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This podcast started as a log of my journey through multiple classical Arab histories. Listeners are invited to join me as I construct a narrative out of the long and often contradictory accounts left to us by the earliest Arab historians. We’ll use their material (and at times supplement it with more recent scholarship) to try and understand the political evolution of the Arabs from warring nomadic tribes at the edges of civilization, to the proud rulers of the greatest empire of their time, and then back again. Our vantage point into this world will be their leaders, the “successors to God’s prophet Mohammad”: the caliphs.




Latest episodes

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Abbasid

Episode 88: Amir al umara’

Zayd September 1, 2024

The creation of the role of amir al umara’ transformed the political landscape in Baghdad. It attracted men of influence to court, and they did not come seeking to serve the caliph, but to dominate his metropolis. Ibn Ra’iq was the first such aspirants, but he and others soon learned […]

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Abbasid

Episode 87: Al Radi the irrelevant

Zayd August 11, 2024

We’ve reached the end of the road as far as Abbasid authority is concerned. Although it had waxed and waned before, there would be no recovering from the lows it had fell to this time. The caliph had no independent authority, helpful counselors, loyal generals, powerful armies, not even any […]

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Abbasid

Episode 86: Al Qaher’s folly

Zayd July 14, 2024

A chaotic period followed al Muqtadir’s death in battle. Although officials quickly reached a consensus on the elevation of his successor, the very fact that the last caliph had been killed meant that more political violence was to be expected. Al Qaher managed to best the men who installed him […]

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Abbasid

Episode 85: Third time’s the charm

Zayd June 16, 2024

Considering the absurd levels of official mismanagement, it’s astounding how long the caliphate survived during al Muqtadir’s inept administration. Although it never collapsed, over the course of two dozen years the state’s power steadily declined in meaningful ways. It collected less taxes, had smaller armies, and lost territory to the […]

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Abbasid

Episode 84: General Mu’nis

Zayd May 26, 2024

Having discussed the disorder in the caliphate’s civil bureaucracy we’ll turn our attention to the state of its military. The sharp contrast between the state of the two is in large part thanks to the figure of Mu’nis, the general who led Abbasid armies to one victory after another. His […]

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Abbasid

Episode 83: War of the wazirs

Zayd April 21, 2024

For the very first time in Arab history, a child became the umma’s caliph. The 13 year old had not yet left his royal harem and was totally under his mother’s control. She used her influence over al Muqtadir to to extend her personal wealth and authority. It was a […]

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Abbasid

Episode 82: The rise of al Muqtadir

Zayd March 24, 2024

After all our recent foreshadowing, we’ve finally arrived at the period of Abbasid collapse. It’s a relatively long period, stretching from the start of al Muqtadir’s reign in 908 until around the middle of that century, when the Abbasids were reduced to figureheads by a more commanding dynasty. In an […]

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Abbasid

Episode 81: Splintering of the Shi’a

Zayd March 3, 2024

Cataloguing the tapestry of Islamic traditions is a task that lies well beyond our scope, but every now and again the topic overlaps with the subjects we are interested in. It’s important to understand where the Qaramita and Fatimids came from, because these two foes will face the Abbasid Caliphate […]

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Abbasid

Episode 80: Al Muktafi

Zayd February 11, 2024

Reading about this caliph’s reign in our sources is a bewildering experience: everything is simultaneously great and on the brink of destruction. Later histories pick apart developments in the administration throughout al Muktafi’s time in charge in search of a crack or culprit. Meanwhile, the caliphate was going strong, and […]

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Abbasid

Episode 79: Fortune favors the brute

Zayd January 28, 2024

Before you even hit play it should already be clear to you that the caliphate is only going to get stronger over the course of our discussion today. Al Mu’tadid seems to have been incapable of doing any wrong; his decisive leadership reinvigorated the state far beyond what his predecessors […]

