WI no Islam?

An interesting thing would be who would handle medieval trade between the Mediterranean basin and India and China? Would Christian Arab traders control the trade routes? Would we see a Christian Bengal and Indonesia? Could we see a Buddhist or Manichean Central Asia and Iran? Possibly Arab Buddhist or Manichean Oman?


It would be pretty fun to make a no-Islam TL where the Sassanids collapse and Manichean universalists take over, spreading their religion to the Yemen and Oman. A mostly unified Christianity still reigns in the Mediterranean basin, but Manicheaism spreads to India, Indonesia, and eventually China. Christian Crusades eliminate a Manichean Iran and Mesopotamia, but the Manichees survive in Asia and Manicheaism becomes the fourth traditional religion of China. That sounds like an interesting and fun TL.
 
In relation to this scenario, would it still have an impact on, for example, Malay identity in much of Maritime Southeast Asia?
 
Cannot say though it would be interesting to see which state / empire comes to dominate the Malay Archipelago as well as whether the rise of Malacca still happens in this scenario.

Another question that arises is whether syncretism aside Buddhism or Hinduism would ultimately dominate the area or the Malays instead end up embracing (or at least being influenced by) other belief systems via the alternate Spice Trade.
 
This might actually be a boon for smaller, ancient schools of Christianity. Yes, persecutions could continue in the East under the Byzantines, but the Empire's reach is not universal, and its reactions to Islam will not result if Islam has not emerged.
 
Buddhism and Christianity would be the two big world religions. Arabia remains divided between different Jewish and Pagan and Christian and Zoroastrian kingdoms and tribes. I could see the Himyars (spelling) unifying Arabia too.
 
Buddhism and Christianity would be the two big world religions. Arabia remains divided between different Jewish and Pagan and Christian and Zoroastrian kingdoms and tribes. I could see the Himyars (spelling) unifying Arabia too.
I think Hinduism would b bigger in Southeast Asia and South Asia too.
 
I think Hinduism would b bigger in Southeast Asia and South Asia too.
The issue is, what is Hinduism? Hinduism in India is far more defined by what it is not (Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism) than what it is. In a world without the immense pressure the Islamic Empires would put on India to cause Hinduism to coalesce into an at least vaguely ordered system, you might butterfly away "Hinduism" period.
 
Buddhism and Christianity would be the two big world religions. Arabia remains divided between different Jewish and Pagan and Christian and Zoroastrian kingdoms and tribes. I could see the Himyars (spelling) unifying Arabia too.

The Himyarites had already been destroyed by Axum in the early 6th century, even though tribes descended from them still had a lot of power and prestige. More than likely Yemen continues under Sassanid rule until either the local Persian governor declares independence or local tribes overthrow Persian rule there. Axum might try and reconquer Yemen again too.
 
The issue is, what is Hinduism? Hinduism in India is far more defined by what it is not (Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism) than what it is. In a world without the immense pressure the Islamic Empires would put on India to cause Hinduism to coalesce into an at least vaguely ordered system, you might butterfly away "Hinduism" period.
Actually the kind of distinction required to make Hinduism a coherent concept existed pre-hinduism in the Brahminical tradition. There was by this point a distinction of Nastika, or "non-vedic" religions which were seen as distinct from Brahminism and later Hinduism by their deriving authority from the Vedas.
 
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