Emperor Heraclius as a muslim.

In islamic world, many traditions deal with Heraclius, emperor of Byzantium who ruled this country at the same time Muhammad lived and was considered as a prophet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclius#Islamic_view_of_the_Emperor

Let's imagine that the religious tradition depicting him as an admirator of islam was true and he accepted to convert to islam during Muhammad's life... What could have been the consequences of this event ?

In my opinion, I think that Heraclius could be a potential successor to Muhammad at the head of the Umma, mixing in another way the political and religious charges, just like at the time of the Prophet... That could lead to some kind of a global califate, including arabian conquests and eastern roman territories.

What would that be five or six years later, that's the question ;)
 
Shortly after declaring his conversion he's overthrown and killed by a combination between the army and the city mobs...
 
Shortly after declaring his conversion he's overthrown and killed by a combination between the army and the city mobs...

Mine too.

That said, I personally seriously doubt there was a properly organised Islamic faith at the time of Heraclius, so that means it's unlikely there'll be anything for him to convert to. The early Arabs seem to have been Muhammad-following monotheists, that's for sure. But they were also rather chauvinistic racists, who did everything they could to keep their community an Arab-only one. I think it's best to only speak of "Muslims" after the reign of Abd-al-Malik, when the faith began to grow, and act like a proper religion rather than just an exclusive cult.

So, for those reasons, the conversion of an Emperor (or indeed a Sasanian King of Kings) is not on the cards. Even if we're going to go ASB in this instance, a global Caliphate would be overwhelmed by logistics. The Caliphate was, in my view, about as big as it could have been anyway. The idea of all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and Iran as one gigantic state seems very far fetched to me.
 
Even if we're going to go ASB in this instance, a global Caliphate would be overwhelmed by logistics. The Caliphate was, in my view, about as big as it could have been anyway. The idea of all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and Iran as one gigantic state seems very far fetched to me.

At best, Muslim rulers in northern, central, and eastern Europe will be nominally subordinate to the caliph in Damascus or Baghdad or wherever, and will therefore provide fodder for later map-makers to color in their realms as being part of a gigantic empire. At worst, idiosyncratic local heresies will arise and drive local Muslim rulers to completely reject the caliph's authority. In practice, either way Muslim rulers on the edge of the caliph's nominal authority or the nominal Muslim sphere will be in the driver's seat so far as conquests and extending Muslim authority are concerned, with the caliph being in virtually all cases a distant and largely ineffective figure.
 
That said, I personally seriously doubt there was a properly organised Islamic faith at the time of Heraclius, so that means it's unlikely there'll be anything for him to convert to.
The issue there is that early Islam is a tribal religion, more than the Arab-only club you describe : each tribes or group of tribes seems to had its own opinion about it, the wars after the death of Muhammad didn't originated from an apostasy of Islam but about the refusal of hinterland tribes to subit to coastal Muslims conceptions.

The tribal part of Early Islam and Arabic culture is really influential, having caused multiple schisms.

Even in the case of Heraclius converts, isn't outright killed, and tries to impose itself, he wouldn't be accepted as legitimate in this regard by Muslims.

The Caliphate was, in my view, about as big as it could have been anyway. The idea of all of Europe, the Mediterranean, and Iran as one gigantic state seems very far fetched to me.
It was even too big for its own sake : when you have provinces recently conquered that act almost independently from the authority (Al-Andalus, Maghreb for the west), when you have regular revolts or troubles from how you treat the conquered people...Well, it's a sign that the empire you have may have been to expanded and uncontrollable at short term.
 
Top