My Favorite Piece of Arabic History — Transcript

Explore the story of Prince Abdullah Rahman during the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasids in early Islamic history.

Key Takeaways

The early Islamic world was marked by significant political and religious turmoil following Prophet Muhammad's death.
The Umayyad Caliphate, despite its vast empire, faced internal dissent and unfair treatment of minorities.
The Abbasid revolution was fueled by a desire for justice and led to the near extermination of the Umayyad family.
Prince Abdullah Rahman's escape symbolizes the survival and continuation of the Umayyad legacy.
Historical events can be presented in a narrative style to make complex history accessible and engaging.

Summary

The video begins with an overview of the historical context around year 700, covering the Roman Empire's decline and the birth of Islam.
It explains the early Islamic caliphates, focusing on the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates and the Sunni-Shia split.
The Umayyad Caliphate's expansion and internal tensions leading to the Abbasid revolution are detailed.
The Abbasid revolution resulted in the systematic killing of the Umayyad family, except for Prince Abdullah Rahman.
Prince Abdullah Rahman, the protagonist, escapes the Abbasid purge disguised as a merchant to avoid assassination.
The video narrates the prince's flight from Damascus and his strategic decisions during the escape.
It highlights the political and religious conflicts that shaped early Islamic history and the power struggles involved.
The story sets the stage for a larger narrative about Abdullah Rahman's mission to revive his dynasty.
The video is sponsored by War Thunder, a vehicle combat game, with a promotional offer included.
The narrative combines historical facts with storytelling to engage viewers in a dramatic retelling of this period.

Chapters

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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This video is made possible by War Thunder. Click the link in the description to claim your massive bonus pack and to get started. A while ago, I was researching the longest war ever in history, which spanned more than 700 years and is called

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the Reconquista, a massive war between invading Muslims and Christians over who got to own the Iberian Peninsula. But while researching that mess of war, I came across a smaller, specific story that honestly felt like it came straight from a movie, almost like an alternative

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Lord of the Rings story, a story about a prince with a dream and a mission to revive his slain dynasty. But before I introduce you to that main character in this wild story, allow me to explain the state of the European and Islamic world

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around the year 700 so that we are all on the same page. And I'll start with zero, or actually I'll start with the intro. Give me 5 seconds. Historically facts part 7: Around the year zero, Jesus Christ was born within the Roman Empire

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in Bethlehem. Romans did a bad thing and welcomed Christianity into the world. Another thing that Romans were bad at is keeping barbarians from their soil, and the glorious Roman Empire turned in a span of 80 years into half of its

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original size, with only the Eastern Roman Empire continuing its memories. Around that time, in the year 570, Prophet Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca and spent his life preaching the word of Allah and uniting the Arabian Peninsula

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till his passing in 632 AD. With Prophet Muhammad passed on, the four cffs, also known as the closest companions of his, started the Rashidun Caliphate and quickly expanded the caliphate's borders into the Eastern Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, and African territories.

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How did they manage to defeat two great empires at the same time? Well, the Persians and self-proclaimed Romans had been fighting for centuries because of disputed territory, weakening both sides massively, which was beneficial for the rapidly approaching fresh Arab Empire.

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Then internal struggles. Prophet Muhammad never clearly told his followers who would follow his footsteps as the leader in the Islamic world, which left them with four candidates, also known as the cffs, who are introduced before. It was quickly decided that those three were to

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be caliph first, and finally Ali as the fourth. This, from the start, split the Islamic world and created the Shia and Sunni movement, where the Shia argued that Ali should have been the first caliph and not the

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fourth one, like the Sunni Muslims argue. During the reign of the third caliph named Uthman, unrest was growing and growing till the point where rebels broke into Uthman's home and killed him while he was reading the Quran. This

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sparked outrage all across the empire and ignited the first Islamic civil war. And the fourth caliph Ali in the role to fix it. Long story short, Ali got assassinated, and the head of the Umayyad family, which were devout Sunnis and a

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powerful family, became the fifth caliph and started the Umayyad Caliphate. All right, cool. We are now getting close to the start of a story, so just bear with me just a little bit longer. The Umayyad Caliphate got bigger and more powerful as the

