Islamic History Podcast

Muawiyyah dies and as planned, his son Yazid succeeds him as Caliph. But there are many people in the Muslim Empire who do not agree with this. Two of them are Husayn ibn Ali and Abdullah ibn Zubayr. They refuse to give Yazid the pledge and flee to Mecca. Ibn Zubayr begins to build alliances there while Husayn is being courted by the people of Kufah.

Muawiyyah and his administration have subdued the Muslim Empire. Most of Iraq has settled down and his detractors have fell silent. But Muawiyyah is concerned about the future. What's going to happen when he's gone? The Caliph conspires with his governors to turn the Caliphate to a monarchy. Muawiyyah does not believe the old ways of choosing the next Caliph works. He believes it needs to become a family affair.

The Umayyads had the practice of cursing Ali during their sermons. Many of the party of Ali did not like that. One of these men was Hujr ibn Adi, a companion and commander in Ali's army. When he heard the Umayyads cursing Ali, he would shout at them and to make them stop.

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.

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.

As Ali struggled against the Khawarij, his grip on the Caliphate began to slip.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Bonus: The Nation Of Islam