After the death of Genghis Khan, the empire began to splinter a few decades later into four distinct Khanates.

On the right side of the map, you can see the Empire of the Great Khan. This entity, also known as the Yuan Dynasty of China, was theoretically led by the emperor of the entire Mongol Empire. However, in practice, the Great Khan was more of a “first among equals.” The Yuan Dynasty represents the Mongol conquest of China and their eventual assimilation into Chinese culture, effectively becoming another dynasty in China’s long imperial history.

The other three Khanates were:

1. The Golden Horde, which ruled over much of present-day southern Russia and parts of Central Asia.

2. The Chagatai Khanate, covering Central Asia.

3. The Ilkhanate, based in Persia.

Notably, the Golden Horde, and later the other Khanates, gradually converted to Islam. One of the early Khans of the Golden Horde was among the first Mongol rulers to embrace Islam, though it took time for these conversions to influence the governance of the Khanates significantly. Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, writing a century later, expressed skepticism about the depth of their religious adherence. However, the Mongols’ eventual acceptance of Islam had profound effects on the regions they ruled.

For example, in areas like southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula (now parts of Russia and Ukraine), Islam spread to regions where it had been previously unknown. The Crimean Tatars, Muslims who trace their lineage to the Golden Horde, are a lasting legacy of this history. They later formed their own khanate, allied with the Ottoman Empire at times, illustrating how the Mongol conquests indirectly contributed to the spread of Islam.

The Mongols, generally indifferent to religion, often adopted aspects of the faiths they encountered. While many were Buddhists or had affinities for Nestorian Christianity, they pragmatically utilized the local populations they conquered. In Persia, for example, the Mongols recognized the expertise of Persian bureaucrats and forcibly relocated many of them to China to serve the Yuan Dynasty. This practice contributed to the presence of a significant Muslim population in China today—distinct from the Uyghurs in western China. These Muslims, often ethnically Chinese, trace their heritage back to the Persian migrants relocated by the Mongols.

Despite the destruction the Mongols brought to the Muslim world, they also facilitated the expansion of Islam into new regions, in a counterintuitive way. Their conquests, while devastating, reshaped the religious and cultural landscapes of many areas, leaving a legacy that persists to this day.

Shaykh Firas Alkhateeb @khateeb88