Muhammad flees to Ethiopia, converts it to Islam?

[Vinization]

Migration to Abyssinia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

During the early days of Islam, in 613 AD, a group of Muslims fled to the kingdom of Aksum in order to escape persecution by the Quraysh. The king, Najashi, not only gave them shelter but also rebuked a Quraysh delegation calling for their expulsion back to Mecca. The exiles stayed in Aksumite territory until they returned to Arabia in 622 and 628.

So my question is, would it be possible for the Quraysh to gain the upper hand in their struggle against Muhammad, forcing him to flee to Aksumite territory with as many of his followers as possible in the 620s? Would it be possible for the Muslims, assuming they last as a religious community in the coming decades, to gather an increasingly large following in Aksum, to the point a king or some powerful nobles could convert to Islam? Could a decisive Sassanid victory in their last war against the Byzantines, one that leaves Egypt in their hands, help by permanently severing the link between Aksum and Constantinople?

 

[ahmedali]

King Negus had already converted to Islam before his death

Honestly, this is a divine commandment from God that Muhammad stay in Mecca, so that's easy, ASB

 

[Prince di Corsica]

Well, realistically a group of exiles managing to convert a country after being expelled from their homeland seems difficult but not impossible.

It is mentioned in the tradition of this event that the Quran's chapter on Mary was an important point to establish kinship between Aksum and the early Muslims so I could see that having an impact in the future religion formed in those circumstances. I don't know enough about the Christological debates in Aksum to state how those would influence it however, but it seems like a decent place to start

 

[Metempsychosis]

King Negus had already converted to Islam before his death

Honestly, this is a divine commandment from God that Muhammad stay in Mecca, so that's easy, ASB

And yet God allowed him to flee to Yathrib when things got dicey. Curious.

 

[Vinization]

Well, realistically a group of exiles managing to convert a country after being expelled from their homeland seems difficult but not impossible.

It is mentioned in the tradition of this event that the Quran's chapter on Mary was an important point to establish kinship between Aksum and the early Muslims so I could see that having an impact in the future religion formed in those circumstances. I don't know enough about the Christological debates in Aksum to state how those would influence it however, but it seems like a decent place to start

I wonder if Islam could be seen as a different form of Christianity rather than a new religion ITTL.

 

[athgtq16129]

I wonder if Islam could be seen as a different form of Christianity rather than a new religion ITTL.

Christians already saw early Islam as a heretical Christian group for a few centuries before it started to be seen and treated as a separate Abrahamic religion.