AHC: Shi'ite Saladin

Onyx

Banned
Kinda a nifty idea I thought of during my TL writing

Basically thats the whole challenge, have Saladin become the great Conqueror he is, only that he is a Shi'ite. Not sure what would happen though with the Fatimids and Sunni Turks, would he replace the Fatimids under his dynasty or what would happen?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Kinda a nifty idea I thought of during my TL writing

Basically thats the whole challenge, have Saladin become the great Conqueror he is, only that he is a Shi'ite. Not sure what would happen though with the Fatimids and Sunni Turks, would he replace the Fatimids under his dynasty or what would happen?
It depends what kind of Shi'ite he becomes. The Fatimids, for example, were Ismaili Shi'a, so that probably won't be too attractive.

Sufism might be a road for Saladin.
 

Onyx

Banned
It depends what kind of Shi'ite he becomes. The Fatimids, for example, were Ismaili Shi'a, so that probably won't be too attractive.

Sufism might be a road for Saladin.

May you explain the branches of Shi'ite Islam? I'm sure he can adopt Ismaili in some way, but Im not sure how
 
Ismailism, particularly as practiced today has always been a more mystical form of Islam and often a very tolerant one. The Druze are a distant branch from this limb of islam. There are and have been Ismaili Kurds, and if Saladin was to be a Shia in your POD, it would endear him to the Shia of Egypt who viewed the Fatimid Caliphs with reverence. It would also prevent the OTL extinction of the Hafizi Mustaali branch of Ismailism that was practiced by the Fatamids, at least for a time.

The problem with Saladin being Shia, though, at this time, would prevent his family from arising to power in Syria in the first place, as it rose on the coat tails of the Sunni Zengid dynasty which gave nominal allegiance to the Sunni Abbasids.

@ Onyx. There are so many forms of Shi'ism that I would refer you to the Wiki for my sake. ;)
@ Wolfpaw. Sufism is in general a mystical internalization of Islam and found in so many forms in both the Sunni and Shia communities that I don't think it the most plausible form of Islam to be openly adopted by an ambitious ruler to be.
 
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Is there a way in how Saladin becomes a Shi'ite though?

Only if his patrons were Shia. However, it is unlikely that the Zengids would have adopted it. You'd need an earlier POD which created a more successful spread of Shi'ism among the Oghuz Turks. Or entirely different origins for Saladin's family.
 
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