Three dated histories: the Hejaz Railway (1900 to 1908), how non-Muslims lived under the caliphs, from the Najran agreement to the Ottoman communities, and how the caliphs protected Muslims. Each one covers what the caliphs did and why it mattered to Muslims then, with the failures included.
The pages
01The Hejaz RailwayThe Damascus to Medina railway that Muslim donors, mostly inside the Ottoman Empire, helped pay for, what it was really for, and what survives.Coming soon
02Non-Muslims under the caliphsCovenants, jizya and its exemptions, Jerusalem in 637 or 638, Baghdad’s Christian and Sabian scholars, the Ottoman communities, and the record’s dark pages.Coming soon
03How the caliphs protected Muslims“The imam is a shield” (Bukhari 2957, sahih (al-Bukhari)) and what it asked of the caliphs: famine relief, pilgrim roads, free kitchens and hospitals, and the times protection failed.Coming soon
How we write it
Every story here has a year, a place and a source you can check. Where a famous scene first appears centuries after the event, we say so. Where the numbers are smaller than the popular version, we give the smaller numbers.
We write about the caliphate as history: what it was, what it did, and why it mattered to the Muslims who lived under it. These pages draw no conclusion about the present.
Read next: What is the ummah?
Hadith on this page
- Bukhari 2957, sahih (al-Bukhari)