After the prophet: the epic story of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam
Language: English
Aishah Ali ibn Abi Talib Biography & Autobiography Caliphate Caliphate - History General History History - General History Islam Islam - History Islam - Rituals & Practice Islam - Shi'a Islam - Sunni Islamic History Islamic Theology Medieval Middle East Muhammad - Death and burial Relations Religion Religion - World Religions Religious Rituals & Practice Shi'a Shiah Shiah - Relations - Sunnites Shīʻah Sh†iøah Sunni Sunnites Sunnites - Relations - Shiah
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: Sep 15, 2009
Description:
SUMMARY: Narrative history at its most compelling, "After the Prophet" relates the dramatic tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between Shia and Sunni Islam. Even as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over his successor had begun. Pitting the family of his favorite wife, the controversial Aisha, against supporters of his son-in-law, the philosopher-warrior Ali, the struggle would reach its breaking point fifty years later in Iraq, when soldiers of the first Sunni dynasty massacred seventy-two warriors led by Muhammad's grandson Hussein at Karbala. Hussein's agonizing ordeal at Karbala was soon to become the Passion story at the core of Shia Islam. Hazleton's vivid, gripping prose provides extraordinary insight into the origins of the world's most volatile blend of politics and religion. Balancing past and present, she shows how these seventh-century events are as alive in Middle Eastern hearts and minds today as though they had just happened, shaping modern headlines from Iran's Islamic Revolution to the civil war in Iraq. "After the Prophet" is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and an emotional and political revelation for Western readers.