The Caliph of a Thousand Nights
Harun al-Rashid and the Friend He Had to Destroy to Keep His ThroneBy Narin Hikma
Length9h 10m
About this audiobook
What does it cost to build the thing you will be remembered for?
Almost everyone who builds something great pays for it with something—or someone—they were not prepared to lose.
Harun al-Rashid ruled the most dazzling empire on earth. For over twenty years, the man closest to him was Ja'far ibn Yahya: his boyhood companion and the one person who spoke the truth. Then, on a winter night in 803 CE, the caliph sent an executioner for his friend.
The Caliph of a Thousand Nights is a narrative biography of power, loyalty, and devastating sacrifice at the heart of Baghdad's golden age.
• Understand why a leader destroys the person he loves most
• See the Islamic Golden Age through the people who built it
• Sit with the grief of building something at an unforgivable price
This is a book for anyone who has achieved something and quietly wondered what it cost.
Open the first page. The rest will find you.
Audiobook details
GenreBiography and Memoir, Spirituality and Religion
Length9 hrs 10 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 9, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Dedication
2Epigraph
3Prologue
41. The Boy Raised by a Queen
52. The Tutor Who Became a Brother
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63. War Earns Him a Name
74. A Mysterious Death, a Sudden Throne
85. The Queen Behind the Curtain
96. The Family That Ran an Empire
107. The Wife Who Built Wells in the Desert
118. The City Where Genius Gathered
129. The Caliph in Disguise
1310. Poets, Singers, and the Court of Wonders
1411. The Sister and the Forbidden Marriage
1512. The Elephant for the Frankish King
1613. The Empire's Far Reach
1714. Cracks Beneath the Gold
1815. The Night of the Executioner
1916. The House That Fell in a Single Night
2017. A Caliph Alone
2118. Dividing the World Between Two Sons
2219. The Road to Tus
2320. The Caliph Who Could Not Undo the Night
24Epilogue
2521. Author's Note
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