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Abbasid

Episode 78: Al Mu’tadid

Zayd January 7, 2024

Get ready for a blast from the past! Perhaps I should have prepared you for a weak pun instead. Hearing about this caliph’s reign will transport us back to his great-grandfather al Mu’tasim’s days. Much like his esteemed ancestor, the energetic new leader commanded his armies in person and used […]

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Abbasid

Episode 77: His brother’s keeper

Zayd December 17, 2023

Al Mu’tamid’s reign lasted from 870 to 892. The Abbasid Caliphate was reborn during these decades, midwifed by the caliph’s brother Talha, better known in history by his title al Muwaffaq. The new Abbasid state understood its limits and adopted a pragmatic but uncompromising approach towards rebuilding its power. It […]

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Abbasid

Episode 75: Masters of Khurasan

Zayd November 5, 2023

We have been focused exclusively on the capital province of Iraq ever since the outbreak of anarchy. While we had good reasons to keep a close eye on developments there, Khurasan can no longer be ignored. Not only had it always been a vital part of the Abbasid realm, but […]

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Abbasid

Episode 70: Proxy fitna

Zayd July 9, 2023

As the last vestiges of Abbasid authority crumbled, the caliphate spiraled further into chaos. It wasn’t too long before an unremarkable conflict sparked a much wider conflagration and the umma was engulfed by civil war. The turks treated the Abbasids as little more than a banner, and each side rallied […]

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Abbasid

Episode 67: Breaking the camel’s back

Zayd May 21, 2023

Succession planning presented a sporadic problem for the caliphate. The great fitna was the last disaster spawned by ill-conceived designs, and it proved absolutely ruinous to the state. Al Mutawakkil’s arrangement was so bad that it became the first to snare the caliph himself in its chaos. As with most […]

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Abbasid

Episode 66: Sunni side up

Zayd May 5, 2023

Despite the religious overtones of the caliphate, there was nothing very islamic about the state when it came to policy. The inquisition marked the first time an administration tried to interfere in matters of faith, and it intensified over the reigns of three caliphs. Al Mutawakkil put an end to […]

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Abbasid

Episode 65: Al Mutawakkil

Zayd April 23, 2023

Considering their invincibility on the battlefield, the caliphate’s armies probably felt assured that they would remain the state’s number one priority. Al Mutawakkil’s purge of the administration only touched one member of the military hierarchy, and the caliph could not kill off its leadership if he required an effective fighting […]

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Abbasid

Episode 63: Al Watheq

Zayd March 12, 2023

Despite the general unpopularity of al Mu’tasim’s Turkish inner-circle, the paradigm he established proved so stable that it endured throughout the reign of his son and successor, Haoon al Watheq. The new caliph wasn’t very keen on administration: he left his father’s loyalists in their positions and expected the bureaucratic […]

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Abbasid

Episode 62: Princely ambitions

Zayd February 26, 2023

Al Mu’tasim’s armies were among the strongest ever fielded by the caliphate. They reliably triumphed over their foes and faced no problems putting down any resistance to the caliph’s authority. Al Afshin and the Ushrusania were some of their most important elements, responsible for some of the umma’s most celebrated […]

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Abbasid

Episode 61: Al Mu’tasim

Zayd February 12, 2023

For the third time in a row, a son of Harun al Rashid took control of the umma. Al Mu’tasim is remembered for his close association with the Turkic peoples of the East, an interest supposedly nurtured by his Sogdian mother. Of these men he amassed a personal army during […]

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Abbasid

Episode 60: Greatness in retrospect

Zayd January 29, 2023

It’s hard to identify a single aspect of the umma left unchanged by al Ma’mun’s long reign: he had a major impact politically, socially, intellectually, religiously, and beyond. Despite its many impressive achievements however, its flaws receive an inordinate amount of attention in our sources. Even when describing al Ma’mun’s […]

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Abbasid

Episode 59: Faith and philosophy

Zayd January 15, 2023

Two decades of al Ma’mun’s capable administration led the caliphate to an extraordinary recovery. His return to Baghdad put an end to the chaotic aftermath of the great fitna and his enduring success helped the umma reach new heights militarily, commercially, and even intellectually. The material we find on the […]

