About this item
The authoritative account of Islam's schism that for centuries has shaped events in the Middle East and the Islamic world.. In 632, soon after the Prophet Muhammad died, a struggle broke out among his followers as to who would succeed him. Most Muslims argued that the leader of Islam should be elected by the community's elite and rule as Caliph. They would later become the Sunnis. Others -- who would become known as the Shia -- believed that Muhammad had designated his cousin and son-in-law Ali as his successor, and that henceforth Ali's offspring should lead as Imams. This dispute over who should guide Muslims, the Caliph or the Imam, marks the origin of the Sunni-Shii split in Islam.. Toby Matthiesen explores this hugely significant division from its origins to the present day.
About the Author
Toby Matthiesen is a Research Fellow in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. His first book "Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring That Wasn't" was published by Stanford University Press in 2013. The book examines the root causes of sectarianism and examines how the Gulf states responded to protests at home and in the wider Arab world. From 2007 to 2011 he wrote his doctorate on the politicisation of Saudi Arabia's Shia community at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) , University of London. His second book, "The Other Saudis: Shiism, Dissent and Sectarianism", which is based on his PhD, is published by Cambridge University Press in 2015.