WI the Khazars convert to Islam shortly after Volga Bulgars?

raharris1973

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Does it make ultimate Khazar collapse any less likely, or make the Rus any more likely to convert to Islam or stay non-Christian? What could have incentivized the Khazars to convert to Islam at the elite level and support it by state policy?
 
Khazars would not do so in any real extent. Religion in the steppe until the Golden Horde, was always like the wind. Such and such tribe adopted a religion when it benefitted them and then reverted to raid their previous co-religious. Also, the Khazars are in for a beating, Kyvian Rus and Pechenegs and later Cumans will make for sure, any Muslim Khazars fail.
 
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raharris1973

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Religion in the steppe until the Golden Horde, was always like the wind. Such and such tribe adopted a religion when it benefitted them and then reverted to raid their previous co-religious.

Well the Volga Bulgars went Islamic and stayed that way. Maybe it was not much more than a veneer, but it was there. And then even when that ethnicity was wiped out, the succeeding Tatar population was Muslim.

Also, the Khazars are in for a beating, Kyvian Rus and Pechenegs and later Cubans will make for sure, any Muslim Khazars fail.

I can believe this, its hard to stay on top in the steppes for too long.
 
Well the Volga Bulgars went Islamic and stayed that way. Maybe it was not much more than a veneer, but it was there. And then even when that ethnicity was wiped out, the succeeding Tatar population was Muslim.



I can believe this, its hard to stay on top in the steppes for too long.

Well part of the Volga Bulgarian conversion was to have a leverage to battle the Khazars and Pechenegs, who were their superiors. Further, the vast majority of these tribes and kingdoms of the steppe fit my description, the Volga Bulgars are the exception and anomaly to this rule. Also, they were minor with all things said, in comparison to the Pechenegs.
 
What effects does this have on subsequent Eurasian development?
Well, the first effect might be that Khazaria would survive a little longer. It always seemed to me that the country which has Khwârazmian Islamic guard is stronger and more stable when getting fully Muslim.

The second effect is when Khazaria falls, the spread of Islam in the neighboring steppe would be wider:
a) because of that Rus has somewhat higher chances to convert to Islam; and if it does... the butterfly effect for the World of Russia embracing Islam are too enormous to predict. If the Mongol yoke is not totally butterflied away, Muslim Russia is fuller integrated into the Golden Horde.
b) if Rus doesn't convert to Islam it has a bit more hostile border with steppe where Islam prevails earlier
 
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