When Genghis Khan let himself loose on the Khwarizm Empire in 1219 (Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran), the subsequent events were so traumatic for the Islamic World that the word "holocaust" has sometimes been used to describe it. Genghis' Mongols were a league apart in their fighting abilities, and upon conquest many cities in the Eastern Islamic world were ravaged by them - including cities with such religious importance as Samarkhand and Bukhara. The armies of Allah had never encountered defeats like the Mongols were inflicting on them. Sure the Crusaders had captured a few territories in the "Holy Land", but those victories were because there wasn't a strong Muslim force to counter them. That was not the case with the Khwarizm Shah, who at first glance should have been more than a match for Genghis. Anyway, he wasn't and that was a big psychological blow to the Islamic World. Writers of the time thought the end of world was near. However, from the ashes of this destruction would rise the eventual Islamisation of the entire Mongol Empire, outside of China and Mongolia. There was never a big top-down decision coming from the Great Khan that all the Mongols would convert to Islam. Eventually 3 of the 4 Khanates that formed the Mongol Empire would adopt Islam as the state religion but this process was more like a series of events, all only partly related to each other. First a quick introduction to the geographic spread of the Mongol Empire around this period. We have 4 Khanates or Hordes: The Golden Horde (think Russia, Ukraine, Black Sea region, the Caucasus). The Ilkhanate (Iran and Iraq) The Chagatai Khanate (the 5 Central Asian republics) The Yuan dynasty (China - converted to Buddhism, not Islam) The first to convert was Berke Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and the Khan of the Golden Horde (which ruled parts of Russia and the Caucasus), in 1252. Nothing about Berke's conversion suggests that it was for political purposes. Moreover, though he did persuade his brother to also convert to Islam, there was no widespread conversion of the Mongol leadership in the Golden horde at this time. (For the purposes of this discussion we can assume the Golden horde, the Blue horde, the White horde and Kipchuk Khanate are all the same thing). However Berke's conversion did have one big political consequence. It led to him allying with a Muslim kingdom against a fellow Mongol Khan. Hulagu Khan, another grandson of Genghis, ruled the Ilkhanate - essentially the former Persian Khwarizm empire. Hulagu's mandate from the Great Khan (his brother Mongke, who Berke helped make Great Khan in 1251), was to move southwest and subjugate the rest of the Islamic world. As part of this effort he destroyed Baghdad, and the Abbasid Caliphate, and killed the Caliph himself - all in particularly brutal fashion. Berke, a new and devout Muslim, was very upset. This was in 1257-58. In 1259, Mongke Khan died, and Hulagu had to go back to Mongolia (with most of his army) to elect a new Great Khan. In Hulagu's absence the Mumluks of Egypt managed to destroy the Mongol army left behind (at the famous battle of Ain Jalut). When Hulagu finally came back in 1261, Berke had allied with the Mamluks, and started instigating Hulagu till war broke out between them in 1262 (Berke–Hulagu war). This war permanently halted Mongol expansion in the Middle East. Eventually, Ghazan Khan (Ghazan), a descendant of Hulagu, performs a political conversion to Islam in 1295. He was constantly at war with the Muslim Mamluks, and a majority of his own subjects were Muslim, so political expediency would have likely played a big role in this conversion. The Ilkhanate was firmly Muslim from this point on. Berke Khan's Golden Horde, on the other hand, hung on to Genghis' original secular principles till Oz-Beg, a Mongol convert to Islam, took the throne in 1313, and adopted Islam as the state religion. This leaves us the Chagatai Khanate, which comprises approximately what are today the 5 Central Asian republics. The Chagatai Khanate had a ruler (Mubarak Shah) who converted to Islam as early as 1256, but later rulers would renounce Islam and move back to the older beliefs. Tarmashirin Khan, in 1331, tried to take the Khanate back to Islam. He was essentially killed for his efforts, and the Khanate collapsed soon after. Eventually Timur took over this region. They don't come more fanatic than Timur, and he made sure everyone converted to Islam. http://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Mongols-embrace-Islam

• published: 20 Apr 2015
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