The Mongol Empire was a mosaic of different regions and religions that spread across the continent of Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. The Mongols today are most known for their brutality. In fact, Genghis Khan killed so many people that large areas of land were revitalized, removing 700 million tons of carbon from the earths atmosphere. In addition to Genghis Khan being the greenest invader, the Mongols were also known to be tolerant towards other religions. However, were the Mongols really religiously tolerant?A Mosaic of Regions: The Mongolian EmpireVajrabhairava Mandala by an unknown artist, ca. 1330-32. This textile was commissioned by Tugh Temr, the son of Kublai Khan, who is depicted with his wife in the bottom left corner. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York CityThe Mongol Empire expanded rapidly throughout Asia to Eastern Europe as a result of military conquest. Temjin, who would become Genghis Khan, was the first to unify the different Mongolian tribes together. Under Genghis leadership, these newly unified tribes spread out across Asia from the Mongolian steppe, located between Russia and China. There was no single driver for the Mongol conquest, with economic, political, and religious factors all playing a role.The harsh environmental conditions of Mongolia made the Mongols reliant on trade with other regions for resources. This trade, crucial to their livelihoods, was being threatened by the Jurchen Jin and Western Xia Dynasties in northern China, who began restricting how much the Mongols could trade with them. The desire to conquer Northern China could have been sparked by the necessity for survival.Another factor for Mongol expansion could be attributed to Temjins belief that Tengri, the Mongols principal sky god, gave him the mission to consolidate the entire world under the same sword. This could be the context underlying Temjins renaming to Genghis Khan, or universal ruler in 1206. Nonetheless, under Genghis Khan, the newly unified Mongol tribes spilled out from Mongolia, conquering northern China and expanding across Central Asia. Through territorial expansion, the Mongols were confronted with new religions and believers. How did they deal with these encounters?Religious Tolerance or Religious Selectivity?Temjin proclaimed as Genghis Khan in 1206, as illustrated in the Jami al-tawarikh manuscript by an unknown artist, ca. 1430-1434. Source: National Library of France, ParisAlthough the Mongols have become understood as an empire that embraced religious tolerance, this may not have always been a part of Genghis Khans original policies and beliefs. In fact, tolerance did not apply until his expansion into other territories. Thus, allowing believers to maintain their faiths was not integral to Mongol policy, but instead something that became increasingly incorporated and developed through interactions with other regions. Further, the tolerance towards other religions outside of Mongolian Tengrism, a mix between shamanism and animism, was not applied to all religions, but only a select few. Thus, it may be a misnomer to label the Mongols as universally tolerant.First Encounters: Genghis Khan and BuddhistsPoem of Farewell to Liu Man by Yel Chucai, 1240. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York CityAlthough Genghis Khan came into contact with foreign religions prior to conquest, territorial expansion put him face to face with foreign clerics or religious leaders. The first he encountered were Buddhists. In 1214, Genghis Khan allegedly met Haiyun, a Zen Buddhist monk (Atwood, p. 244). Upon looking at the shaved head of Haiyun, Genghis asked him to grow it out and style it the Mongol way. This typically included shaved sides with the front grown out to form a braid. Haiyun informed him that doing so would make him lose status as a Buddhist monk. Genghis allowed him to keep his head shaven, a privilege eventually extended to other Buddhist monks.Although this meeting could be fictionalized, it mirrors a second interaction that would take place some years later, again with Buddhist monks. This time, Genghis Khan and his armies arrived at a monastery at Mount Wutai in northeast China to conscript its monks into the Mongol armies. Yel Chucai, the advisor for Genghis Khan, informed him Buddhists were strongly against killing, and doing so would be a severe transgression from their beliefs. Genghis listened to his advisor and left the monastery without conscripting the monks.On both occasions, Genghis Khan, whose armies had decimated entire populations, left the Buddhists unbothered. Why?This Kind of People and Several Pathways to GodJar with Dragon by an unknown artist, 1300s. Source: Cleveland Museum of Art, ClevelandThe exemptions granted did not represent religious open-mindedness as we perceive in the 21st century. Instead, these exceptions were based on Genghis Khans own belief that these clergy were truly praying to heaven, reflecting his own understanding about divinity, especially in regards to divine intervention.Genghis believed that the divine power of a singular authority, God, was capable of intervening in the affairs of people on earth. This god responded to prayers, especially by those who were renowned for their spirituality, like monks or priests. His perception that Buddhists prayed to a single god aligned with this. Thus, to Genghis, both himself and Buddhists prayed to the same god. This god, he believed, was granting him success in his military ventures.In addition to letting Buddhist monks keep shaved heads and avoid conscription, some were also made exempt from providing tribute and paying taxes. The decrees, referred to as darqan jarliqs, were granted to people and institutions Genghis believed truly prayed to heaven. The exemptions were conditional on the recipients praying for Genghis and his family (Atwood, p. 239). This is because this kind of people (Atwood, p. 245), needed to focus on their prayers that would continue Genghis Khans success. They could not be forced to pay taxes and tribute when Mongol victory depended on their spiritual labour.During the time of Genghis Khan, darqan jarliqs were also applied to other institutions outside of Buddhism, such as certain Daoist temples and Muslim clergy, and specific people could be granted the title of darqan. For Genghis Khan, the specific religion