Islamic Russia?

I was wondering, though I believe this has been put forth before, what ways could Islam have become the official (and dominant) religion in Russia, or would Islam becoming such potentially prevent Russia from forming? (Not sure how well Europe would take a large power as Russia became OTL being a predominantly Muslim nation)
 
That seems like something to work with, but you need to have someone in the Golden Horde who's willing to build a stable and lasting government because with this late of a PoD it'll take a while to get a large number of Russians converted.
Another possibility is to weaken Constantinople enough that Orthodoxy is substantially less attractive in the first place. Maybe the Caliphate of Constantinople happens like we discussed a while back? That may well give Islam some of the advantages Orthodoxy had IOTL. Of course, it might also butterfly the existence of Russia in the first place.
 
The Russian principalities are destroyed by Tatars, who become dominant and spread east due to pressures Westward from Christendom and a desire to rebuild the Mongol Empire.
 
So, does Russia have to be Russia or could it be some other giant Slavic Nation? If so then (as mentioned before) have Constantinople become Islamic, then its possible that many of the Slavs would in turn become Islamic.
 
Yeah, the premise is certainly there. Only through some internal strife on the part of the Tatars/Mongols/etc allowed the Russians (and allies of convenience) time to do anything about it. One interesting feature is the rise of Muscovy. Like most of the Rus (and for that matter Germans, etc), the fief of the father was divided amongst his sons for inheritance. In Muscovy, however, there began the process of 'weighted inheritance' (for lack of a better term) which saw the majority of the fief going to the eldest son, and successively smaller 'slices' going to sons down the line to where - eventually - there appeared a sizable portion of 'landless nobility.' Being minor princes and whatnot, these Lordlings then went off on various adventures against other Rus states and the encroaching Turkic peoples. Interesting stuff, to be sure.

But say for instance that they don't do that, that it never catches on, or that some prestigious person of OTL dies early or whatever, then the Muscovites are still as virtually inept as the rest of the Rus when it comes to any sort of unificaiton. Enter the Golden Horde. No facedown between Rus and Mongol. No splintering (maybe <- big factor). Perhaps continual consolidation, a more active and structured religious structure installed, and your typical Orthodox serf becomes an endangered creature. More and more boyars are faced with converting or dying. You do the math.

Could be fun.
 
what ways could Islam have become the official (and dominant) religion in Russia
As for me I personally think that Russia could have become islamized instead of converted to Orthodox (Byzantium) Christianity.

The reason for Rus choosing Christianity is usually thought to be the close ties with Constantinople.
But the same reason could have been for Rus to choose Islam. It is obvious why - to counterbalance the influence of Byzantium. The nomads around are Muslims.
Mostly Turkish. Their cultural influence was great in Rus. For a few centuries the head of the Kievan Rus officially titled himself Kaghan.

Islamization would definitely change the course of history. But not too much IMO.
Well, that would have saved a few millions Russians from dying of excessive drinking of alcohol:D
 
As for me I personally think that Russia could have become islamized instead of converted to Orthodox (Byzantium) Christianity.

The reason for Rus choosing Christianity is usually thought to be the close ties with Constantinople.
But the same reason could have been for Rus to choose Islam. It is obvious why - to counterbalance the influence of Byzantium. The nomads around are Muslims.
Mostly Turkish. Their cultural influence was great in Rus. For a few centuries the head of the Kievan Rus officially titled himself Kaghan.

Islamization would definitely change the course of history. But not too much IMO.
Well, that would have saved a few millions Russians from dying of excessive drinking of alcohol:D

There is a tradition saying that when Vladimir had to choose an Axial religion for Russia, he rejected Islam because it forbids alcohol, and Russians would have never renounced it.
However, Turkic nomads in Southern Russian steppe were mostly pagan in Kievian times. Volga Bulgaria had, at least nominally, converted to Islam in 10th century and there was a significant Muslim community in Khazaran, but serious widespread Islamicization of the area, AFAIK, started only after the Mongols. And even then, there was a lot of semi-nomad Turkic groups like the Misher and the Chuvash, that mostly adopted Christianity.
 
Have the early siege of Constantinople succeed, in 717. Without the Eastern Roman Empire the Russians have two choices: Christianity, severely weakened without the ERE to stand it off, or Islam which looks more and more likely to take expand toward them if they don't convert.

They will make the pragmatic choice.
 
The reason for Rus choosing Christianity is usually thought to be the close ties with Constantinople.
But the same reason could have been for Rus to choose Islam. It is obvious why - to counterbalance the influence of Byzantium. The nomads around are Muslims.
Mostly Turkish. Their cultural influence was great in Rus. For a few centuries the head of the Kievan Rus officially titled himself Kaghan.

Khazar influence on early Rus' was strong but Khazaria was in decline by the time Rus' was emerging as a centralized state, and the Byzantine trade links easily trumped whatever Khazar influence remained in Kiev. After the collapse of Khazar power in the 10th century, relations between Rus' and the Turkic nomads that replaced them were entirely hostile.

Arguably, Kievan Rus' only existed as a state because it sat on a critical trade route between Constantinople and the Baltic. Certainly, this trade enriched the Rus' princes and allowed them to establish a powerful empire, and the Greek cultural influence it allowed into Rus' was overwhelming. I'm very skeptical that nomad Kipchaks and Cumans, whose sole motivation seems to have been raiding Kievan territory, were capable of exerting even a fraction of the influence Byzantium could. Furthermore, Islam was very thinly entrenched among these nomads until quite late in the period.

It's tempting to imagine that greater contact between Rus' and Volga-Bulgaria could have brought more Islamic influence into Rus' given that the Volga-Caspian trade route was also very important to them... However, the remoteness of the Volga from the center of Kievan power probably makes this impossible. The strong presence of hostile nomads in the area also precludes Rus' control.
 
Khazar influence on early Rus' was strong but Khazaria was in decline by the time Rus' was emerging as a centralized state, and the Byzantine trade links easily trumped whatever Khazar influence remained in Kiev. After the collapse of Khazar power in the 10th century, relations between Rus' and the Turkic nomads that replaced them were entirely hostile.

Arguably, Kievan Rus' only existed as a state because it sat on a critical trade route between Constantinople and the Baltic. Certainly, this trade enriched the Rus' princes and allowed them to establish a powerful empire, and the Greek cultural influence it allowed into Rus' was overwhelming. I'm very skeptical that nomad Kipchaks and Cumans, whose sole motivation seems to have been raiding Kievan territory, were capable of exerting even a fraction of the influence Byzantium could. Furthermore, Islam was very thinly entrenched among these nomads until quite late in the period.

It's tempting to imagine that greater contact between Rus' and Volga-Bulgaria could have brought more Islamic influence into Rus' given that the Volga-Caspian trade route was also very important to them... However, the remoteness of the Volga from the center of Kievan power probably makes this impossible. The strong presence of hostile nomads in the area also precludes Rus' control.

This is not entirely true: Cuman-Kievian relationships were not always hostile. The Turkic loan-words in early Russian epics (that are significant) seem to point at more cooperative relations, even if within a mostly conflictual context. The Volga route was far from Kiev, but close to Novgorod, the other main center. Maybe early Islamicization is more likely if the early Russian Khaganate kept its former center in the North; but in this case, we will not have anything recognizably Russian.
 
I am not saying that Russia was doomed to become Islamic and it got baptized only by a freak chance. No.

I am an Orthodox Christian myself (though not a church-goer)
And I am not for giving 'Holy mother Russia' to Muslims:)

The only thing I am saying is that it was possible.
 
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