[patchwork]

WIP: Emir

In this worldline, the Emir Abd al-Kader makes a great fuss over Napoleon III's declaring himself Emperor, and that worthy re-exiles him to the USA, where he will definitely be no further trouble and couldn't possibly be heard from again.

The Emir settles into the social scene of New York and Washington; when the Civil War breaks out, he eagerly offers his services to the Union, but they are declined - Lincoln knows exactly what sort of war the Emir has in mind and is very good at, and it - isn't the war Lincoln has in mind.

Reconstruction is another matter, and he lands Texas, where he serves as an adequate administrator and an excellent evangelist, particularly among the freedmen, where he effectively becomes the chaplain for the 9th and 10th Cavalries. His early successes among freedmen hamper his progress among whites, as Islam is initially seen as a "black religion"...but this doesn't keep him from converting Geronimo and many other Apache. Islam's spread into white America will have to wait for its second great evangelist - Charles Taze Russell.

While still small, the Islamic minority is large enough by 1916 that declaring war on the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph is a dangerous political proposition for many congressmen, so the USA does not participate in the Great War. As the Caliphate crumbles, the last claimants outside of India are offered refuge in the USA, which they accept, although many residents of the former Ottoman Empire and India do not take the American Caliphs seriously.

I'd like to take Emir up to modern times, but the Dark Valley gets all weird, with the USA significantly interested in the Middle East commercially, much less interested in financing reparations from Germany to the other powers, and without the experience of the Great War or the League of Nations, very likely to make early blunders in WWII. Not sure what to do yet with a USA that has a significant Muslim minority.

Variants might include Emir-2, in which al-Kader organizes a large all-black army during the ACW and leads it effectively; and Emir-3, in which a very pro-Islam USA joins the Central Powers during WWI and bites off more than they can chew...