The Mongol Empire's Buddhist–Islamic Schism

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a rarely discussed fault line in the Mongol Empire's breakup: the religious rift between Buddhist and Muslim Mongol elites. After Genghis Khan's death, his descendants adopted different faiths—some embraced Tibetan Buddhism, others converted to Islam. This split, sharpened after the Toluid Civil War, made the already vast empire culturally and politically unbridgeable. The hosts focus on two key figures: the Buddhist Mongol prince Ananda, who governed the Tangut region and clashed with his Muslim neighbors, and the Ilkhanate's conversion under Ghazan. They discuss how the Chagatai Khanate's adoption of Islam under Tarmashirin alienated the Buddhist Moghulistan branch, leading to decades of civil war. The episode also unpacks the role of Buddhist and Muslim clerics in Mongol courts, the destruction of Buddhist monasteries in Persia, and how religious identity hardened the borders between the successor khanates. Lucid, specific, and full of names and dates, this conversation gives listeners a new lens on why the empire could not hold. #MongolEmpire #ReligiousSplit #Buddhism #Islam #TibetanBuddhism #ChagataiKhanate #Ilkhanate #Tarmashirin #Ghazan #Moghulistan #Ananda #KublaiKhan #ToluidCivilWar #CentralAsia #History #FexingoHistory #MongolSuccession #SilkRoad Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo