Editing History of Islam (section)

=== Islamic Mongol empires ===
{{Main|Ilkhanate|Golden Horde|Timurid Empire}}
[[File:Goharshad2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Goharshad Mosque]] built by the [[Timurid Empire]]]]

Ultimately, the [[Ilkhanate]], [[Golden Horde]], and the [[Chagatai Khanate]] – three of the four principal Mongol khanates – embraced Islam.<ref>''Encyclopedia Americana'', Grolier Incorporated, p. 680</ref><ref>The spread of Islam: the contributing factors By Abū al-Faz̤l ʻIzzatī, A. Ezzati, p. 274</ref><ref>Islam in Russia: the four seasons By Ravilʹ Bukharaev, p. 145</ref> In power in Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and further east, over the rest of the 13th century gradually all converted to Islam. Most Ilkhanid rulers were replaced by the new Mongol power founded by [[Timur]] (himself a Muslim), who conquered Persia in the 1360s, and moved against the [[Delhi Sultanate]] in India and the [[Ottoman Turks]] in [[Anatolia]]. Timur's ceaseless conquests were accompanied by displays of brutality matched only by [[Chinggis Khan]], whose example Timur consciously imitated.<ref name="Timur">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Tamerlane, or Timur|encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia|year=2014|publisher=Routledge|quote=While Timur's capital, Samarqand, became a cosmopolitan imperial city that flourished as never before, Iran and Iraq suffered devastation at a greater degree than that caused by the Mongols. [...] Timur's conquests also consciously aimed to restore the Mongol Empire, and the deliberate devastation that accompanied them was a conscious imitation of the Mongol onslaught.}} {{cite book|last=S. Starr|first=S. Frederick|title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5llAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT411|page=411|quote=Timur's ceaseless conquests were accompanied by a level of brutality matched only by Chinggis Khan himself. At Isfahan his troops dispatched some 70,000 defenders, while at Delhi his soldiers are reported to have systematically killed 100,000 Indians.|isbn=978-93-5136-186-2}}</ref> [[Samarqand]], the cosmopolitan capital of Timur's empire, flourished under his rule as never before, while Iran and Iraq suffered large-scale devastation.<ref name="Timur"/> Muslim scholars, such as [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] and [[Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi]], studied in the [[Maragheh observatory]], erected by [[Hulegu Khan]].<ref>Kuru, A. T. (2019). Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison. Vereinigtes Königreich: Cambridge University Press. p. 128</ref>

The Middle East was still recovering from the [[Black Death]], which may have killed one third of the population in the region. The plague began in China, and reached [[Alexandria]] in Egypt in 1347, spreading over the following years to most Islamic areas. The combination of the plague and the wars left the Middle Eastern Islamic world in a seriously weakened position. The [[Timurid dynasty]] would found many strong empires of Islam, including the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] of India.<ref>Elliot, Sir H. M.; edited by Dowson, John. ''[[The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period]]''; published by London Trubner Company 1867–77. (Online Copy: [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/index.jsp?serv=pf&file=80201010&ct=0 The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period; by Sir H. M. Elliot; Edited by John Dowson; London Trubner Company 1867–1877] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125948/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/index.jsp?serv=pf&file=80201010&ct=0 |date=29 September 2007 }} – This online copy has been posted by: [http://persian.packhum.org/persian/index.jsp The Packard Humanities Institute; Persian Texts in Translation; Also find other historical books: Author List and Title List] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929132016/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/index.jsp |date=29 September 2007 }})</ref><ref>Richards, John F. (1996). The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press.</ref>