Origins of the Shi'a

The Sunni-Shi''a schism is often framed as a dispute over the identity of the successor to Muhammad. In reality, however, this fracture only materialized a century later in the important southern Iraqi city of Kufa (present-day Najaf). This book explores the birth and development of Shi''i identity. Through a critical analysis of legal texts, whose provenance has only recently been confirmed, the ...