Description
Lesley Hazleton's brilliantly reported, accessibly written account of the split between Sunni and Shia Islam—tracing the crisis of succession after the Prophet Muhammad's death through the battles of Karbala and the martyrdom of Hussein—provides the clearest and most humanly compelling account yet produced in English of how Islam's most consequential and most enduring division came to be. Written with the accessibility and the historical depth that make genuinely complex religious history comprehensible without losing its nuance, this is essential reading for every person who wants to understand what divides Sunni and Shia and why it matters so much. An important and beautifully written work.
