Islamic History Podcast

Basra is starting to slip out of control with rampant crime and too much rebellion. Muawiyyah is ready to bring in someone new; however, this new guy has a scandalous past. In this episode we're introduced to Ziyad ibn Abihi, Muawiyyah's brutal governor of Basra. We'll see how Ziyad rises from obscurity to become the second most powerful man in the Empire. After the show is over, be sure to visit the Show Notes page. The Show Notes are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Ziyad Here's some of what you'll find: The transcript for this episode Links to the Muslim Podcast of the Week Links to other related resources You can support the Islamic History Podcast by doing one (or more) of the following: Give a monthly pledge on Patreon Subscribe on iTunes Share with your friends and family You can do it all and more at the Show Notes Page: IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Ziyad

Welcome back to another season of the Islamic History Podcast! In this season, we're going to mostly cover the Umayyad Dynasty. The first several episodes will be focused on the founder of this dynasty, Muawiyyah ibn Abi Sufyan. Today's episode is an introduction to Syria and Kufah during this period. We'll take a look at the challenges the new Muslim Caliph had to face in the never ending Khawarij threat. We'll discover how the early Muslim administrations were governed and some amazing details you probably never knew. This is guaranteed to be an episode that will both educate and entertain you. After the show is over, be sure to visit the Show Notes page. The Show Notes are available at: IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Kufah Here's some of what you'll find: The transcript for this episode Links to the Muslim Podcast of the Week Links to other related resources You can support the Islamic History Podcast by doing one (or more) of the following: Give a monthly pledge on Patreon Subscribe on iTunes

As Ali struggled against the Khawarij, his grip on the Caliphate began to slip. Support the podcast by making a pledge at Patreon.com/IslamicHistory

After defeating Aisha at the Battle of the Camel, Ali held most of the Islamic Empire. The only holdout, was Muawiyyah, the powerful governor of Syria. But things soon started to unravel for Ali. He was having trouble maintaining control of Egypt, and Muawiyyah was making some strong allies. Nonetheless, the two parties engaged in rigorous negotiations in the hopes of avoiding warfare. Despite these attempts, fighting looked inevitable. As the year 36 AH drew to a close, Ali began moving his forces toward the Syrian border. This would lead to a showdown with Muawiyyah known as the Battle of Siffeen. After the show is over, be sure to visit the Show Notes page. The Show Notes are available at: IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Ali3 Here's some of what you'll find: The transcript for this episode Links to the Muslim Podcast of the Week Links to other related resources You can support the Islamic History Podcast by doing one (or more) of the following: Give a monthly pledge on Patreon Subscribe on iTunes

Talhah and Zubair pledged allegiance to Ali ibn Abi Talib on the condition that he find and punish those responsible for murdering Uthman. But after several months, not much progress had been made. In fact, many of those who were known opponents of Uthman, were now working with Ali. Because of this, many of the influential companions did support him. One of those who did not support Ali was the Prophet's widow, Aisha. She had cobbled together a force with the intention of punishing Uthman's killers. Talhah and Zubair joined her, and before long, Aisha had almost 3000 men under her command. But things quickly spiraled out of hand and Aisha found herself facing off against Ali ibn Abi Talib. This monumental battle would go down in history as one the most damaging and significant in Islamic history. After the show is over, be sure to visit the Show Notes page. You'll find various links, articles, and videos related to this episode. The Show Notes are available at: IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Camel Here's

Ali's Caliphate was already in trouble. The Umayyah clan was suspicious of him. Muawiyyah refused to acknowledge his leadership. There were gangs of bandits were roaming through Medina. And many companions refused to support him. And to make things worse, Aisha, the Prophet's widow, was stirring things up in Mecca. Aisha was outraged that Uthman's killers were still on the loose in Medina. She decided to take matters into her own hands. She rallied the people of Mecca and organized a group to find those responsible for killing Uthman. These two figures, Ali and Aisha, are the most divisive figures in Islam. Sunni and Shiite both love and respect Ali, but the Shiites hold him to a much higher degree than Sunnis. Aisha is a different story altogether. Sunni Muslims adore Aisha, but Shiites hate her. They accuse her of rebelling against Ali and attempting to overthrow him. After the show is over, be sure to visit the Show Notes page. You'll find various links, articles, and videos related to this episode.

