The Caliphs

Recent Episodes

Episode 41: Al Saffah

Posted February 13, 2022 • 00:25:29

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...

Episode 40: The Abbasid revolution

Posted January 30, 2022 • 00:28:50

The Abbasid path to power required stealth, deceit, and most of all patience. The Hashemite family managed to unseat the Umayyads through cultivating...

Episode 39: Nasr ibn Sayyar

Posted January 16, 2022 • 00:28:03

While the Umayyads fought among themselves in distant Syria, dangerous developments were underway in Khurasan. The umma’s divisions in the Eastern...

Episode 38: The third fitna

Posted January 2, 2022 • 00:25:51

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...

Episode 37: Walid bin Yazid

Posted December 19, 2021 • 00:23:30

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...