Mongolian Empire VS Islamic Empire

Mongolians

Muslims

Contrasting and Comparing

Thesis

Mongolian Empire

Positives

• Advanced fighting force
• Nomadic settlers
• Taxes
• Allowed involvement of foreign powers

Negatives

• Very brutal and merciless attacks and seiges
• Very ruthless to foreign poweres that resisted

Islamic Empire

Positives

• Also allowed freedom of religion
• Sought to advance trade and allegiances
• Education and religion played a vital role in society

Negatives

• Allowed too much freedom to captives

nation members which risked revolts and

revolutions

The expansion of trade played an important role in both empires

The expansion of trade under the influence of the Islamic Empire helped with many things such as form many alliances that helped broaden the empire. Because of trade, Arab nations were united under a single ruler, the caliph, and a single faith, Islam. Trade helped this to occur as it brought the faith of Islam itself around the Middle East along with its merchants, gaining support and belief the further it reached. As the Islamic empire was based wholly around the teachings of Islam, those who chose to follow Islam automatically became a part of the empire itself. Therefore, the more nations traded with each other, the closer their ties became politically, allowing the empire to grow bigger rapidly. However, previously in Arabia, there was a constant state of tribal warfare, and tribes continuously contested for the possession of farmland and power. Relatively, the Mongolian tribes were also engaged in tribal fights and disputes. After the unity between tribes by Genghis Khan, the tribes could focus more on the development of their trade and such, which helped advanced them in civil manners. As mentioned in our 2nd Handout, ‘The impact of the Mongol conquest on the conquered peoples included the intensification of activity on the trade routes connecting East Asia with the Mediterranean lands and Europe.’ Not only did it intensify abilities to trade, it is mentioned it helped further spread Islam in Asia. Moreover, the expansion of trade helped spread certain goods to make the economies better, as traders transported Chinese silk and porcelain, which were greatly valued in Europe and western Asia, over the Silk Roads and other routes. These traders also carried with them such Chinese products and inventions as printing, gunpowder, the compass, paper currency, and playing cards. (Mongols Textbook) The better the economies become, the stronger the empires could become in the need to finance their military, therefore could expand easily. Finally, trade also helped these to empires become closer with each other, as many of the Islamic medicinal and scientific studies had become adapted and incorporated into the scientific studies, which showed that trade did make a difference in helping economies as well as improving knowledge of others.

Two main similarities

Conclusion

By: Haider Jamal

One main difference

Brutal vs Peaceful

The main difference between the Islamic and Mongolian empires was the way they conquered other lands. The Mongolians, who used extremely brutal force, went into a civilization mercilessly and slew all indifferent to whether if it were a child or mother they were massacring. However, they only did this if the opposing nation rejected ultimate submission to the empire. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of people therefore were ruthlessly slaughtered, whose remains were hacked into pieces, such as those in Hungary and Iraq. Furthermore, the royals and generals received even worse punishments; they were forced into ways of torture such as being thrown alive into a boiling bowl of water or trampled by a horde of horses. On the contrary, the Islamic empire took military affairs in a more civilized manner. Those who resisted them were obviously countered. The innocent civilians, unlike the Mongol way, were not harmed in any way. Their homes and land was not destroyed and burned into rubble, but were only imposed taxes. Moreover, if the captive nations chose to convert, these taxes were simply removed. In addition, nobody was forced into the religion, as the Quran states "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (2: 256). This verse states that no person can ever be forced to accept religion against their own will. Therefore, it was entirely up to the captives to choose to convert to the religion or not. The only change present was that of the leadership and the addition of small taxes. The Mongolians from birth were trained to be fierce, having children master the art of weaponry at young ages. In comparison, the Muslims focused more on their youth's education of Islam and the morals of society they had to live up to.

Leaders

The other main similarity between the Islamic and Mongolian empires is that they both had extremely influential leaders. In fact, a book called ‘The 100 – A ranking of the most influential persons in history’ by Michael H. Hart has stated that prophet Muhammad was the most influential man in history, followed by Genghis Khan on the 29th ranking. This tells us that their efforts and hard work has paid off until today, as prophet Muhammad revealed a religion, Islam, which is followed by around one quarter of the world’s population. This is a significant achievement as no ordinary man can make up a religion and expect it to spread so rapidly as to an extent where 1.57 billion claim it as their faith. On the other hand, Genghis Khan was a great ruler; and with his intelligence and wisdom, the Mongolians were able to spread from one small tribe, into the second biggest empire the world had ever seen, with 25.6% of the world’s population in its hold.

The Islamic and Mongolian empires have many differences between them, with the ways that they were more barbaric than the Islamic empire. However, there were more significant similarities between them such as how they were both led by influential leaders, Genghis Khan for the Mongols and Prophet Muhammad for the Muslims. Moreover, both relied on the expansion of trade to enlarge their empires. Though the points to show how they were different are notable, the fact that they both spread around the world so rapidly and developed such large empires that the effects are still visible today shows us the way they were very similar. Therefore, in my opinion I believe that the similarities between the empires were much greater than the differences.

In conclusion, it can be said that not only were the Mongolian and Islamic empires different, they were also very similar in certain ways. They were different with the way they conquered other nations, where the Mongolians were more barbaric and less peaceful than the Muslims. From this it can be concluded that there were indeed certain noteworthy differences between the empires; but conversely there are more significant reasons as to why the empires were more alike. Though they had different reasons to spread, they spread indeed, and tried their hardest to expand as far as they could, which undeniably formed extremely vast empires across the world, which’s effects can still be seen today. While doing so, the expansion of trade helped them in many ways, as it played a vital role in funding their missions. Finally, the leadership in which they thrived and succeeded was relatively similar, as both empires looked towards their leader as their future hopes of surviving within the world. All these points show why the Islamic and Mongolian empires are similar, as their effects can still be easily noted to date.