PART TWO: ALI
Chapter 6
severed head of Hussein: This tradition is reported in
Halm, Shi’a Islam.
halal: Though this word is generally known in the
West only as it applies to Islamic dietary laws, it is
used throughout Arabic-speaking countries for
anything licit or permitted under Islamic law.
“tribal imperative to conquest”: See, for instance,
“Tribal states must conquer to survive,” on p. 243
of Patricia Crone’s controversial Meccan Trade and
the Rise of Islam (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1987). A more nuanced look at the “tribal
imperative” is in Berkey, Formation of Islam.Chapter 7
“goat’s fart”: Madelung, Succession to Muhammad,
citing Ibn Asakir’s twelfth-century Tarikh Madinat
Dimashq (History of the State of Damascus).