The authoritative account of the sectarian division that for centuries has shaped events in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
In 632, soon after the prophet Muhammad died, a struggle broke out among his followers as to who would succeed him. The majority argued that the new leader of Islam should be elected by the community's elite.
Others believed only members of Muhammad's family could lead. This dispute over who should guide Muslims, the appointed Caliph or the bloodline Imam, marks the origin of the Sunni-Shii split in Islam.
Toby Matthiesen explores this hugely significant division from its origins to the present day. Moving chronologically, his book sheds light on the many ways that it has shaped the Islamic world, outlining how over the centuries Sunnism and Shiism became Islams two main branches, particularly after the Muslim Empires embraced sectarian identity. It reveals how colonial rule institutionalised divisions between Sunnism and Shiism both on the Indian subcontinent and in the greater Middle East, giving rise to pan-Islamic resistance and Sunni and Shii revivalism. It then focuses on the fall-out from the 1979 revolution in Iran and the US-led military intervention in Iraq. As Matthiesen shows, however, though Sunnism and Shiism have had a long and antagonistic history, most Muslims have led lives characterised by confessional ambiguity and peaceful co-existence. Tensions arise when sectarian identity becomes linked to politics.
Based on a synthesis of decades of scholarship in numerous languages, The Caliph and the Imam will become the standard text for readers looking for a deeper understanding of contemporary sectarian conflict and its historical roots.
By:
Toby Matthiesen
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 240mm,
Width: 160mm,
Spine: 53mm
Weight: 1.538kg
ISBN: 9780198806554
ISBN 10: 0198806558
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 20 April 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Prologue: From Karbala to Damascus PART I THE FORMATION OF SUNNISM AND SHIISM, 632-1500 Chapter 1 After the Prophet Chapter 2 Sunni Reassertion and the Crusades Chapter 3 Polemics and Confessional Ambiguity PART II THE SHAPING OF MUSLIM EMPIRES, 1500-1800 Chapter 4 The Age of Confessionalisation Chapter 5 Muslim Dynasties on the Indian Subcontinent Chapter 6 Reform and Reinvention in the 18th Century PART III EMPIRE AND THE STATE, 1800-1979 Chapter 7 British India and Orientalism Chapter 8 Ottoman Reorganisation and European Intervention Chapter 9 The Mandates Chapter 10 The Muslim Response PART IV REVOLUTION AND RIVALRY, 1979- Chapter 11 The Religion of Martyrdom Chapter 12 Export and Containment of Revolution Chapter 13 Regime Change Chapter 14 The Arab Uprisings Conclusion: Every Place is Karbala BIBLIOGRAPHY ENDNOTES
Toby Matthiesen is a Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford. He is the author of a number of books, and won prizes from the American Political Science Association and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and Foreign Policy, and has published op-eds in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian. He has been a guest on CNN, BBC, NPR, ABC and al-Jazeera English.
Reviews for The Caliph and the Imam: The Making of Sunnism and Shiism
Matthiesen's masterful survey of Sunni-Shiite relations in history is firmly grounded in the primary sources and ranges more widely geographically than is common in other works on the subject, including South Asia. The author avoids the glib truisms that have come to dominate discussion of this subject, while giving us thought-provoking, contextual insights into one of the key flash points within Islamic civilization. * Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History and Director, Program in Arab and Muslim American Studies, University of Michigan * Ambitious in its historical as well as geographical scope, this is the first truly global account of the intimate and sometimes also violent relationship of Sunni and Shia in the making and remaking of Islam. * Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford *
