The Caliphate of Yazid b. Muawiyah, tr. and annotated I. K. A. Howard, Vol. XIX. Albany: State University of New York Press,1990.
The earliest biography of Muhammad is that of Ibn Ishaq, whose Sirat Rasul Allah (Life of the Messenger of God) is the basis of all subsequent biographies of the Prophet. Like al-Tabari’s work, it is regarded as authoritative throughout the Muslim world, and al-Tabari drew on it heavily for his own account of Muhammad’s life.
Muhammad ibn Ishaq was born in Medina around the year 704 and died in Baghdad in 767. His original manuscript no longer exists, since it was superseded by an expanded and annotated version by the Basra-born historian Ibn Hisham, who lived and worked in Egypt. Ibn Hisham’s version of Ibn Ishaq’s biography has been translated into English as The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, tr. Alfred Guillaume (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955).
Two other early Islamic historians demand special note. The work of al-Baladhuri complements that of al-Tabari. Born in Persia, Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri lived and worked in Baghdad, where he died in 892. His Kitab Futuh al-Buldan (Book of the Conquests of Lands) has been translated by Philip Hitti and Francis C. Murgotten as The Origins of the Islamic State (New York: Columbia University Press, 1916–24). His Ansab al-Ashraf (Lineage of the Nobles), which covers the reigns of the early caliphs and includes thousands of capsule biographies, is not yet available in English translation.
Muhammad ibn Sa’d (spelled “Saad” in this book) was one of the earliest compilers of biographies of major figures in early Islam, and his work proved a major source for later historians, including al-Tabari. Born in Basra in 764, he lived in Baghdad, where he died in 845. Abridged selections from two Volumes of his nine- Volume collection Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Great Book of Generations) can be found in The Women of Madina, tr. Aisha Bewley (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1995) and The Men of Madina, tr. Aisha Bewley (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1997).
I have worked with three English versions of the Quran (I use the word “version” rather than “translation” since a basic tenet of Islam is that the Quran as the word of God cannot be translated, only “interpreted” in other languages):
The Koran, tr. Edward H. Palmer. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1900.
The Koran Interpreted, tr. A. J. Arberry. New York: Macmillan,1955.
The Koran, tr. N. J. Dawood. London: Penguin,1956.
CONTEMPORARY SOURCES
This book is especially indebted to the work of the following scholars, listed here by area of expertise.
The Early Caliphate
Wilferd Madelung’s The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) is a magisterial study of the caliphates of Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, based on close reading of original sources. Extensively and fascinatingly footnoted, it emphasizes Ali’s claim to the succession.
Marshall G. S. Hodgson’s The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization is a three- Volume study of the historical development of Islamic civilization, with numerous tables of time lines. The Classical Age or Islam, Vol. 1 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961) covers the rise of Muhammad to the year 945.
W. Montgomery Watt’s The Formative Period of Islamic Thought (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973) examines developments within Islam from the khariji Rejectionists to the establishment of Sunnism.
Shia Islam
S. H. M. Jafri’s The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam (London: Longman, 1979) provides a detailed and deeply sympathetic examination of Shia history and theology from the time of Muhammad through to the twelve Imams.
Vali Nasr’s The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam Will Shape the Future (New York: Norton, 2006) is an excellent and highly readable overview of the Shia-Sunni conflict in the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
Moojan Momen’s An Introduction to Shi’i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi’ism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985) is far more detailed than one might expect an “introduction” to be, and is especially good on Shia theology.
The Iranian Revolution
Anthropologist Michael M. Fischer’s work, in particular Iran: From Religious Dispute to Re Volution (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), is outstanding. Also his essay “The Iranian Re Volution: Five Frames for Understanding,” in Critical Moments in Religious History, ed. Kenneth Keulman (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1993) and, in collaboration with Mehdi Abedi, Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and Tradition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990).
Nikki Keddie ’s Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Re Volution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003) is rightfully regarded as essential reading, as should be almost all the essays in an anthology edited by Keddie: Religion and Politics in Iran: Shi’ism from Quietism to Re Volution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).
Ali Shariati’s lectures can be found in translation at www.shariati.com. His most influential lectures have been published in English as What Is to Be Done: The Enlightened Thinkers and an Islamic Renaissance (Houston: Institute for Research and Islamic Studies, 1986) and as Red Shi’ism (Teheran: Hamdani Foundation, 1979). His lectures on Hussein and martyrdom can be found in Jihad and Shahadat: Struggle and Martyrdom in Islam, ed. Mehdi Abedi and Gary Legenhausen (North Haledon, N.J.: Islamic Publications International, 1986).
Ashura Rituals and Karbala Imagery
Peter J. Chelkowski, editor of Ta’ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (New York: New York University Press, 1979), provides invaluable insight into both the content and import of Karbala Passion plays, while Staging a Re Volution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran, by Chelkowski and Hamid Dabashi (New York: New York University Press, 1999), is a superb visual survey and analysis of the collective symbols used in the Iranian Re Volution and the subsequent war with Iraq.
David Pinault provides on-the-ground understanding of the emotive and theological power of the Karbala story in The Shiites: Ritual and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992) and in Horse of Karbala: Muslim Devotional Life in India (New York: Palgrave, 2001).
Kamran Scot Aghaie’s detailed work on Shia symbolism and ritual can be found in The Martyrs of Karbala: Shi’i Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004) and The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic Discourses in Modern Shi’i Islam (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005).
Aisha
Nabia Abbott’s Aishah: The Beloved of Muhammad (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942) is the classic biography in English, drawing on the earliest Islamic histories and in particular on al-Tabari, Ibn Saad, and al-Baladhuri.
Denise A. Spellberg’s Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of Aisha bint Abu Bakr (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994) provides a detailed exploration of the multiple ways in which Aisha has been perceived and interpreted over the centuries, both positively and negatively.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
British-born Lesley Hazleton is a psychologist and veteran Middle East journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Harper’s, The Nation, New Republic, New York Review o
f Books, and other publications. The author of several acclaimed books on Middle East politics, religion, and history, including Jerusalem, Jerusalem and Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother, she now lives in Seattle, Washington. For more information, visit this book’s Web site, www.AfterTheProphet.com.
Copyright © 2009 by Lesley Hazleton
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.doubleday.com
DOUBLEDAY and the DD colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hazleton, Lesley, 1945–
After the prophet : the epic story of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam /
Lesley Hazleton. —1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Islam—History. 2. Caliphate—History. 3. Muhammad, Prophet,
After the Prophet Page 22