The Heirs of Muhammad: Islam's First Century and the Origins of the Sunni-Shia Split - Hardcover

Rogerson, Barnaby

 
9781585678969: The Heirs of Muhammad: Islam's First Century and the Origins of the Sunni-Shia Split
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1585678961 ISBN 13: 9781585678969
Verlag: Overlook Books, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

The Prophet Mohammad brought his vision of the word of God to the Arabs, and within a generation of his death, his followers—as vivid a cast of heroic individuals as history has known—had exploded out of Arabia to confront the two great superpowers of the seventh century and establish Islam and with it a new civilization.

The Heirs of the Prophet Mohammad is a swaggering saga of ambition, achievement, self-sacrificing nobility and blood rivalry. In it, acclaimed historian Barnaby Rogerson recounts the lives of the handful of individuals--the first four Caliphs, the Prophet's widows and the conquering generals--who led and influenced Islam after the death of Mohammad.

Within this fifty-year span of conquest and empire-building, Rogerson identifies the seeds of discord that destroyed the unity of Islam and traces the roots of the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims to the rivalry of the two people who best knew and loved the Prophet: his cousin and son-in-law Ali and his wife Aisha.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Barnaby Rogerson is the author of The Prophet Mohammad: A Biography and a number of celebrated travel books. He has lived and worked in many parts of the Arab world, and currently resides in London.

Rezensionen

*Starred Review* "Dissensions," Muhammad presciently declared 10 days before his death, "come like waves of darkest night, the one following hard upon the other, each worse than the last." In this book, readers find sobering confirmation of the Prophet's words. Rogerson shows how deep disagreement sundered Islam into Shiite and Sunni factions almost at its birth. Probing the five decades after the Prophet's death, Rogerson limns a tale of military conquest undone by internal betrayal. Readers will marvel at the genius of the four caliphs who forcefully spread a small Arab religion across Africa and well into Asia. Through heroics on battlefields entirely unknown to Western readers, Muslim armies repeatedly defeat larger and better equipped Persian and Byzantine foes. But victories against external enemies do not prevent divisive intrigues. Among the principals in these intrigues, several striking figures emerge, including the generous nepotist Uthman and the versatile merchant Amr. But the tragedy that Rogerson unfolds centers on Muhammad's beloved young widow, Aisha, and his longtime confidant, Ali. Neither the caliphate nor a unified Muslim world can finally survive their prolonged dance of mutual enmity. Refreshingly accessible to nonspecialists, Rogerson's account of that tense dance will help American readers understand the passions on the streets of Baghdad. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

When the prophet Muhammad died in 632, a tempest of political intrigue and deceit blew over Islam, transforming it forever. In this fast-paced and compelling tale, travel writer Rogerson (The Prophet Mohammad) conducts us on a fascinating journey back to seventh-century Medina and the various schemes that led to the division of Islam into Shia and Sunni factions. The 50 years after Muhammad's death witnessed a succession of caliphs who attempted to carry the Prophet's message forward. Rogerson concentrates on the leaders who ruled in these years immediately after Muhammad's death and traces the split between Shiites and Sunnis to Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, and Aisha, Muhammad's wife. Ali was assassinated in 661, after being passed over three times as a successor. For the Shia, the vision of Islam was compromised with Muhammad's death. The Sunnis, on the other hand, believe that the first four "Rightly Guided Caliphs" provided models of the ways that humankind should live. Rogerson provides portraits of all these leaders to illustrate their love of Muhammad and his message. Helpful tables of key characters in the Prophet's life and genealogies of Muhammad and the four caliphs round out Rogerson's charming and captivating chronicle. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Verlag
Overlook Books
Erscheinungsdatum
2007
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1585678961
ISBN 13 
9781585678969
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
432
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar