Finally, in the eleventh of Jumada I, 334 BC, with the dominant Buwayhid the
Baghdad Caliphate was deprived of all political rights.
At the height of Muslim power (in 4th century A.H), there were 15 different independent Muslim states apart from the
Baghdad Caliphate. Thus, the assumption that 'all Muslims should unite once again' is simply a utopian premise.
What of the
Baghdad caliphate that once ruled the entire Muslim world, or the long years of Ottoman domination?
After a short introduction, in which those questions to be discussed in the book are raised, together with a short synopsis of his theses and a discussion of the sources, Heidemann proceeds to the first major subject: the destruction of the
Baghdad caliphate and the fate of the caliph al-Mustasim.