Why was Islam so successful at Conquering and holding the Middle East?

It was a different world by the 13th century.
So it seemed in the seventh century.

A Mongol-founded world religion could certainly convert most of Central Asia, where Islam was not yet fully consolidated. Iran might be a possibility depending on the stability of the alt-Ilkhanate or the religious affiliation of an alt-Timur, and with Iran and Central Asia converted, it is quite likely that large areas of India would be converted in due time. Since the Manchus would probably convert, an alt-Qing dynasty could make a large proportion of China follow the faith even if the original Chinese converts were purged by the Ming. This alone would make as much as 15% of the world population follow this hypothetical Mongol religion.
 

elkarlo

Banned
This is a good question. What's most fascinating to me is why the North African Berbers unanimously converted to Islam while still fighting the Caliphates constantly. Berbers across North Africa accepted Islam almost instantly, but fought the Caliphates for hundreds of years and destroyed a lot of colonial Middle Eastern dynasties between 700 and 1000 C.E. Puzzles me why they'd adopt the religion of their enemy while completely rejecting them politically. It would almost be like America turning completely Communist while still hating the USSR.

Part of it IMO was the extreme racism Middle Eastern Arab Muslims displayed to the first Berbers they met, but then why did they accept Islam if it was associated with an oppressor? Very fascinating, a part of history that doesn't get enough attention.
Yes it's Def a puzzle. Islam was good at converting ruling classes and especially nomadic peoples. Which usually helped create political stability . But the berbers were just those Jerks who said left when everyone else says right
 
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