Turks Into Islam

[LeftEyeNine]

Our "official history" taught us that after the Battle of Talas, Turks, in numbers/clans, start converting to Islam.

How simplified is that or how accurate ? I mean, does society mechanics work like that ? "Hey, after this battle, let's try something new".

[TinCow]

I don't know anything about that specific battle or conversion of the Turks in general, but throughout history religious conversions tended to occur from the top down. Generally, a ruler or noble would change religions, usually for political reasons such as a military alliance or a marriage alliance. Often, that person's conversion would increase the influence of that religion in the region, by encouraging other prominent members of the community to convert as well. If the ruler/noble was overthrown or renounced their religion within a decade or so, the religious shift often wouldn't take hold as that's not enough time for the population as a whole to change over. However, if the ruler/noble kept the new religion and maintained power for a long time, and particularly if their heirs kept the new religion, conversion was inevitable.

So, in the context of a specific battle, yes, that happened... kind of. Losers would be forced to accept various terms to keep their lands and often their lives. It was not unusual for those terms to include conversion, particularly if the loser had been captured and could not afford their own ransom. In some cases, conversions after battles even occurred for the victors. For an example of that, you need look no further than the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where Constantine converted to Christianity after winning the battle. However, in most of the cases the 'conversion' was pretty superficial. Generally it would be a few nobles/rulers who officially changed religions, but most of them probably did not really embrace the new religion in their hearts. The true conversion would proceed from there over a very long period of time. So, my basic answer is that battles like that can certainly be the definitive start of a conversion, but they do not result in the wholesale conversion of the entire population in a single instant.

[gaelic cowboy]

There seems to be precious little info on it on the web which I suppose we could take to mean it may have been happening for a long time but the Turks maybe still had no writing etc etc.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/saunders.html

I found this link above googling around, the only other link I found is this one fromIslamWatch but I dont know how credible a organisation like that would be

I have a book a history on the arab conquests and while it details the various campaigns it does not really delve into WHY the Turks converted unlike how it delves into former Christian Syrians etc doing the same.

[al Roumi]

I found this link above googling around, the only other link I found is this one fromIslamWatch but I dont know how credible a organisation like that would be

Depends how you like your Islamophobia. IslamWatch's is a bit bland for my tastes -although I'm so used to [certain Orgah's] spicyness that anything else seems bland by comparison.

[gaelic cowboy]

Well to be fair reading it I didnt see any zenophobic stuff but it is a long article, it seems to me that it stuck to historical stuff about the Turks and there interactions with Islam.

[al Roumi]

Well to be fair reading it I didnt see any zenophobic stuff but it is a long article, it seems to me that it stuck to historical stuff about the Turks and there interactions with Islam.

That's as may be, the purpose of the site though is less than neutral. From the homepage: http://www.islam-watch.org/

"We are our beliefs," it is said. Beliefs steer people in life. Some beliefs are harmless, some are the motive force for good, and yet others are delusional, misguided, and even outright dangerous. Every version of the belief called “Islam” ranges from the delusional to the dangerous.