stop the Oghuz turks from converting

how could it be possible, with a POD from after the foundation of Islam, for the Oghuz turks to be stopped from converting to islam. make it ALAP -- As Late As Possible. they can either stay pagan or convert to Christianity / Judaism, just not Islam.

go.
 
That battle between Chinese and Arab forces, which resulted in the Chinese retreat from Central Asia. Toynbee cited this as one of the great lost opportunities, I think it was the "Forfeited Birth-rite of Far Eastern Christianity" which I rather disagree with, that if the Arabs had lost, then Nestorism or whatever would succeed. But if you have China win, then you keep Chinese cultural supremacy over Central Asia, and probably stop the spread of Islam into the Oghuz Turks. If you have a strong enough Chinese cultural presence, then you could end up with Buddahism being the main religion, perhaps the Tibetians get in there, and give the Turks some good, ole time Buddahism (I tend to think that Tibetian Buddahism is a good replacement for Abrahamic religion).
 
Another possibility might be a more powerful Khazer state that doesn't decline in the 10th-11th centuries. It had a lot of influence over neighbouring steppe tribes, including the Magyars to the west before they entered the Hungarian plains. If they had possibly entered a phrase where they felt it necessary to increase conversions, to maintain/strength their position, then they could have increased their influence further. Might be that the Turks, when they storm through Iran have converted to Judaism? That could have some impact on developments.

Steve
 
That battle between Chinese and Arab forces, which resulted in the Chinese retreat from Central Asia. Toynbee cited this as one of the great lost opportunities, I think it was the "Forfeited Birth-rite of Far Eastern Christianity" which I rather disagree with, that if the Arabs had lost, then Nestorism or whatever would succeed. But if you have China win, then you keep Chinese cultural supremacy over Central Asia, and probably stop the spread of Islam into the Oghuz Turks. If you have a strong enough Chinese cultural presence, then you could end up with Buddahism being the main religion, perhaps the Tibetians get in there, and give the Turks some good, ole time Buddahism (I tend to think that Tibetian Buddahism is a good replacement for Abrahamic religion).

Personally, I really don't think that the battle of Talas mattered that much of a difference when it comes to the Chinese losing their influence in Central Asia, as the Tang Dynasty was already in decline at this point, and it is quite likely that the Tang would have lost their holdings in Central Asia anyway (...allthough not neccesarily to the Arabs).

As for Buddhism: Buddhism had already existed in Central Asia for a long time at this point.

In fact - there had been significant Buddhist communities in Central Asia long before Buddhism even got established in Tibet.

What's more; there was great religious diversity in Central Asia at the time - there were significant numbers of (predominately Nestorian) Christians, Buddhists, Manicheans, Zoroastrians (including heterodox Zoroastrian sects, such as the Mazdakites) Jews, and various indiginous religious traditions here.

And none of those religions will dominate the region, unless a powerful nation emerges, and imposes its official religion on the peoples that it conquered and subjected.

And Nestorian Christianity did have a strong presence in Central Asia at the time, and there were quite a few Christian Turkish tribes and tribal confederations in Central Asia (a number of them lasted as long as the late Mongol period).

The rise of a Christian empire in Central Asia if Islam fails to gain a foothold there may not be inevitable, but it's certainly one of the more likely possebilities.
 
how could it be possible, with a POD from after the foundation of Islam, for the Oghuz turks to be stopped from converting to islam. make it ALAP -- As Late As Possible. they can either stay pagan or convert to Christianity / Judaism, just not Islam.

go.

Well, in order to prevent the Oghuz Turks from being Islamized in any significant numbers, you'll have to butterfly the Samanids away.

The Samanids were a Persian Muslim dynasty in southern Central Asia, and they were not only responsible for reviving Persian culture and creating a new Islamic Persian culture, but they were also responsable for Islamizing many Turkish tribes - including the Oghuz Turks.

Without the Samanids or a similar dynasty, it will take much longer for Islam to gain a firm foothold in Central Asia.

And if you create one or a few fairly strong non-Muslim states in Transoxia in order to keep the Caliphate and the neighbouring Muslim states and statelets in check, then you could very well prevent the Islamisation of the Oghuz Turks and much of Central Asia on the long therm.
 
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