WI The prophet Mohammed is killed early on?

Suppose he was killed in a Berber skirmish or the Eastern Roman Empire considered him dangerous much sooner and made a concerted attack?
Would Islam still spread as it did?
Is there a chance that the Romans and for example Sassanid Persians would band together temporarily to eradicate this new threat?
 
Islam as a threat to the Romans and Persians didn't really begin until after Prophet Muhammad died (also he never fought against the Berbers or in the Maghreb). However, it is plausible that the Quryaish kills Prophet Muhammad before he establishes Islam IN Arabia.
If it's before the Hijra in which they kill him, that's it. Islam dies as a minor footnote in history, maybe at most as large as the Druze or Jains.
If it's after the move to Medina, Islam will survive in some form. There are capable leaders such as Abu Bakr and Umar who can take the helm and Islam, at least in Medina, would survive. Whether Tis would be recognisable to the Islam of OTL is very doubtful. I assume the core beliefs would be the same and nothing else.
Also the rise would be much slower as they don't have the OTL base of Arabian tribes to rely on, fighting a much more prolonged war with the Quryaish.

So either an Islam nipped in fhe bud or unrecognisable to OTL Islam.
 
Islam as a threat to the Romans and Persians didn't really begin until after Prophet Muhammad died

Whether the Arab invasions of core Roman territory began after Muhammad's death is actually disputed. The traditional narrative is that he died at 632, however, 11 disparate accounts claim that he was alive in 634/635 during the Arab invasion of Syria.
 
Whether the Arab invasions of core Roman territory began after Muhammad's death is actually disputed. The traditional narrative is that he died at 632, however, 11 disparate accounts claim that he was alive in 634/635 during the Arab invasion of Syria.

Even so, I doubt the Romans, if they repel the Arab attacks, would be able to venture into the unfamiliar and harsh Arabian heartlands and march all the way to Medina to kill the prophet in his dying days.

However if they do, it does definitely change Islam as whole, Prophet Muhammad would be seen as a martyr, the level of respect for Christianity would be relegated to that of the respect for Arabian paganism in the eyes of Islam, and the fitna of schisms would happen much sooner.
Also the way Islam spreads is absolutely changed, probably more through word-of-mouth rather than being the institution of the elite in lands such as the Levant, Egypt, Persia etc. It has interesting effects on the spread of the Sufi movement, the concept of Jihad, the legacy of Prophet Muhammad in historiography and probably other side effects I haven't considered.
 

jahenders

Banned
The impact, of course, depends on the timing and method.

The earlier he dies, the bigger the butterflies.

If he's killed in an internal dispute, that likely suggests that the balance within Arabia has changed and his followers might be suppressed internally.

If he's killed in a Roman or Sassanid attack, his martyr status goes up, but there will likely be a lot of damage to his followers in the process. They may have to work for a long while before they can conceive of jihad attacks and the window of opportunity may close.

I don't see any likelihood of the Romans and Sassanids cooperating on an attack.

Suppose he was killed in a Berber skirmish or the Eastern Roman Empire considered him dangerous much sooner and made a concerted attack?
Would Islam still spread as it did?
Is there a chance that the Romans and for example Sassanid Persians would band together temporarily to eradicate this new threat?
 
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