Zoroastrian Persia

Glad you agree.:)

Could Zoroastrianism still be the Persian religion much after Islam begins?
It's not that hard to imagine. If the Sassanids defeated the Muslims, Persia and Mesopotamia would stay Zoroastrian. Of course for that, the long war between them and the Byzantines would have to end sooner. For all the great mythology of the ghazu or jihad, Umar lucked out. If the superpowers of the time hadn't spent a decade (?) beating the hell out of each other, the campaign would never have worked. Although some historians I've read suggest that Umar was simply using the campaign to keep the umma unified (during Abu Bakr's caliphate, there had been huge divisions in the community). I suspect he was as shocked as anyone by the astounding success of the war.
 
Yes, it could. You'd need a PoD which enables the Sassanids to hold off the Arabs, though, I think. There are a number of options for this. Say Sassanid General Shahrbaraz is not fooled by the Byzantine's ploy to keep him out of the way of Heraclius' army.
Or perhaps the Sassanids just don't extend themselves quite as far.
 
Yes, it could. You'd need a PoD which enables the Sassanids to hold off the Arabs, though, I think. There are a number of options for this. Say Sassanid General Shahrbaraz is not fooled by the Byzantine's ploy to keep him out of the way of Heraclius' army.
Or perhaps the Sassanids just don't extend themselves quite as far.

Alternatively, Heraclius could be killed by Phokas during his rebellion. With Phokas on the throne, the Persians could be sitting pretty with their new western provinces. Instead of fighting a divided, weakened enemy (enemies actually), Umar goes SMACK into a victorious, veteran army. He'd probably just stick with his original smash and grab plan. A side note for the history of Islam, a victorious Persia likely means that the future Imam Ali dies in battle. He was the main commander of the Mesopotamian campaign.
 

The Sandman

Banned
If Persia is stronger, and Byzantium correspondingly weaker, would the Arab invasion force head into Anatolia instead?
 
If they had managed to keep the Arab invaders outside of their Mountain territories I imagine they could stalmate the Arabs somewhere along the lines of modern day Iran, and sally out to push out the Arabs.
 
Just curious here: Was the population of Mesopotamia already Arab before the Islam inspired conquest or was it a mish mash of leftovers from the several thousand years of its history? (i.e. Elamites, Assyrians, descendants of Greek settlers, Jews, Medes, Persians, etc).

And was the language still Aramic or more like Persian.
 
I, too, want to see what would happen if Zoroastrianism remained a major religion somewhere.

With a POD in the 200s (or anywhere before 800) you might be able to get Zoroastrianism powerful in China. It was widespread in Xinjiang for a few hundred years, and pretty popular in northern China. Say, Ardashir or Shapur I sponsor Zurvanite missions to China in the mid 3rd century. When the Sixteen Kingdoms period comes in China in the 4th century, the invading nomads adopt Zoroastrianism (because it is not widespread in southern China, the invaders believe that it would remove Chinese influence). Eventually it [mumble mumble] becomes the state religion of China.

EDIT: I'd elaborate, but I'm pressed for time.
 
Just curious here: Was the population of Mesopotamia already Arab before the Islam inspired conquest or was it a mish mash of leftovers from the several thousand years of its history? (i.e. Elamites, Assyrians, descendants of Greek settlers, Jews, Medes, Persians, etc).

It was a bit of both, really.

The Mesopotamian population was, IIRC, a very diverse mix of mainly Aramaic-speaking ethnic and religious groups, though there already was an Arab presence in the area.

There were even a few Arab kingdoms in the area (such as the Lakhmid kingdom), allthough the urban and sedentary populations of these kingdoms still largely consisted of Aramaic-speaking Mesopotamians.

And was the language still Aramic or more like Persian.

At the time, Aramaic was still the main language in Mesopotamia.

In fact, the Aramaic dialect known as Imperial Aramaic was one of the two official languages of the Sassanid Empire.
 
Same here. I wonder what you would need to get the Sassanids strong enough to rebuff the Muslim invaders.

Well, for one, making sure that Khusrau II is succeeded by a strong leader who manages to reign for at least a decade or so without getting killed or deposed.

With less of the civil wars and general anarchy that wrecked Persia after the death of Khusrau, the Sassanids will be able to fight off opportunistic invaders (which also included the Turks and Khazars) much more effectively.
 
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