This new study of the Islamic tradition's earliest years presents the key events, individuals, and social-political conditions which defined the era of the first Four Caliphs (from the death of the Prophet to that of Ali, thirty years later), and which led to the Sunni/Shi'i schism and the Crisis of Succession.





In an objective and thoroughly researched book representing both Sunni and Shi'i perspectives, Mahmoud M. Ayoub has drawn on a wide range of primary materials from this period, which explain the various sources of the violent struggles and dissension characterizing this time. Covering everything from the first caliphate of Abu Bakr to the Battles of the Camel and Siffin, it is essential reading for all students and scholars of Islamic studies and of the formative years of the Muslim tradition.