What would the Middle East look like if Mohamed had died in his cave before spreading his message? [Spirituality & Religion]

@Miram That's kind of broad isn't it? Before the Muslim invasion, the Levant, Iraq, Persia, Egypt and the Maghreb were very different societies balancing Christianity and pagan belief systems.

@Arzawa True, it's not broad. It's specific to the area he was born into.

@Miram Ah. I wonder if without competition from Islam if Nestorian Christianity would have continued in the East and if Zoroastrianism would hold in Persia today. Would the Turks have conquered Anatolia? It's just a fascinating what if scenario.

@Arzawa I think they'd keep their beliefs but there would be a Muslim minority since lot of the early converts were merchants and joined willingly.

@Arzawa bear in mind not all the Turks were Muslims who conquered, some were Tengri followed and only later became Muslims. Likely the same would've happened. The only thing that would halt Turkic expansion would be the Christians allied with the Mongols like the Armenians suggested.

@Miram In this scenario, Islam never made it out of the contemplation stage. So there wouldn't be Muslims at all. The Arabs were a mixture of Christian tribes and Bedouin pagans. I wonder if some new form of religion would have been created. Perhaps Ethiopian Christianity would have taken Yemen.

@Arzawa if we take the empires existing then, I'd probably bet on Zoroastrianism or Eastern Christianity being dominant.

@basilfawlty89 The Turks were a relatively small population that invaded Anatolia. They were Sunni Muslims. Over hundreds of years they expanded and absorbed local Anatolian populations including Greeks and Armenians.

Would the same have happened? Would they have conquered Constantinople or would they have been absorbed into the Greco-Anatolian population?

@basilfawlty89 I am thinking Christianity would be the strongest, but Zoroastrianism would have remained firm in Iran. The Islamification of Iran is fascinating. They didn't want to speak Arabic. They considered themselves culturally superior to Arabs.

@Arzawa likely conquered, Turks turkified many things and pushed their language on people. You're correct about western Anatolia, but eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus was invaded by successive Turkic waves.

@basilfawlty89 Are you referring to the Azerbaijanis? These Turkic populations didn't conquer or Empire. They invaded to flee the Mongols. I wonder if they would have just been absorbed into local populations like the Germanic invasion of the Roman Empire.

@Arzawa untrue, they did come to conquer. See Ak Qoyunlu and Kara Qoyunlu tribes.