didnt matter; what mattered was that it fit into his belief system. He believed that just as God has given the hand several fingers, so he has given mankind several paths (Atwood, p. 252). Christianity (of which the Nestorian sect flourished in the East) was eventually added under Genghis third son and successor, gedei. Thus, as Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity functioned based on prayer to a single authority, they were all under the umbrella of the god who supported the Mongols.Exceptions to the RuleMiniature from a copy of Rashid al-DinsJami al-tawarikh. Tayang Khan Presented with the Head of the Mongol Leader Ong Khan by an unknown artist, ca. 1596. Source: The David Collection, CopenhagenHowever, prayer to a single god was not enough for Genghis Khan to grant exemption. These exemptions were not granted to entire religions but rather specific institutions or people. Genghis was also guided by other criteria that helped him determine if people were receiving blessings, or not, from God. Genghis believed God gave blessings in the form of prolonged life, or old age, or territorial control, political power, or economic success. For example, Qi Ghuji, a Buddhist monk who Genghis Khan allegedly met, was believed to be 300 years old. Moreover, the Pope was believed to be 500.These are the reasons why Judaism and Confucianism were initially excluded in decrees during the time of Genghis Khan. During his reign, Jews didnt have a stable state, and thus were not perceived as being blessed with political or territorial power. Notably however, they were still allowed to practice. Meanwhile, Genghis did not perceive Confucians as functioning based on prayer, and they were also excluded. Consequently, the allowance of religious groups to practice was not universal, but rather selective.Historically, darqan jarliqs reflect this by granting exemptions to four religionsBuddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity. Confucianism and Judaism were later additions in the Mongol Empire. Another reason different religious groups were able to continue their own religious practices was as a means to consolidate political control. While the Mongols enjoyed military superiority over subject peoples, there were not enough of them to take over the political administration. Accordingly, local elites who had submitted were often left in charge of their domains. In a similar vein, Yel Chucai convinced Genghis that allowing newly conquered peoples to continue practising their faith would make his rule more readily acceptable (Atwood, p. 246).Not All Mongols Were TolerantPostmortem Portrait of Kublai Khan attributed to Anige, 1294. Source: National Palace Museum, TaipeiHowever, treatment of other religious groups during the Mongolian Empire was also contingent on the Mongol khan; the Mongols did not always grant even the main four religions exceptions. In some instances, Mongol leaders tried to outlaw or restrict certain religions. Take for example Mngke Khan, the grandson son of Genghis Khan, who decreed the extermination of the Nizaris, an Ismaili sect of the Shia branch of Islam. This is because Mngke was trying to establish the Il-khanate, the name given to the Mongol state in present-day Iran.Kublai Khan, ruler of the Yuan Dynasty in Mongol China, was also prone to attacking other religions. In 1280, he made a command that targeted Islamic and Jewish dietary practices. The death penalty would be instituted for anyone who killed animals in the Islamic or Jewish fashion, which is done by slitting the throat in such a way no harm is caused to the animal. It is said that Kublai stated everyone under Mongol rule was required to eat the food of our dynasty (Atwood, p. 251). A refusal to do so was perceived as a sign of rebellion; Kublai considered all subjects under Mongol rule as his slaves.The death penalty was also extended to anyone who performed circumcisions, another attack on Islam and Judaism. Kublai also targeted East Asian religions. He placed a restriction on Daoist writings, forbidding all except the Daodejing (or Tao Te Ching). Additionally, he wasnt as generous with darqan jarliqs as other rulersrather than granting new exemptions, instead, he ordered some religious institutions to pay taxes.ConvertsIlkhanid wall tile from Iran by an unknown artist, 13th -14th century. Source, Czartoryski Museum, KrakwCertain Mongol leaders not only permitted other religious groups to practice their faith, but converted to it themselves. This was the case especially with Mongol groups in western Asia, who gradually became Muslims. Ghazan Khan, the seventh ruler of the Il-Khanate in Iran, converted to Islam in 1295, while the khans of the Golden Horde in Russia officially adopted Islam in the early 14th century. Although conversion sometimes served a political purpose, in some cases, such as Ghazan Khans, it reflected a genuine interest in the faith. In east Asia, Kublai Khan also converted to Tibetan Buddhism. In cases of religious conversion by the Mongols, sometimes Mongol Tengrism was not completely abandoned, but would become absorbed into the new religion.Toleration With LimitationsIlkhanate Silk Circular by an unknown artist, 1st half of 14th century. Source: The David Collection, CopenhagenAlthough the idea that the Mongols could represent an empire that was severely brutal at the same time as being religiously tolerant is an appealing paradox, this notion may not have existed for the reasons we would expect, and hope, it to be. While the Mongol Empire was cosmopolitan and culturally and religiously diverse in many respects, its religious policies fell considerably short of the concepts of freedom of worship and religious toleration as they are understood in the 21st century.The selective permission of certain religious groups to practice their faiths under the Mongols reflected their own spiritual beliefs and political systems rather than a universal acceptance of freedom of religion. Nevertheless, non-Mongol religions were still practised in the empire, and some of their institutions and religious leaders were protected during the period of Mongol rule.Sources:Atwood, Christopher P. Validation by Holiness or Sovereignty: Religious Toleration as Political Theology in the Mongol World Empire of the Thirteenth Century. The International History Review 26, no. 2 (June 2004): 23756.