “the Creator of Tajik and Turk” (āfarīnanda-i Tāzhīk u Turk).1 While it is unlikely Chinggis Khan himself would have used such a phrase, it is true that the Mongols are referred to as Turks in other contemporary sources as well.