Was the Muslim empire run well?

Answer 1

The question as posed is nebulous. There have been over 25 major Empires that have identified as Caliphates or Islamic Empires. Some were well-run at points and poorly-run at others, some were just conquests that disintegrated after the conqueror died, some were poorly-run for centuries, but no other regime saw fit to take the land from them.

Answer 2

The Islamic Empires waxed and waned between good and effective leadership and starkly ineffective leadership. Some of the aspects of the empire when it was well-run were:

1) Its complex and functional bureaucracy

2) Its leadership in science, maths, and the arts

3) Its ability to effectively expand the empire through conquest

4) Its effective courts and legal instruments

5) Its infrastructure and internal building growth

Answer 3

The question as posed is nebulous.

There have been over 25 major Empires that have identified as Caliphates or Islamic Empires. Some were well-run at points and poorly-run at others, some were just conquests that disintegrated after the conqueror died, some were poorly-run for centuries, but no other regime saw fit to take the land from them.

If this question is referring to the early Islamic Caliphates, such as the Rightly-Guided Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate, and the first half of the Abbassid Caliphate, then YES, these states were run well. This is primarily because the Caliphs allowed many of the aristocrats and administrators from the prior Sassanid Persian and Byzantine Empires continue to do their work and promoted science, discovery, and trade.