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years went on, to the point where they spread from India all the way to the bottom of France. It was a marvelous empire, at least if you were a prestigious Arab. That is, any other minority got treatments and taxes that

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were blatantly unfair. Huh, but aren't all these guys Arabs, as the clueless American and European? Well, not exactly. This part is Arab, that part is Persian, the people whose empire was defeated by the Arabs. They were mainly Shia Muslims

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and felt a strong affinity with the assassinated caliph Ali. And you might have guessed it, the combination of unfair treatment plus religious differences caused these suppressed groups to come together as the opposite movement, and they were ready for a

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revolution, a bloody revolution that is. The Umayyad caliph Marwan II could feel the rain coming and riled up his troops and headed to battle to face off the opposite army. However, the Umayyad soldiers were no match for the Abbasid armies, who were fueled

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with a strong passion for justice for every civilian in the great empire. Almost all the Umayyad soldiers, including the caliph Marwan II, ended up being killed, but the opposites weren't done there. They wanted to bring justice to all the remaining family members of the

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Umayyad family. And back in the 750s, justice came in the form of death. Remember that scene from Star Wars where they issued Order 66? This was exactly the same. Rogue Abbasid agents all across the caliphate started systematically killing every

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single member, servant, and loyalist of the Umayyad family. And with the opposite army marching closer and closer to the city of Damascus, the capital of the Umayyad caliphate, unrest and the slaughter of the Umayyad family was in full force. And here

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we find the protagonist of our story, Prince Abdullah Rahman, or as his full name and title goes, Emir Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hashim. Emir means prince, Abd al-Rahman is his name, which means servant of God, ibn means son of, and Mu'awiya is his

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father and Hashim his grandfather. But for simplicity's sake, we are just going to call him Prince Abdullah Rahman. Despite being a 20-year-old prince, he wasn't in line for the throne, but that didn't make any difference for the Abbasid. Every person

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Umayyad had to be game-ended. And if Abbasid assassins were ever so close, Abdullah Rahman knew fighting wasn't an option. It was time to run. [Music] With swords clashing in the hallway, time was of the essence. First things first,

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the group had to decide where to flee to. Looking at the map, Yahya, the brother of Abdullah Rahman, suggested it made sense to try to outdistance the Abbasids as far as possible, meaning to head westwards towards Palestine. However,

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Bettar, a freed slave and close loyalist of the prince, argued against it and suggested they should avoid major roads and cities and follow the Euphrates River up instead, potentially finding support and shelter along their way. Abdullah Rahman agreed, but that wasn't the

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only problem they had to tackle. How were they going to escape the city without getting detected? Sure, they could just try their luck and run, but that would mean that he had to leave his four-year-old son and his sisters behind,

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something that the prince wouldn't dare to think about. Bettar, once again being experienced in a simpler lifestyle, came to the rescue: disguises, ditch the luxuries and bulky weapons, cover your faces, and only grab what is necessary. Leave the

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city as merchants. The group agreed and exited through the back door onto the streets of chaos, with bodies everywhere and unnecessary bloodshed tainting the streets of the fallen capital. The group set off and managed to slip away out

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of the grasp of the Abbasid ruffians for now. [Music] Get off the horses, we are going on the hunt. Ah, Shooks line, but first we need to talk about the sponsor. But first, we need to talk about the sponsor. That's right, it's

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income booster, two vehicles to rent, 100,000 silver, and 7 days of premium. This offer is only available for a limited time though and only for those who are new or haven't played for 6 months. With Damascus behind them, the

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group was far from safe. The Abbasids now in control of the capital and the caliphate renamed the E.

