Parable and Politics in Early Islamic History
The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a factual account. The story also informs the competing perspectives of Sunni and Shi''i Islam, which read into it the legitimacy of their claims. Yet while descriptive and varied, these approaches have long...
The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a factual account. The story also informs the competing perspectives of Sunni and Shi''i Islam, which read into it the legitimacy of their claims. Yet while descriptive and varied, these approaches have long...