For several years, there had been a low level of discontent in the Muslim empire. While most of the inhabitants were happy, there were a significant number who were not. Caliph Uthman had already spoken to his governors to try to get a handle on what was happening. Though they had many ideas, no one came up with a decision to fix the problem. So Uthman decided to hold another meeting, but this everyone was invited. He hoped to speak with the malcontents directly and see what was happening. The meeting was successful in that Uthman was managed to defend his decisions and found out why so many people were disaffected. He even agreed to several of their demands. Unfortunately, some of them would not be satisfied until Uthman was completely out of the picture. There's more to this show than just this single episode. Visit the show notes page for more links, articles, and videos related to this episode. Show notes for this episode are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Uthman5. Here's some of what yo

Many people mark the beginning of Uthman's troubles with the loss of the Prophet's rings. But things really got bad for Uthman when he lost the support of the esteemed companion, Ammar ibn Yasir. The antagonism against Uthman was growing in three main locations: Egypt, Kufah, and Basrah. The rest of the empire was calm and had no problems with his administration. No matter how what Uthman did, he could not get to the bottom of their malcontent. These mysterious complaints against have led some to believe a nefarious individual was behind everything. However, the reality was much more mundane. There were simply many people who did not agree with the way Uthman did things. Uthman was an old man and allowed trusted members of his family to run the government. Unfortunately, when things went bad, it was Uthman who took all the blame Show notes for this episode are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Uthman4 Here's some of the things you'll find: Transcript for this episode Links to various related episodes

One of the most troublesome spots in the Muslim world was the Iraqi city of Kufah. The people were fickle, restless, and never satisfied with their governor. Uthman had to change their governor no less than three times. Uthman's popularity took another hit during the Hajj of 649. Seemingly inconsequential actions had major repercussions. But the most important event during this period was the one that would bring the most benefit. Upon discovering the message of the Quran was in danger of being diluted and fractured, Uthman took immediate stops to reverse this trend. What came out of this was a standard, official compilation of the Quran that remains to this day. But even this great achievement came with its problems. Ultimately, it was just another chance for Uthman's opponents to gripe about him. The fun doesn't end when the podcast does. Visit the Show Notes page for more links, articles, and videos related to this episode Show notes for this episode are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Uth

Uthman has been accused of often appointing his family members to high positions. And in many instances that was true. But some of his appointments were still very good, even if they were related to him. An example of that is Muawiyyah ibn Abu Sufyan. In addition to finding favor with the Prophet of Islam, Muawiyyah was a competent governor of Syria. One of his earliest successes was the building of the first Muslim navy. But he would run into trouble when another companion, Abu Dharr, begins to criticize the way some Muslims lived. Abu Dharr was not one to hold his tongue; not even for the governor of Syria nor for the Caliph. When Abu Dharr's speech begins to rub people the wrong way, Uthman has to make some changes. Unfortunately, he was unaware how those changes would damage his reputation. Show notes for this episode are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Uthman2 Some things you'll find interesting in the show notes are: Transcript for this episode "Married Almost 10 Years!" By Subhanah

Uthman Ibn Affan has always been compared to others. Both during his lifetime and after, he has been compared to the Caliph that came before him and the one that would come after him. There are many factors that contributed to his popularity among a small segment of the Muslim society. Some of them were based on decisions that Uthman made. But some things were out of his control, such as: Not as many conquests as before Minority Muslim Arabs ruling over a conquered, non-Muslim people. Economic strain from entitlements established by Umar Ibn Al-Khattab. Still, there were some decisions that Uthman made that make us pause. One of his most questionable decisions was replacing a popular and successful general like Amr Ibn Al-As with Ibn Abi Sarh. It did not help that Ibn Abi Sarh had once betrayed Prophet Muhammad. And the fact that he was Uthman's cousin just made things even worse. Show notes for this episode are available at IslamicLearningMaterials.com/Uthman1 Please support the Islamic History P

We're back! After a long hiatus, we discuss the assassination of Umar ibn Al-Khattab and the choice of Uthman as the 3rd Caliph of the Muslim world. Show notes available at islamiclearningmaterials.com/election

