Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
In and around 869CE, African slaves used to cultivate the salt marshes of Basra in present-day Iraq revolted against their master. Led by an ʿAlī b. Muḥammad, a charismatic messianic figure, their uprising would prove to very damaging to an already beleaguered Abbasid caliphate before being finally crushed in 883CE. To explain the cause, details and significance of the Zanj revolt is Dr. Philip Grant, co-author of the "Chains of Finance" published by Oxford University Press.
Timestamps
00.00 Introduction
02.09 The Zanj Revolt occurred in the salt marshes around Basra while the Caliphate was already preoccupied with their longtime Byzantine nemesis and other civil conflicts. What do we know about socio-political and economic context of the Zanj Revolt and the religio-cultural cauldron of the time?
09.55 There were prior unsuccessful revolts but the 869 revolt would prove devastating with siege and sacking of major cities. Narrate for us the contours of events.
28.07 An enigmatic leader emerges called ʿAlī b. Muḥammad who claims descent from the Prophet's household and other elements disenfranchised with the Caliphate join the revolt. What do we about this figure?
36.43 The long term consequences and analysis of events are disputed by historians some emphasising class over race, if it isn't anachronistic to use those term. The legacy of slavery is a sore point for many Muslims and Arabs today. How do you evaluate the Zanj revolt in the bigger scheme of things?
51.45 You are a co-author of "Chains of Finance" on a subject which seems a far call from medieval Iraq and Iran, that being contemporary investment management and you also translate Persian. What are other current projects our listeners can anticipate?
Sponsors
We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. We are also sponsored by Turath Publishing. Buy in time for Ramadan a limited edition of Mufti Taqi Usmani's new translation of the Quran with explanatory notes in a deluxe thermo-leather bound hard cover. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit Turath Publishing at Turath.co.uk and use discount code POD15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact Turath Publishing for details.
In and around 869CE, African slaves used to cultivate the salt marshes of Basra in present-day Iraq revolted against their master. Led by an ʿAlī b. Muḥammad, a charismatic messianic figure, their uprising would prove to very damaging to an already beleaguered Abbasid caliphate before being finally crushed in 883CE. To explain the cause, details and significance of the Zanj revolt is Dr. Philip Grant, co-author of the "Chains of Finance" published by Oxford University Press.
Timestamps
00.00 Introduction
02.09 The Zanj Revolt occurred in the salt marshes around Basra while the Caliphate was already preoccupied with their longtime Byzantine nemesis and other civil conflicts. What do we know about socio-political and economic context of the Zanj Revolt and the religio-cultural cauldron of the time?
09.55 There were prior unsuccessful revolts but the 869 revolt would prove devastating with siege and sacking of major cities. Narrate for us the contours of events.
28.07 An enigmatic leader emerges called ʿAlī b. Muḥammad who claims descent from the Prophet's household and other elements disenfranchised with the Caliphate join the revolt. What do we about this figure?
36.43 The long term consequences and analysis of events are disputed by historians some emphasising class over race, if it isn't anachronistic to use those term. The legacy of slavery is a sore point for many Muslims and Arabs today. How do you evaluate the Zanj revolt in the bigger scheme of things?
51.45 You are a co-author of "Chains of Finance" on a subject which seems a far call from medieval Iraq and Iran, that being contemporary investment management and you also translate Persian. What are other current projects our listeners can anticipate?
Sponsors
We are sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details. We are also sponsored by Turath Publishing. Buy in time for Ramadan a limited edition of Mufti Taqi Usmani's new translation of the Quran with explanatory notes in a deluxe thermo-leather bound hard cover. Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases. Visit Turath Publishing at Turath.co.uk and use discount code POD15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact Turath Publishing for details.
![💧EP047 GUEST EPISODE (1/8) Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East [AUDIO ONLY]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XGsFtLz3Ars/mqdefault.jpg "💧EP047 GUEST EPISODE (1/8) Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East [AUDIO ONLY]
Part of the “Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” project (Radboud Institute for Culture and History)
This episode was produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa.
Ep1. Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East
The cities of the medieval Middle East were some of the largest in the world, dwarfing the major cities of western Europe, for example. So how did they support large populations in relatively arid conditions? In this episode we provide an overview of the kinds of hydraulic infrastructure and social institutions that allowed pre-modern Middle Eastern cities to function.
Speakers: Maaike van Berkel and Josephine van den Bent. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.
This episode, and this series on water history and the medieval Middle East was produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa as part of the project, “Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” at Radboud University. The “Source of Life” project was funded by the Dutch NWO VICI funding scheme. Additional funding for this podcast series was supplied by the Radboud Fonds of Radboud University.
Maaike van Berkel is Professor of History at Radboud University and director of the project “Source of Life: Urban Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” funded by the Dutch NWO VICI programme.
Josephine van den Bent is a researcher on the Source of Life project at Radboud University and assistant professor of Medieval History at the University of Amsterdam.
Further reading
Maaike van Berkel, “Waqf Documents on the Provision of Water in Mamluk Egypt,” in M. van Berkel, L. Buskens and P.M. Sijpesteijn (eds.), Legal Documents as Sources for the History of Muslim Societies (Brill: Leiden, 2017).
Peter Brown and Maaike van Berkel, “Water Provision in Early Islamic Cities: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Urban Water Governance,” in E Rose, M de Bruin, and R Flierman (eds) City, Citizen & Citizenship 400–1600: A Comparative Approach (Palgrave Macmillan: London, forthcoming).
Josephine van den Bent and Peter Brown, “Constructing Hydraulic Infrastructure in the Abbasid and Tulunid Capitals: Water Conduits in Baghdad, Samarra, and Cairo between the eighth and ninth centuries,” Al-Masāq, forthcoming.
Edmund Hayes, “A Late Umayyad Reform to the Water Distribution System in the Hinterland of Damascus,” Al-Masāq, forthcoming.
Edmund Hayes
https://twitter.com/Hedhayes20
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmund-hayes-490913211/
https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/EdmundHayes
https://hcommons.org/members/ephayes/
Maaike van Berkel
https://radboud.academia.edu/MaaikevanBerkel
Josephine van den Bent
https://radboud.academia.edu/JosephinevandenBent
Abbasid History Podcast is sponspored by IHRC Bookshop
Listeners get a 15% discount on all purchases online and in-store.
Visit IHRC bookshop at shop.ihrc.org and use discount code AHP15 at checkout.
Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC bookshop for details.
https://linktr.ee/abbasidhistorypodcast")
