Islam and Buddhism

Hello everyone...I'm sure this has probably been talked of before, but I figured I would ask the question anyway. Doing some research into the novel, "The Years of Rice and Salt," though I found the premise somewhat silly (the Black Plague killing out, what, 98% of all European ethnic groups?), but the religious situation of the world intrigued me. So, without significantly killing off any European people, how can Islam and Buddhism become the dominant world religions?

How will this effect everything else such as politics and technology? Will democracy ever spring up as a political system here? Will they experience similar ideas like Socialism or the Protestant Reformation (much more likely for the Muslims to experience than the Buddhists)?
 
Hello everyone...I'm sure this has probably been talked of before, but I figured I would ask the question anyway. Doing some research into the novel, "The Years of Rice and Salt," though I found the premise somewhat silly (the Black Plague killing out, what, 98% of all European ethnic groups?), but the religious situation of the world intrigued me. So, without significantly killing off any European people, how can Islam and Buddhism become the dominant world religions?

The Arabs manage to triumph in their seige of Constantinople somehow (from 674-678), and later manage to win a smashing victory in TTL's analogue to the Battle of Tours, opening a path for Islamic ascendancy in Western Europe.

I don't know much about Buddhism to offer much in the way of assistance, but I'm sure that you could find some way for the butterflies of TTL to allow it to diffuse even farther and wider than in our world...
 
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