Note 36 — Chapter VIII · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM AMONG THE MONGOLS AND TATARS.

G͟hāzān himself before his conversion had been brought up as a Buddhist and had erected several Buddhist temples in K͟hurāsān, and took great pleasure in the company of the priests of this faith, who had come into Persia in large numbers since the establishment of the Mongol supremacy over that country.36 He appears to have been naturally of a religious turn of mind, for he studied the creeds of the different religions of his time, and used to hold discussions with the learned doctors of each faith.37 Rashīd al-Dīn, his learned minister and the historian of his reign, maintained the genuineness of his conversion to Islam, the religious observances of which he zealously kept throughout his whole reign, though his contemporaries (and later writers have often re-echoed the imputation) represented him as having only yielded to the solicitations of some Amīrs and Shayk͟hs.38 “Besides, what interested motive,” asks his apologist, “could have led so powerful a sovereign to change his faith: much less, a prince whose pagan ancestors had conquered the world?” His conversion, however, certainly won over to his side the hearts of the Persians, when he was contending with Baydū for the throne, and the Muhammadan Mongols in the army of his rival deserted to support the cause of their co-religionist. These were the very considerations that were urged upon G͟hāzān by Nawrūz, a Muhammadan Amīr who had espoused his cause and who hailed him as the prince who, according to a prophecy, was to appear about this time to protect the faith of Islam and restore it to its former splendour: if he embraced Islam, he could become the ruler of Persia: the Musalmans, delivered from the grievous yoke of the Pagan Mongols, would espouse his cause, and God, recognising in him the saviour of the true faith from utter destruction, would bless his arms with victory.39 After hesitating a little, G͟hāzān made a public profession of the faith, and his officers and soldiers followed his example: he distributed alms to men of piety and learning and visited the mosques and tombs of the saints and in every way showed himself an exemplary Muslim ruler. His brother, Uljāytū, who succeeded him in 1304, under the name of Muḥammad K͟hudābandah, had been brought up as a Christian in the faith of his mother and had been baptised under the name of Nicholas, but after his mother’s death, while he was still a young man, he became a convert to Islam through the persuasions of his wife.40 Ibn Baṭūṭah says that his example exercised a great influence on the Mongols.41 From this time forward Islam became the paramount faith in the kingdom of the Īlk͟hāns.