Islamic History Podcast

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.  

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 strong counterattack. - In the last episode we discussed how the Romans and Persians began to make a comeback - Now we'll go into the details of that comeback and the result - We will first discuss the events in Syria and then those in Persia

In this episode, we detail the strategic maneuvers leading to the conquest of Damascus, the crowning jewel of the Byzantine presence in the Levant. We begin by analyzing the unique composition of the early Muslim army—described not as a regimented military, but as an "organized mob" that utilized mobility and harsh desert terrain to outmaneuver the sophisticated Roman forces. The narrative follows General Khalid ibn al-Walid as he executes a perilous 500-mile desert crossing from Persia to reinforce the Syrian front, utilizing legendary survival tactics to arrive just in time to save the Muslim forces. The episode covers the pivotal Battle of Ajnadayn, where the Muslims challenged the might of Emperor Heraclius to clear the road to the capital. As the siege unfolds, we witness the dramatic duality of the city's fall—one gate breached by force, the other opened by a peace treaty. Finally, the story shifts to Medina, marking the end of the first Caliphate and the beginning of the era of Omar ibn al-Khattab, whose early reforms included the controversial dismissal of the "Sword of Allah".