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Abbasid

Episode 58: Al Ma’mun

Zayd December 18, 2022

Back in Baghdad, al Ma’mun finally began to play an active role in running the Abbasid state. The five years he spent in Khurasan were rough on the rest of the caliphate, but especially disastrous for Iraq. The caliph now had to restore peace and central control to practically every […]

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Abbasid

Episode 57: Interregnum

Zayd December 4, 2022

Al Ma’mun’s surprise victory over his brother left him in charge of the entire caliphate. But the conclusion of the great fitna did not bring an end to its miseries: the chaos of war had spread throughout the land and the new caliph possessed neither the experience nor the resources […]

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Abbasid

Episode 56: The great fitna

Zayd October 23, 2022

Haroon al Rashid divided his realm among his children, and the young men were quickly goaded into conflict with one another by their advisors. The unexperienced princes found the underlying tensions simply too powerful to overcome. But the predictability of war was upended by its unpredictable outcome. Fortune swung violently […]

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Abbasid

Episode 55: Al Amin

Zayd October 9, 2022

Haroon al Rashid worked towards fool-proofing his succession arrangement more than any other caliph by far: the ceremony he held at Mecca with his heirs swearing to abide by his wishes is more elaborate than anything we have or will come across. He would not have gone to such lengths […]

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Abbasid

Episode 54: Legacy issues

Zayd September 25, 2022

Due to his father al Mahdi’s arrangement, Haroon al Rashid endured a traumatic year during which his brother tried to have him removed from the line of succession. Having barely survived the experience, he put a great deal of thought and effort into the matter of his own succession in […]

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Abbasid

Episode 53: Downfall of the Baramika

Zayd August 28, 2022

Royal advisors, court attendants, and other officials began to hold some real political power in the Abbasid caliphate, a development which progressed with every caliph who came after the micromanaging al Mansur. The Baramika during al Rashid’s reign represented the pinnacle of this sort of bureaucratic authority and they established […]

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Abbasid

Episode 52: Power struggle

Zayd August 14, 2022

Now that we’ve covered Haroon al Rashid’s foreign wars, we can get started with the messy conflicts which took place within the umma, and within his administration itself. The caliphate’s distant west slowly broke away during his reign, but his armies faced off and defeated various challengers across the rest […]

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Abbasid

Episode 51: Holy warrior

Zayd July 17, 2022

Haroon al Rashid is commonly portrayed as a martial caliph, one who menaced the Byzantine empire and led a tireless crusade against them. He is praised in Arab sources for defeating the Greeks time and again, all in defense of the umma’s faith and faithful. While this popular opinion isn’t […]

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Abbasid

Episode 50: Al Rashid

Zayd July 3, 2022

From our vantage point in the 21st century, it is clear that Haroon al Rashid is by far the most famous Arab caliph. His renown is not some modern phenomenon either: he may occasionally pop up as a cultural reference or on a trivia show, but he was immortalized early […]

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Abbasid

Episode 49: Al Hadi

Zayd June 19, 2022

The sudden passing of Mohammad al Mahdi led his son Musa al Hadi to become the umma’s next leader sooner than anyone would have expected. With a wild disposition and little actual experience in administration, the twenty one year old became the youngest Abbasid to wield power. He didn’t get […]

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Abbasid

Episode 48: Al Mahdi

Zayd June 5, 2022

Al Mansur’s long reign transformed the caliphate in countless ways, most of them for the better. It provided a kind of stability the umma desperately needed to absorb the tumult of the Abbasid revolution and adjust to the new status quo. What followed was a golden age of prosperity, to […]

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Abbasid

Episode 47: The city of peace

Zayd May 22, 2022

Perhaps most significant among al Mansur’s many triumphs was his founding of a new capital for his administration, a glorious new city which would come to be known as Baghdad. It was a decision that had a tremendous impact on Arab and world history, bringing the umma another step closer […]