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luxury that the two princes were a part of at the time the group didn't know it yet but they were the last remaining umat blood alive in the entire califood everyone else had been murdered the group exhausted both mentally and

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physically arrived late that day in a small village to rest up and prepare for the final stretch towards the river the town's folk seemingly sympathizing with the prince and its cause offered them a couple simple but warm tents for them to

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rest in at last after a traumatizing day the group could finally close their eyes and sleep but not for long [Music] [Music] my Lord they found us no stay back Gordon wi my brother I need to find my

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son oh no [Music] [Music] no my Lord if we die here the bloodline dies with us we have to go and with pain in the hearts and no other choice the trio left the village leaving the rest of the group to its fate

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[Music] just to clarify each one of the Left Behind family members got killed that night by the episod hunters gosh these episodes really are horrible aren't they well if you're an umat yeah but for the rest of the people they really weren't

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that bad as a matter of fact the Islamic golden age happened in abisa Empire so thank you ABBA very cool for killing my son and three sisters if we take a look at the magically updated map we can tell

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that the situation is worse than I thought it was Damascus has completely fallen and the episod armies are spreading out and taking down the remaining Rogue soldiers you might be thinking why don't they just hop over into the Eastern Roman Empire and look

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for shelter there well remember when the Arabs took half of their already half Empire yeah they still didn't forget about that one speaking of forgetting something it seems like the episod hunters are here to finish the job with

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nowhere else to go the trio made a desperate Run for the river and Drew themselves into the water the episod hunters wore heavy clothing in armor and wear on horses this in no shape for crossing a river but neither was Yahya

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Abdullah Rahman was always an athletic type and better being a fre slave naturally is used to do demanding physical tasks but Yahya was more air than swim the tree desperately started started to swim to the other side but

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the deeper into the crossing they went the stronger the current if only I could just not cross or something if you come back we promise we won't kill you all right that's it I'm going back what are you doing

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brother hurry we can't go back just last night they killed our sisters and my son you can't trust them bro relax they promised surely they wouldn't break that oh what a dumbass you reckon it would work again doesn't hurt to try hey uh I

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know we just killed your brother and all that but if you come back we won't kill you H and so Abdullah Rahman swam back became best friends with the murder of his entire bloodline and the Arab countries would never be in another War

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ever again is what the prince wish they could believe but better going far beyond the spay grade build them away from the river and the two of them ran like their lives dependent on it which it did the two kept running and running

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till there was no more land to run on I guess this is it huh is it though better I am the last one of the umat clan everyone else is dead they councel me better I can't just give up and accept my fate or hide in

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exile for Allah's sake what do you think my son would say if he saw me surrender why do you imagine me as a little baby um probably nothing good listen as much as I want to cry and weep in a hole

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which believe me I really do I still can't at least not so we have delivered Justice here give me your map 40 years ago my great-grandfather alval the LED a massive Invasion on Al andalo and conquered almost everything of the

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peninsula if there is one place we can go to for support it has to be there I heard the local Governor there has been trying to establish his own rule in defiance of the umat family which means it's very likely he also won't give in

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to the abits we cross through Africa rally up an army defeat the governor and conquer back our Empire that the abits have taken from us it's will be a long and treacherous Journey the absite horsemen and Mr Scarface won't stop till

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we escape their land not to mention the many Berber tribes who will come across and who will be anything but friendly better we freed you from slavery and your depth has been more than repa if you want to leave I

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understand I will never leave you Mr Frodo thanks Sam all right then let's rest our legs and dig in for another night as tomorrow we start our quest to defeat the governor and declare war on the epison empire

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[Music]

Topics:Umayyad CaliphateAbbasid RevolutionPrince Abdullah RahmanIslamic historySunni-Shia splitEarly Islamic empiresReconquistaMedieval historyHistorical narrativeWar Thunder sponsor

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Prince Abdullah Rahman?

Prince Abdullah Rahman, also known as Emir Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hashim, was a young Umayyad prince who escaped the Abbasid purge and sought to revive his dynasty.

What caused the split between Sunni and Shia Muslims?

The split originated from disagreements over who should succeed Prophet Muhammad as leader, with Shia Muslims supporting Ali as the rightful first caliph and Sunni Muslims accepting the first three caliphs before Ali.

What was the Abbasid revolution?

The Abbasid revolution was a movement fueled by oppressed groups seeking justice, which overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate through military defeat and systematic assassination of Umayyad family members.

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