The Heirs of Muhammad
Publisher: Overlook TP
Published: April 29, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9781590200223
Subjects: Islam - General; Middle East - General; History / Middle East; History; History - General History; History: World
Description: [In this book, the author] 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 Muhammad. Within this fifty-year span of conquest and empire-building, [the author] identifies the seeds of discord and civil war 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--Dust jacket.