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Abbasid

Episode 46: Shifting east

Zayd April 24, 2022

The chaos of the Abbasid revolution gave foreign powers a rare opportunity to strike at the caliphate while it was paralyzed by internal strife. Things could have gone very badly for the Arabs but the unparalleled al Mansur proved as capable against these foes as he had those who had […]

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Abbasid

Episode 44: The ghost of Abu Muslim

Zayd March 27, 2022

One of al Mansur’s first acts as caliph was to lure Abu Muslim to his court and assassinate the powerful and popular governor. This led to immediate turmoil in the East, leaving him to contend with sporadic upheavals for almost an entire decade. The caliph proved up to the task: […]

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Abbasid

Episode 43: Al Mansur

Zayd March 13, 2022

Much of what people associate with the idea of a medieval Arab caliphate is rooted in the reign of our upcoming caliph. The foundation he laid for his dynasty is so solid that it makes the Umayyad era seem like little more than a formalized extension of the early Arab […]

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Abbasid

Episode 42: The triumphant

Zayd February 27, 2022

Succession once again warrants its own episode. Al Saffah relied on three commanders to oversee different parts of his caliphate, and while the setup kept the new dynasty safe and stable, the ambitions of these three leaders clashed soon after the caliph passed away.

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Abbasid

Episode 41: Al Saffah

Zayd February 13, 2022

The Abbasid revolution showed what it took to overthrow a dynasty; establishing a new one brought a whole other set of challenges. The clan’s first caliph, al Saffah, took an aggressive posture to scare off any would-be challengers to his power. Legitimacy was his chief concern, and he found the […]

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Abbasid

Episode 40: The Abbasid revolution

Zayd January 30, 2022

The Abbasid path to power required stealth, deceit, and most of all patience. The Hashemite family managed to unseat the Umayyads through cultivating a secret movement that benefitted from all the social tensions which plagued the umma. They drew on Hashemite support by calling for the rights of the prophet’s […]

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Umayyad

Episode 39: Nasr ibn Sayyar

Zayd January 16, 2022

While the Umayyads fought among themselves in distant Syria, dangerous developments were underway in Khurasan. The umma’s divisions in the Eastern province were deep enough to give the coming revolution its first foothold in the caliphate. Its final Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Sayyar, bore witness to the entire transformational era […]

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Umayyad

Episode 38: The third fitna

Zayd January 2, 2022

Yazid III’s successful coup against Walid II blew up the tribal feud. Syrian unity had long undergirded Umayyad power in Syria and from there, the entire caliphate; it had now been torn asunder in bloody warfare. Even when the clan finally had someone strong enough to make a play at […]

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Umayyad

Episode 37: Walid bin Yazid

Zayd December 19, 2021

It took Hisham two decades to undo the damage his half-brothers had wrought upon the umma with their careless administration. It took his successor Walid ibn il Yazid less than two years to wreck things beyond repair. While it was almost entirely his fault that things fell apart for his […]

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Umayyad

Episode 36: Hisham and the Arabs

Zayd December 5, 2021

The capable Hisham protected his caliphate from the many enemies who lined its borders. These were not the only ones he had to contend with however, the umma itself was somewhat fragmented, and opposition to the Umayyads had swelled during the short and tumultuous reigns of his predecessors. As a […]

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Umayyad

Episode 35: Turgesh troubles

Zayd November 21, 2021

Khurasan and the East remained as volatile as ever, and Hisham had to contend with the new threat of the Turgesh throughout his long reign. We’re fortunate that our sources contain so much information on the region during this chaotic time, especially because the area will be of pivotal importance […]

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Umayyad

Episode 34: Hard mode

Zayd November 7, 2021

Hisham’s armies faced many different opponents during his long and formidable reign. The mismanagement of the half-brothers who preceded him had taken its toll on the umma’s unity, and the caliphate’s borders were no longer as secure as they had once been. We’ll take a whirlwind tour of the fighting […]

