ABSTRACT
The classical age of Islam ended with the fall of Baghdad. Muslim Asia, seemingly on the verge of ruin, made, however, a surprising recovery. Ain Jalut destroyed the Mongol reputation for invincibility and kept the pagan hordes out of Egypt and the Maghrib, and the invaders, chastened by defeat, developed a respect for the Muslim faith. The Mongol leaders in South Russia had already embraced Islam: by 1300 the descendants of Hulagu, the Il-Khans of Persia, after long hesitation, chose Muhammad instead of Christ. This was decisive. The future of Islam was assured, and Christian hopes of evangelizing Asia faded and died. Nestorian and Latin churches maintained a precarious existence in Turkistan, Persia and China for a few years longer, but by 1400 they had virtually disappeared. The Crusades petered out in failure; the Mamluks ejected the Franks from Syria, and mass-defections to Islam left the native Christian communities in the Near East the tiny minorities they are to-day.
