Description
Book SynopsisAn essential guide to understanding the divide that has come to define Islam and the Muslim world and how this divide has the capacity to result in violence across the Arab and Muslim world
Trade Review`A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi'is is an important corrective ... provides the reader not just with all the historical background he or she could want, in an accessible and comprehensible fashion, but also employs this sound knowledge to a clear-headed appraisal of the modern Middle East.' Times Literary Supplement; 'In lucid and accessible prose, John McHugo shows that there is nothing inevitable about the so-called Sunni-Shi'i divide.' Madawi Al-Rasheed, author of A History of Saudi Arabia; `This book will be widely read.' InterLib; `John McHugo takes us through the Sunni-Shi`i divide over 1400 years of Islamic history with good judgement in balancing the various accounts, and a great clarity of expression.' Moojan Momen, author of Shi`i Islam: A Beginner's Guide; `It is no mean feat to cover over 1400 years of history ... Masterful and fascinating' The Jordan Times; `Excellent ... McHugo is a lucid interpreter of complex events.' Law Society Gazette; `A timely book ...It is to be hoped that a reading of John McHugo's densely informative narrative will encourage Western leaders to hesitate, before taking sides in a struggle that is not their own.' Irish Catholic
Table of ContentsCHAPTER ONE: In the Beginning - before there were Sunnis and Shi'is p.3; CHAPTER TWO: How Internal Strife came to Islam p.18; CHAPTER THREE: Of Umayyads and Abbasids - The Political Background to the Split between Sunnis and Shi'is p. 33; CHAPTER FOUR: The Split between Sunnis and Shi'is p. 48; CHAPTER FIVE: Of Ismailis, Asassins, Druze, Gnostic Shi'is, Alawis and Sufis p. 68; CHAPTER SIX: How Iran became Shi'i p. 80; CHAPTER SEVEN: The Ottoman Empire, India and the Muslim Reformation p.98; CHAPTER EIGHT: The long Nineteenth Century and the Coming of Western Dominance p.110; CHAPTER NINE: Between the two World Wars p.132; CHAPTER TEN: Tides ebb and flow p.158; CHAPTER ELEVEN: 1979 p. 183; CHAPTER TWELVE: From the Iranian Revolution to the Invasion of Iraq (2003) p. 198; CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Disaster with many Fathers p. 224
