Genuinely curious about this.
There have been several topics over the years about a "no Islam" scenario (where Muhammad dies, or isn't born, or nobody believes him, or whathaveyou), but one thing that pops up quite often is the idea that the Arabs would expand from Arabia regardless of whether they were Muslims or not. I guess my question is around that; without Islam, would there be an Arab expansion out of the Middle East? If so, does it need a unified religion?
Call me crazy, but I was imagining a scenario where the Arabs wind up something like a near-eastern equivalent to the Mongols. The core group would have their own religion (Tengriism for the Mongols, but perhaps something else for these Arabs, perhaps the Cult of Hubal, or some version of Christianity) but they wouldn't favour one religion over another. So when they do expand, they aren't doing so to convert their neighbours to whatever faith they follow, and are in fact just expanding for the sake of expanding. Is something like that possible? Or likely?
Religious history isn't my strong suit but I'm always interested in a more religiously 'diverse' world free from Big Faith.
There have been several topics over the years about a "no Islam" scenario (where Muhammad dies, or isn't born, or nobody believes him, or whathaveyou), but one thing that pops up quite often is the idea that the Arabs would expand from Arabia regardless of whether they were Muslims or not. I guess my question is around that; without Islam, would there be an Arab expansion out of the Middle East? If so, does it need a unified religion?
Call me crazy, but I was imagining a scenario where the Arabs wind up something like a near-eastern equivalent to the Mongols. The core group would have their own religion (Tengriism for the Mongols, but perhaps something else for these Arabs, perhaps the Cult of Hubal, or some version of Christianity) but they wouldn't favour one religion over another. So when they do expand, they aren't doing so to convert their neighbours to whatever faith they follow, and are in fact just expanding for the sake of expanding. Is something like that possible? Or likely?
Religious history isn't my strong suit but I'm always interested in a more religiously 'diverse' world free from Big Faith.