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Mu'awiya turns the caliphate into a hereditary monarchy, names Yazid heir, and al-Husayn is killed at Karbala.

Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr's childhood prophecy, the Penitents' revolt, the sack of Medina at al-Harra, and the burning of t...

Muawiya II abdicates and returns the caliphate to consultation, then dies mysteriously; Marwan ibn al-Hakam seizes power...

Ibn al-Zubayr rebuilds the Kaaba, al-Mukhtar avenges al-Husayn and falls, and al-Hajjaj besieges Mecca and crucifies Ibn...

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz takes the caliphate, hands it back to shura and strips the Umayyads of their privileges — until the...

The Abbasids overthrow the Umayyads at the Zab, Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil builds a rival caliphate in al-Andalus, and a se...

Plots and poisonings in Cordoba and Baghdad: child caliphs, Barmakid power, Turkish slave soldiers, and Ahmad ibn Tulun'...

Al-Muqtadir survives a palace plot, Shiite dynasties rise in Mosul and the Maghreb, and a Habashi servant named Kafur be...

Kafur al-Ikhshidi rebuilds Egypt's army, holds off the Fatimids and the Abbasids, and is maligned by al-Mutanabbi, while...

The final episode asks what the caliphate really means, surveys the varied rule of the Companions, and closes with the r...

An 18th-century document by British spy Hempher claims he recruited Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab to found a new religion —...

Hempher sees in the young Abd al-Wahhab an arrogant, violent temperament he can exploit — and begins luring him into a t...