What happens if Persian (or rather Farsi) ended up as lingua franca of the Middle-Eastern world, rather than Arabic?
Persian is the second lingua franca of the Islamic world, in particular in the eastern region. Aside from serving as the state and administrative language in many Islamic dynasties, some of them include Mughals and early Ottomans, Farsi also serves as Persian cultural and political norms used by the cultural elites from the Balkans to India.
Today, Persian serves as a lingua franca in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Arabic (of the Quranic dialect) in OTL remains as lingua franca due to the fact, there're more Arabic speakers than those of Iranic-language speakers. That, also on religious grounds since Arabic is the language of the Qur'an.
Persian is the second lingua franca of the Islamic world, in particular in the eastern region. Aside from serving as the state and administrative language in many Islamic dynasties, some of them include Mughals and early Ottomans, Farsi also serves as Persian cultural and political norms used by the cultural elites from the Balkans to India.
Today, Persian serves as a lingua franca in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Arabic (of the Quranic dialect) in OTL remains as lingua franca due to the fact, there're more Arabic speakers than those of Iranic-language speakers. That, also on religious grounds since Arabic is the language of the Qur'an.