Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass investigates the struggles, holy and profane, of the Umayyad régime from 695 to 715. In the process, it proposes new interpretations for the Qur'anic chapters 12, 19, 27, 28, 32, 37, and 38.The Umayyads had justified their rule by claiming the inheritance of the Biblical kings and prophets. That claim did not go unchallenged. The most fundamental challenge was that of Ibn al-Ash'ath, the sunnî revolution.At stake was whether the Commander of the Believers was the sole conduit of God's will - as the Umayyads claimed - or if that Commander was, himself, a subject to God's law. This monograph contends that the Islam which emerged from such challenges differed radically from the Islam which the Umayyad caliphs wanted.