Was it plausible for the Mongols to reach Mecca and give it a Baghdad treatment? What would the repercussions be, especially if the holy paces are also put to the torch, maybe even the Kaaba Black Stone being lost?
PC/WI: Mongols sack Mecca
- Thread starter Ultima Ratio
- Start date
Max Sinister
Banned
We had this discussion several times - but consider that the Qarmatians actually stole the black stone once, and it didn't kill Islam.
destiple
Banned
ummayyads under yazid , pillaged medina for 3 days and killed a huge number of companions of the Prophet , and allegedly burned the Kaaba although that debatable given how sources are hostile to yazid
still life went on
by that time the center of power of islam was clearly out of Hijaz
still life went on
by that time the center of power of islam was clearly out of Hijaz
Philip
Donor
Maybe if the win decisively at the Battle of Ain Jalut they could continue to Mecca. However, the Nile delta might be more enticing.
Maybe this draws the Eighth Crusade to Egypt rather than Tunisia.
That's just going to piss people off for no good reason.
Strictly speaking, putting the holy places to torch (with some allowances for the cases when they are being used for the defensive purposes) had been explicitly prohibited by Yasa. Not sure if the mosques had been destroyed in Baghdad and Caliph was executed as a ruler of the state, no a religious figure. Of course, taking into account Hulagu's pro-Christian sympathies, possibility can't be denied but even the sack of Baghdad and execution of Caliph generated a protest from the Golden Horde (Berke was a Muslim) and the Horde's troops in Hulagu's army got an order to leave him.
I tried to search, but couldn't find any threads about this.
Okay, maybe I came off wrong. I never thought that it would kill Islam, I'm rather more interested in the political consequences. The destruction of Mecca should have big repercussions in the Islamic world regardless if the religion itself is affected. Christianity survived the loss of four of the five patriarchs without much issue, but it lead to Catholicism becoming the dominant one.
Why? At the time of the sack of Jerusalem it wasn't even the only monotheistic religion in the region.
Realistically, as Islam is much less centralised compared to Apostolic Christianity, the worst effect long term on Islam will be the loss of a few Religious documents. More Realisitically it would likely have a positive effect, this is because at the point that the Mongols attack Mecca they will likely be overstretched. This will probably mean that the Mamluks or some other group will throw up a new Caliph quicker, and break the Mongols quicker, possibly leading to partial expulsion from the Iranian Plateau, this however is less likely due to the utter devastation wreaked on Iran by the Mongols. But overall you would leave the Sunni Powers of the Middle East stronger shortly after, and possibly more united in the long term.
Vuu
Banned
Only by being an ethnic religion that survived to this day in notable quantities. Heck, in that case not too different than Chinese religion or Shinto, also ethnic religions