Religious persecution and sectarian strife

Religious persecution and sectarian strife are a recurring cause of imperial weakness, as conflict between faiths or within a faith alienates subjects and divides elites. Rulers who impose religious uniformity may provoke revolt or lose productive communities. Examples include the sectarian divisions of the Rashidun Caliphate, religious conflict in the later Mughal Empire and the Safavid Empire, and the persecutions of the Roman Empire.