Extreme AHC: Muslim Korea

With a POD after 1400, have the majority of Korea be Muslim.

Can be from the mostly Turkic Muslim community in Koryo Korea, or alternately (for extremer AHC) from the post-Korean War.

Important: China cannot be majority Muslim.
 
Mongols/Oirats/Manchus go Muslim rather than Tibetan Buddhist.

Rather than a smooth dynastic transition, the Ming break into a number of squabbling states. Korea, faced with an expansionist Japan and far-off but untrustworthy Europeans, falls under the suzerainty of this rejuvenated Muslim horde.

The Korean monarchy and nobles embrace Islam, as the New Horde succeeds Timur and manages to expand into Central Asia. This half-restored Silk Road brings many Muslim merchants into Korea, reinforcing the slow growth of Islam.

Islam is then used, by these wealthier classes, as a way to break Buddhist landholdings and acquire more tax via jizya. Through top-down pressure and organic conversion, more and more Koreans embrace the word of Allah.

By the time the new steppe horde collapses into many states, Korea's power structures are Muslim with Korean characteristics. Internal reaction to outside forces -- Japanese, Europeans, Chinese states -- leads to a purification movement arising among Korean Muslims, installing orthodox belief rather than heresy (although folk Islam remains very powerful).

After more isolation (more than a century), Korea is majority Muslim. The Buddhist and other minorities have been brought to heel, even as Korea's true Muslims fret over folk heresies.
 
Man that's going to be idiosyncratic as hell. Confucianist Islam with Buddhist & Shamanistic undertones... it'd be a hell of a TL.
 
Muslim with Korean characteristics

that phrasing was so good. :D
I think Islam can spread through conventional trade routes; just needs more of the "pull" factor on why they'd specifically come to Korea of all places.
I agree that Islam can be the replacement of OTL Confucianism in that it attempts to break the Buddhist hegemony and establish a meritocratic society. Another interesting part would be how this in turn influences Japan.
A little attempt on how it'd look like:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Encyclopedia_Americana_(1920)/Korean_Confucianism
The Encyclopedia Americana/Korean Confucianism
KOREAN CONFUCIANISM is, despite its nomenclature, not particularly rooted in Confucianism as they were originally or are currently known; the aboriginal name, "Sin-Sungree-Hak," merely points to itself as a direct descendant to the aforementioned ideology. It is generally recognised, however, that the term was coined by one of the Jesuit priests who happened upon the lands around Lake Baikal and recognised the language of the officials and soldiers as that of Korea in the 15th century - although it is more likely that they were actually Japanese. The beginnings of this religion is ambiguous; most believe it to be natively derived, while others believe it to have come across Japanese influences of radical Buddhism. However American archaeologists and historians have deduced records across the Silk Road, from the Emirate of Irak to the Muskovite Commune to Confucian republics, and concluded that the origins of Korean Confucianism can actually be pointed to Islam. During the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, fearing death or worse, many followers of the Sunni faith came as refugees onto the far side of the Asiatic continent, to Korea and Japan. While in Japan Allah was mixed within the numerous other gods Japan's Shinto shrines serve, the influx of Islam saw great changes in Korea's worldview and philosophy. An adherent to the mild sort of Buddhism for the past five years, the militant and radical Islam began to become mixed with another radical ideology of the time - Confucianism. Despite what may be believed with the rampant examples across East and Southeast Asia, Confucianism was originally designed to enforce meritocracy and stability - and in 12th-century Korea, the mix of strict adherence towards meritocracy and militarism was to bear a most bloodthirsty tyrant of a child.
By the year 1170, the people of Korea were tired of rule under a small class of aristocrats and royals. Korean Confucianism was spreading through the land like wildfire and peasants were looting Buddhist temples en masse. The spark of the revolution began when one inebriated nobleman in an act of malicious jest began burning the beard of one of the older generals; the general and his fellow men-in-arms immediately saw to justice be done upon the matter, and fearing further consequences, led their soldiers into the palace to capture all royal family members and held a meeting with other generals. This relatively innocuous incident began what is now known as the Confucian Conquests, indoctrinated soldiers and government officials leading way to a revolution that ravaged the entirety of Asia north of the Mekong Delta and east of Tashkent. Reports of casualties vary, but combined with a plague and the rising Mongol Empire it is estimated that around 30 million people across the continent had faced a most brutal death, either by sword, abscess or both. By the time the Mongols were able to establish order across the continent in the 13th century, Korean Confucianism was the norm for multiple states in Northern China, Korea, and Japan; numerous significant shrines of Buddhist or native religions were burnt down or destroyed; much of the land was still run under tyranny of bandits and renegades. While a constantly abused topic by contemporary "Speculative History" writers, it is yet unknown why the Mongolian imperial court never adopted Korean Confucianism as an official religion despite the strong pressure from officials of Asian origin; one can only presume that Genghis Khan was truly a man to be reckoned with to not break or bend under such pressure.
After the death of Genghis Khan and the splintering of the empire into several Khanates, the Korean Confucian states immediately declared a "Holy War" and forcibly removed themselves from Ulaanbaatar's grip; while in China and Southeast Asia the people immediately threw off rulers who adhered to Korean Confucianism, Korea and Japan began drawing upon their strength to launch a religious offensive in another direction - to the north, along the Pacific coast of Siberia. With strong demand of furs and other exotic products in China, Korean and Japanese mercenaries began swiftly going along the Sea of Okhotsk and later into Alyeska; recent expeditions by archaeologists have found numerous ruins of what were apparently once large stone-built forts deep inside Siberia. Surviving and prospering off the flourishing fishes and game, it is apparent that by the 15th century the colonists had reached the indigenous peoples of Westminster Island and deeper into West Oregon; from there they seem to have spread several things to the natives, most prominently religion and disease. The use of gunpowder has also been introduced to the natives, matching the records of English and Spanish explorers being met with crudely made muskets and cannons. Back home, the Kingdoms of Korea and Japan began isolating themselves from foreign influence, being suspicious of the growing number of European merchants and missionaries. While their influence over the mercenaries back home quickly eroding, the explorers either cooperated with the natives or forcibly conquered their lands to establish several Korean Confucian city-states and fiefdoms across Siberia and North America; the more famous ones of these are recorded in colonial literature, where we see prolific mention of "ancient Celestial empires" or "empty castles of great size sitting upon a vast plain."
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