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Umayyad

Episode 33: Hisham bin Abdulmalik

Zayd October 24, 2021

In the nine years between al Walid’s death in 715 and Hisham’s ascension in 724 the umma went through three caliphs, each with a radically different vision for its future. This swinging between political projects greatly undermined any stability Umayyad power was founded upon, an important development which is unfortunately […]

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Umayyad

Episode 32: Yazid bin Abdulmalik

Zayd October 10, 2021

Yazid came to power following the transformative reign of the pious Omar II. The new caliph faced some immediate resistance, and after dealing with it he went about undoing all his predecessors reforms, effectively returning the caliphate to what it had been before. While the cracks are too fine to […]

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Umayyad

Episode 31: Omar bin Abdulaziz

Zayd September 26, 2021

Sulayman’s underwhelming time in charge ended with a twist, and Omar ibn Abdulaziz proved to be a real surprise. The famously pious Umayyad had a vision for the umma, and he used his new position to impose an order unseen since the early, predynastic days of the caliphate. Although he […]

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Umayyad

Episode 29: Unforced error

Zayd August 29, 2021

If Walid’s reign was the zenith of Umayyad power, then his succession marked an inflection point through which we begin to see some cracks which may have been there all along. Leaving his governor of Iraq and the East unchecked led to great discontent, and different rifts within the umma […]

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Umayyad

Episode 28: Walid bin Abdulmalik

Zayd August 15, 2021

Although Abdulmalik was an incredibly tough act to follow, his successor was bequeathed an unassailably powerful position. The caliphate was ascendant, and its frontier armies were so capable and efficient that they expanded its domain to unmatched extents practically autonomously. Narrations about these years are filled with raids, conquests, and […]

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Umayyad

Episode 27: Imperial caliphate

Zayd August 1, 2021

Having exhausted the many rebellions against his unpopular governor, we can finally turn our attention to assessing Abdulmalik’s leadership and the results of his many deeply influential policy changes. He’s remembered overwhelmingly positively in our sources despite these many upheavals, and we’ll try and get into why that was before […]

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Umayyad

Episode 26: The East

Zayd July 18, 2021

Having securely established his position in Syria, Abdulmalik relied on his dependable governor al Hajjaj to keep the Iraqis in line. Ruling them with an iron fist unsurprisingly led to more rebellions than calm, and despite the many thwarted movements we discussed last time it seems like the East remained […]

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Umayyad

Episode 25: Abdulmalik bin Marwan

Zayd July 4, 2021

Abdulmalik’s adept handling of the second fitna revealed him to be a shrewd mover and shaker with a disposition suitable for leadership. He did more than emulate those who came before him, he enacted changes that pushed the caliphate further into statehood and away from its roots as a tribal […]

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Umayyad

Episode 24: How the best man won

Zayd June 20, 2021

The second fitna revealed the unprecedented level of division within the umma, divisions which only grew as the civil conflict ground on for a decade. Under Abdulmalik’s leadership, the Umayyads managed to slowly grow their power until they found themselves in a position to challenge for the umma’s leadership once […]

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Umayyad

Episode 23: The chosen one

Zayd June 6, 2021

Before we can continue our discussion of the struggle between Abdulmalik and Ibn il Zubayr, we need to step back and survey the complicated situation in Iraq. Deep divisions made its cities difficult for either leader to claim, especially considering the significant Hashemite sympathies in Kufa which now had no […]

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Umayyad

Episode 22: The second fitna

Zayd May 23, 2021

The umma spiraled further into disorder and civil war after the sudden death of the caliph and the subsequent collapse of Umayyad authority. Ibn il Zubayr’s candidacy was transformed from an unlikely proposition to a victory by default as he became the last man standing. Despite being the only Qurayshi […]

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Umayyad

Episode 21: Yazid bin Mu’awiya

Zayd May 9, 2021

Mu’awiya’s thorough preparations before his death left little doubt as to who would succeed him. His mastery over the umma’s various social forces must have made his job look easy when it was anything but, and Yazid made it his first priority to snuff out all resistance in order to […]

