The Caliphs

Episode 90: Conclusions 22.03.2025 2t 27min

Now that we've completed our journey through the primary sources, it's time to reflect on all we've covered. We search for insights, not just about the umma's social evolution, but also how it remembers its own history. Thank you for listening!

Episode 89: Al Muttaqi, al Mustakfi, and al Muti’ 22.09.2024 25min

The Abbasid fall from grace was long and messy. It’s been a while since the dynasty produced a powerful caliph, the last one being the almighty restorer al Mu’tadid who reigned until the opening years of the 10th century. The subsequent decades saw a sustained and accelerating erosion of the state’s wealth, prestige, and authority. Whenever things looked like they couldn’t get any worse, what was thought to be rock-bottom gave way to reveal a deeper abyss. The ruling clan’s enfeeblement crescendoed in the 940’s, until it became a simple matter for another dynasty to swoop in and take all that the Abbasids had inherited.

Episode 88: Amir al umara’ 01.09.2024 29min

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 how difficult it was to rule a city surrounded by enemies on all sides. Their feuding weakened and impoverished all sides in this conflict, sapping Iraq’s ability to defend itself from invading forces.

Episode 87: Al Radi the irrelevant 11.08.2024 31min

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 money; all he had was the inherited legitimacy of his lineage. He largely served as a symbolic head of state while the more powerful men around him jockeyed for wealth and control. In many ways, this caliph will be the very last one.

Episode 86: Al Qaher’s folly 14.07.2024 33min

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 but his gratuitous brutality and empty pockets lost him what little support he had. It didn’t take long for his troops to turn on him, propagating the Abbasid predicament for another generation.

Episode 85: Third time’s the charm 16.06.2024 35min

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 Fatimids, the Byzantines, and the Qaramita. An assault on the capital province revealed how far Abbasid power had withered, prompting the military to assert itself over the civil bureaucracy. What started out as an attempt to address the root cause of the state’s weakness eventually devolved into violence, with terrible consequences for the caliph and his dynasty.

Episode 84: General Mu’nis 26.05.2024

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 heroic efforts preserved the caliph’s authority over lands that would have otherwise broken away, and Mu’nis kept it up for as long as he could.

Thoughts on Palestine 04.05.2024 1t 2min

My personal experiences and opinions on a subject close to my heart and fate.

Episode 83: War of the wazirs 21.04.2024 33min

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 fundamentally corrupt setup that encouraged the worst types of administrative abuses. This cancer at the very top of official power lasted so long it devastated the caliphate far more than any war with a foreign enemy; it was a fall the Abbasids never recovered from.

Episode 82: The rise of al Muqtadir 24.03.2024 29min

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 effort to better understand how the ruling clan lost control we’ll take things a bit at a time. A good place to start is with introducing the new caliph and some of the personalities who will play a leading part during his reign.

Episode 81: Splintering of the Shi’a 03.03.2024 33min

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 until its effective takeover by a rival dynasty. As these two communities emerged from Ismaili Shi’ism, we’ll take the time to properly define and ground these terms before moving on. Please keep in mind that you are in no way getting a round-up of the religious or sectarian situation at the time; there were many more groups than the ones we’re discussing. Refer back to the start of this paragraph for more information.

Episode 80: Al Muktafi 11.02.2024 30min

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 the Abbasids had no trouble coasting off the considerable momentum al Mu’tadid had established. In the midst of all this, we find al Muktafi, hidden away from sight, doing his thing in the background. He plays such a small part in his own reign that he can hardly be credited with its good or blamed for its bad.

Episode 79: Fortune favors the brute 28.01.2024 31min

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 had managed. He displayed both courage and cunning during his time in charge, a potent mix that reduced his rivals without the need for open conflict. Although he possessed some disturbing traits al Mu’tadid remains one of the best caliphs to grace the Abbasid throne.

Episode 78: Al Mu’tadid 07.01.2024 34min

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 them to restore his caliphate to a lost glory. Our sources are effusive in their praise of this caliph, and he’s easily the most popular Abbasid figure we’ve come across in many generations.

Episode 77: His brother’s keeper 17.12.2023 27min

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 developed formidable armies to fight off the many existential threats that faced it, then used this military edge to force its neighbors into relative submission.

Episode 76: Homegrown competition 26.11.2023 32min

Having covered the caliphate’s East last time, we must now do the same for its west. The anarchy left such a deep impact on the caliphate that we really need to take our time discovering its aftermath. The situation in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the North was very messy, but we’ll look at them through the lens of one remarkable soldier. His journey started in Egypt, but spanned the caliphate’s west, giving us a window into the entire region’s politics at the time.

Episode 75: Masters of Khurasan 05.11.2023 33min

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 the relationship between the Arabs and their neighbors to the East practically defined Arab power. The collapse of imperial authority had consequences in Nisapur, and when the Tahirids faltered kharijites stood ready to pounce.

Episode 74: The false prophet of Basra 15.10.2023 32min

Now that the anarchy was over, a reduced but reunited Abbasid military could finally face up to the multitude of threats facing the caliphate. A slave insurrection in the south of Iraq was one of the earliest challenges it had to contend with, and the state’s slow and faltering response revealed the extent of the decline of Abbasid power. The caliphate did ultimately come out on top, thanks to the assiduous regent general Talha, and his worthy son Ahmad.

Episode 73: Al Mu’tamid and the birth of a new order 01.10.2023 20min

The death of Salih ibn Waseef left Musa ibn Bugha in charge of the caliphate’s armies. This newfound unity effectively ended the Anarchy in Samarra which had plagued the Abbasid state for almost a decade. While the dark period of civil war was over, the Abbasid state now had to contend with its consequences and the many dangers it spawned.

Episode 72: Al Muhtadi and the settling of the dust 23.08.2023 25min

Dilapidated by years of internal conflict and ruinous mismanagement, the caliphate was a mere shadow of its former self. The void left by its collapse had led to the rise of adversaries which now surrounded the capital province and threatened the state’s very existence. Not only was the treasury empty, but the state’s armies were divided and their leaders still quarreled over scraps. These were the unfortunate conditions of al Muhtadi’s reign, and the powerless caliph could do little to reform the situation.