By 641, the Muslims had captured most of the Southwestern part of the Persian Empire. This area contained the best and most fertile lands and would be modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of northwestern Iran. As mentioned previously, Umar had grown weary of all the fighting and was grateful for their current holdings. However, the Persian pride was wounded and they couldn't accept a peace treaty with the Muslims. Emperor Yesdijird made his base in Nihavan and began to build another army to attack the Muslims. Continue Reading

The Muslims arrived at Alexandria in July 641 It was perhaps the most magnificent and biggest city they've encountered so far Alexandria was founded by the Greek general Alexander the Great and is named after him In Arabic it is called Al-Iskandariyah Alexander meant for it to be a great center of Hellenistic culture However Alexander left the city under the command of one of his generals soon after founding it. Then he went back on the warpath and never came back At one point, it was the second most important city in the world after Rome; if Rome was like NYC then Alexandria was like London Alexandria linked the Greek and Roman parts of Europe with and Arabia and Asia Continue Reading....

The Romans, either from fear or incompetence, had done little to stop Amr during this time Finally, they had to march out from Babylon to meet Amr near Heliopolis and try to drive him from Egypt for good Amr's spies told him of their movements and he planned to go out to meet them in battle. But during the night he sent out two smaller forces; one in the hills overlooking the plains...Continue Reading

In 451, 115 years before Prophet Muhammad, several men representing various facets of Christianity met in Chalcedon in modern Turkey. They were discussing how to define the true nature of Christ. They believed he was divine, yet he lived and died like a man. 3 weeks later, they decided Jesus Christ had two natures in one: he was both God and man. Any Christians who deviated from this belief were declared heretics which immediately led to a schism in the Church While most Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians accepted the Chalcedon decree, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Coptic Christians did not...Continue Reading

In 639, a plague broke out, originating in Nicopolis, or Imwas, in the modern state of Israel. The city no longer exists as it was destroyed by Israeli army during Six Day war. It is estimated around 20000 people died from this plague. Among them were many prominent Sahabas. The most well-knonw of all was Abu Ubaidah, the general that succeeded KIW in Syria Another companion was Muadh ibn Jabal - most famous for these instructions he received from Prophet Muhammad before embarking to Syria Continue reading...

Battle of Qadisiyyah was more devastating for the Persians than the Battle of Yarmouk was for the Romans Their defeat at Qadisiyyah left the Persian capital exposed to Muslim forces However, the Roman capital was hundreds of miles away in Constantinople and very safe from Muslim forces The Romans still had the ability to wage war against the Muslims However, the Persians were now just trying to survive We'll look at the events in Syria after Yarmouk first, and then take a look at Persia after Qadisiyyah

- Where we are so far -- In 632 CE Prophet Muhammad died and Abu Bakr was chosen by the residents of Medina as the Caliph -- Soon after, several of the Arab tribes that were allied with the Prophet rebelled against Abu Bakr -- Abu Bakr and his general KIW led a successful campaign to bring these tribes back in line -- These were known as the Ridda, or Apostasy Wars -- Abu Bakr commanded KIW to begin an invasion of southern Persia. -- KIW was successful and conquered most of the area around the Euphrates River -- At the same time, Abu Bakr also ordered Abu Ubaidah to lead an invasion into Syria -- Abu Ubaidah ran into strong resistance so Abu Bakr had KIW come from Persia to assist -- KIW led the Muslims to conquer Syria all the way up to Damascus -- Back in Medina, Abu Bakr died and Umar ibn Al-Khattab became the Caliph -- Umar removed KIW as the leader of the Muslim armies and put Abu Ubaidah back in charge -- The Romans and Syrians got over their initial shock of the Muslim invasion and began a

In many ways, it was more of an organized mob. There were no uniforms and no ranks. - Commanders were appointed at will, generally based on accomplishment or tribal position. - Their weapons was whatever they could find. Many of them came from defeated Persian and Roman soldiers - Most armies have to deal with supplies and feeding thousands of people. Many of the soldiers traveled with their families - The Arabs didn't have that problem as they carried their food with them and were used to living on very little - They could live for days, even weeks on just dates, water, and camel milk. - This allowed KIW and other commanders to travel long distances with no supply chain or base of operations - The desert itself was another advantage. Most of the Roman soldiers were not used to it. - Unless they were invading a city, the Muslims usually fought with their backs to the desert. - If they were ambushed or fought in the open country, they could slip into the desert where their enemey couldn't follow. - T