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Umayyad

Episode 20: Succeeding the dynast

Zayd April 25, 2021

Just because Mu’awiya held supreme power within the caliphate didn’t mean he thought his will was absolute. He had displayed a keen understanding of tribal politics during his rise to power, painstakingly building a strong network of support to challenge for and win the title of caliph. He deployed all […]

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Umayyad

Episode 19: Umayyad glory

Zayd April 11, 2021

The same skills which propelled Mu’awiya along his relentless rise to the top of the caliphate helped him rule the Arabs unlike any man had managed to until then. Our sources contrast his reign to what came before it sharply, and it is worth reflecting on how they began to […]

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Predynastic

Episode 17: The end of an era

Zayd March 1, 2021

The first four leaders of the umma were collectively bestowed with the honorific “the rightly guided caliphs”. They were all close companions of the prophet, and their reign was succeeded by the beginnings of imperial rule. Taking the time to appreciate this disconnect is vital and we’ll spend this episode […]

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Predynastic

Episode 16: Reconquering the umma

Zayd February 15, 2021

Divisions within the community only grew as the struggle between its two main parties persisted, almost pushing the goal of reuniting the umma out of the realm of possibility. This episode charts the evolution of this civil war, the disintegration of the norms islam had recently instilled in the Arabs, […]

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Predynastic

Episode 14: The first fitna

Zayd January 18, 2021

Following the caliph’s victory over the Meccan faction at Basra, Ali bin Abi Talib turned his attention towards Syria. The Umayyad Mu’awiya bin Abu Sufyan had governed its lands for nearly two decades and insisted that he would not submit until his kin’s murderers and their unnamed instigators had been […]

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Predynastic

Episode 12: Ali bin Abi Talib

Zayd December 7, 2020

Legitimating succession within the caliphate was already hard enough, and the rebellion that led to Othman’s death only divided the fractured Umma further. It is in these unenviable conditions that the Hashemite Ali bin Abi Talib will prevail as the Umma’s fourth caliph, fulfilling the hopes of those who believed […]

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Predynastic

Episode 11: Othman’s end

Zayd November 23, 2020

Dismissing the grievances brought to him earlier in his reign made sure the discontent the caliph faced would only grow. The sources diverge widely when it comes to these contentious and deeply consequential events, but ultimately Othman had to face the wrath of men who held the caliph solely responsible […]

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Predynastic

Episode 10: Othman in the public eye

Zayd November 9, 2020

The quasi-political system devised by the Arabs to manage the community’s affairs was hastily put together and it mixed tribal norms and islamic ethics haphazardly. The pitfalls of the caliphate were numerous, and Omar’s many changes during his reign were aimed at addressing some of them. Othman’s reign was not […]

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Predynastic

Episode 9: Othman bin Affan

Zayd October 26, 2020

With the confusion of Omar’s assassination and succession behind them, the Arabs were now ready to welcome the reign of yet another of their prophet’s close companions. In this episode we’ll talk more about the new caliph, and take a tour of his many and growing domains.

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Predynastic

Episode 8: Quraysh’s finest

Zayd October 12, 2020

Omar’s bold and sweeping policies defined the caliphate and gave it the tools it needed to evolve past its origins as a tribal confederation. While his predecessor had shied away from such decision making, the old Abu Bakr at least had the foresight to pick his successor. The second caliph […]

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Predynastic

Episode 5: Wasteful wars

Zayd September 2, 2020

I would like to be the first to admit that this episode doesn’t quite belong in this podcast. It’s just that the Arabs will take down two ancient and powerful empires with a swiftness that beggars belief, and this is my attempt at explaining how such an unthinkable act could […]

caliphs arab history podcast
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Predynastic

Episode 4: Abu Bakr

Zayd August 15, 2020

The man chosen to lead the muslims after their prophet’s death was his close friend, Abu Bakr. He thus became the world’s first caliph, and was faced with the unenviable task of keeping all the peninsula’s fiercely independent-minded tribes united. His short reign had many successes, ensuring him a vaulted […]