Islamic History Episodes

Abu Tahir was the leader of a mystical offshoot of mainstream Islam known as 'The Qarmatians'. He created a kind of 'proto-communist' enclave on the Arabian peninsula, and successfully defended it from the Abbasid Caliphate. But soon his hatred of Orthodox Islam would drive him to do somethin…

Imadaddin Nasimi wrote heretical poetry in 14th century Azerbaijan. Despite being banned, his altruistic poetry was incredibly popular and helped give rise to the Azerbaijani language. He evaded capture for many years but when he saw a man being tortured in his place, he swapped places. His poet…