WI: Buddhist Persia

What if Buddhism spread to Persia in such an amount that it becomes the majority, or at least major minority, religion? I was thinking harsher persecution of Buddhist converts could lead migrations to Persian empire to escape, and their missionaries would focus more in the Middle East and Persia. Thought? How would this affect the rest of history? What would happen with the rise of Islam?
 
My timeline Rise of the White Huns features a Buddhist Persia.

There's a lot of different scenarios that could lead to a Buddhist Persia. 99.8% of them ensure nothing recognizable as Islam emerges, since after the (recognizable) rise of Islam that's a way more likely religion for the Iranian plateau.

A fun early scenario would be Hellenized Buddhism adopted by a Diadochi King in Iran and transmitted to the populace from there.
 
My timeline Rise of the White Huns features a Buddhist Persia.

There's a lot of different scenarios that could lead to a Buddhist Persia. 99.8% of them ensure nothing recognizable as Islam emerges, since after the (recognizable) rise of Islam that's a way more likely religion for the Iranian plateau.

A fun early scenario would be Hellenized Buddhism adopted by a Diadochi King in Iran and transmitted to the populace from there.

I've thought about Buddhist Persia a lot and I'm not sure it's feasible. It's all very well to talk about kings adopting Buddhism but then you have to answer why Buddhism didn't spread into Iran during the Parthian or Seleucid Empires OTL.
 
Well the changes have to be far more substantial than just "king changes his mind" - after all, why does the King change his mind and adopt Buddhism? There's recorded proselytization by Ashoka and others to the Hellenic Kingdoms, but it didn't stick, except possibly in the form of some tangentially related mystery cults.

Another possibility is the conquest of the Iranian plateau by a nomadic group that's already Buddhist. Overtime that would work, or at least create a version of Zoroastrianism with strong Buddhist elements. Parthian Buddhism would be best achieved by the Parthian being Buddhist before their arrival in Iran, but that would require I think a level of urbanization that they lacked in OTL.
 

Deleted member 97083

It could also happen through cultural diffusion if pagan Rome conquered Persia (perhaps during the reign of a longer-lived Julius Caesar).
 
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