No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam

116 No god but God the first Caliphate because of the reluctance of the Arabs to entrust “young and untried men with great respo ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 117 that a great many of the prophets and patriarchs of the Bible were suc- ceeded by their kin: Abraham ...

�� 118 No god but God As turbulent as the succession to Muhammad may have been, there is one detail that should not be lost in t ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 119 The Riddah Wars represented Abu Bakr’s conscious effort to maintain the unity of the Arabs under the ...

120 No god but God without argument. Fatima, on the other hand, was inconsolable. In the span of a few months she had lost her f ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 121 up with the caravan, but did not make it to the next campsite until morning. The sight of Muhammad’s ...

122 No god but God debate over the rights of the family of the Prophet. Indeed, a shura might have led to the succession of Ali, ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 123 power of the former Quraysh aristocracy and strengthened his central authority by appointing governo ...

124 No god but God death. It was not long before only two men remained: Ali, the scion of the Banu Hashim, and a somewhat unrema ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 125 man was chosen as Caliph over Ali, the Banu Hashim had simply had enough. It was perfectly clear to ...

126 No god but God poured out of the Prophet’s mouth, it was diligently memorized by a new class of scholars, personally instruc ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 127 was showered with stones hurled from the back of the congregation. A stone hit him in the forehead a ...

128 No god but God his home, while his second son, Husayn, transported water and food to the Caliph throughout the siege at grea ...

�� The Rightly Guided Ones 129 The rebels, provoked by a scuffle outside Uthman’s home, stormed into the Caliph’s inner chamber, ...

130 No god but God for Ali had not waned over the years. This faction consisted of mem- bers of the Ansar, the Banu Hashim, some ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 131 The Battle of the Camel, as it came to be known, was Islam’s first experience of civil war, or fitna ...

132 No god but God of tribal leadership, though Mu‘awiyah himself seemed to be trying to steer the Ummah in the direction of the ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 133 was to be considered a kafir, or unbeliever, and immediately expelled from the Ummah. Small as this ...

134 No god but God up together as brothers in the same household, and Ali rarely left Muhammad’s side either as a child or as an ...

The Rightly Guided Ones 135 down their weapons, Ali accepted Mu‘awiyah’s surrender and called for a Hakam to settle the dispute ...