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

Barnaby Rogerson is the author of more than a dozen books, including The Heirs of Muhammad: Islam's First Century and the Origins of the Sunni-Shia Schism, The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography, and A History of North Africa. He has lived and worked in many parts of the Arab world, and currently resides in London.

*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
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