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ورثة محمد جذور الخلاف السني الشيعي

Barnaby Rogerson

3.90 · Rating details · 379 ratings · 73 reviews

الكتاب ترجمة د عبدالرحمن عبدالله الشيخ ترجمة ممتازة ويقوم المترجم بتصحيح المعلومات الخاطئة وهى قليلة جدا والكثير منها بسبب اختلاط الأمر على المؤلف يناقش فكرة نشوء المذهب الشيعى ويوضح أن الخلاف بينه وبين المذهب السنى مجرد خلاف على أحقية تاريخية فى وراثة النبى محمد فى الحكم وليست خلافات عقائدية . يناقش فى فصول تروى باختصار أهم الأحداث التاريخية فى عصر الخلفاء الراشدين والأسب ...more

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Published 2010 by الهيئة المصرية العامة للكتاب (first published October 5th 2006)

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May 18, 2010 William rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I did not have very much knowledge on the subject to start with so I do not have much to compare it to. I really liked the way the book was divided and gained an enormous amount of knowledge on the Prophet Muhammed and all of the Caliphs that followed. It helped me gain valuable insight on how Islam started and spread so quickly.

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Aug 15, 2019 Aurélien Thomas rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: islam

The internal battles and struggles of the first Muslim communities right after the death of Muhammad onwards make for a fascinating historical episode, especially since, defining the Shia-Sunni split, such events still resonate in today's world. I had familiarised myself with a rough overview of it all with After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam by Leslie Hazleton, an entertaining and epic read, informative although clearly pro-Shia. I decided then to pick this book, The internal battles and struggles of the first Muslim communities right after the death of Muhammad onwards make for a fascinating historical episode, especially since, defining the Shia-Sunni split, such events still resonate in today's world. I had familiarised myself with a rough overview of it all with After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam by Leslie Hazleton, an entertaining and epic read, informative although clearly pro-Shia. I decided then to pick this book, more academic, in depth, and, I thought, more balanced, so as to try and further my appreciation of the era. I was a bit disappointed, though I learnt a lot.

Sure, it's difficult to approach Muhammad's succession without being biased. Was it all fair? Was Ali shamefully deprived of his role to be? Barnaby Rogerson tries really hard to don't take side, yet it's quite clear he favours Sunni over Shia. Indeed, there is no reference to the Paper and Pen Episode nor to the attack on Ali and Fatima's house (let alone on Fatima's fate at this point!). The reason behind the 'Prophet' quick burial are speedily brushed aside with sensitive excuses. The idea of an interested pact between Abu Bakr and Omar is dismissed as, maybe having just 'a grain of truth', but nothing more than mere friendship between two fathers in law. Abu Bakr himself is compared to great historical figures such as Garibaldi, Lincoln, and Cato; while Ali is compared to no one (although he is being acknowledged as an unquestionably dignified man, give him that...). In a word, the whole affair of the succession itself is labelled as being just, wait for it... 'an accidental coup'! You've got to love the euphemism!

Now, of course, there is nothing wrong in leaning on one side or the other! Frankly, I personally believe that it's impossible to be objective with such centuries old hotly debated topic. I just found that, if it's quite amusing to see him wiggle around to try and don't stir controversies with issues that are everything but non-controversial, it sadly leads him to completely ignore some Shia stances and arguments. I'd rather had him challenging them with a bias, than flying over them like a breeze, when not mentioning them at all. As it is, this does not much to understand the split between both sects.

Having said that, what I found engrossing is that he is all about events over personalities. Yes, he certainly does recognise Aisha as being the key detonator in all the divisions that would follow:

'Without her impassionated (sic) stance, it is quite probable that there would have been no united opposition to Ali's succession among the Meccans.'

But the book is less about clashes between people as it is about an analysis of the facts that led to Islam exploding out of Arabia, and up to the rise of the Umayyads. It's heavy on military history and cunny diplomacy, but this is exactly what makes it a particularly relevant and fascinating read. The author, painstakingly, tries and explain the baffling: how come the Arabs, who 'were worse equipped, less numerous, knew nothing of siege craft and had no new technical inventions or tactical manoeuvres to spring on their enemies' managed to conquer the then two super powers sandwiching Arabia, the Byzantine and Persian Empires? Muslims obviously have been keen to put such conquests down to the righteousness of Islam and so the hand of their God. It was about time a non-Muslim tackle the issue from a military and statesmanship's perspective!

Greatly welcome, by the way, is his debunking of the ongoing prejudice that Islam thus imposed itself by the sword. It didn't, but the point needed to be nailed bluntly:

'Despite the enduringly popular image of the Arab conquerors arriving with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, this was only true as a metaphor during the Ridda wars. It was most emphatically not the case with the conquest of Syria and Palestine. There was no attempt to convert the Peoples of the Book, who right from the start were valued as a taxable resource and to be kept apart from the Muslims.'

All in all then, this read left me with a mixed feeling. I was disappointed with the first part. It could have delved more into Muhammad's death and the highly controversial events that followed up. Indeed, his attempt at not stirring controversies but staying as neutral as can be, as far as I am concerned, just backfire badly against him: where are the crucial debates surrounding Ghadir Khumm? Fatima and Ali's fate? Their son Mushin? Contrary to what it says on the front cover, such approach doesn't illuminate how the Sunni-Shia split fully came into fruition. Fortunately, the author picks himself up in the second part, telling of the Conquest and ultimate triumph of Islam in a clear narrative where politics and military history all come together to shape an informative perspective. It can be an heavy read, with all the battles and intrigues and complex intricacies unfolding like a game of chess, but it's enlightening enough to be of interest. Here's not your easy go-to type of introduction, but nevertheless a likeable book. ...more

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Nov 06, 2016 Hassaan Munir rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: islamic-history, quick-reads

The Heirs of Muhammad is a great introductory book on the years immediately after the death of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). It is very easy to read as the author, Barnaby Rogerson, strives to maintain an aura of story-telling and doesn't delve into much detail. He tries to keep it simple and riveting which, in effect, kills any scholarly essence of this work. There are only like a handful of footnotes and no citations within the book.

However, this shouldn't keep you from reading it as it involves a ...more

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Nov 28, 2015 Amad rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Coming from west.. author tries to view the happenings with an understanding of east or Arab culture but falls short on many levels. The conclusion written by the author is the most important and very valid (not including some assumptions of course.)
- Author has a lot of respect for Muhammad(SAW) and his research on most of the topics is good although not complete and he accepts this in the start
- Can be studied as an intro to the topic but for a better understanding a deeper study in necessary

S ...more

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Sep 23, 2019 Arslan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Looking at the title, I took it for another Sunni shia split story just like Hazleton’s “After the Prophet”. Although in start it seemed likely but it goes more in detail and talks about “all” the heirs of Prophet. It’s content is good and well detailed for eras of Rashidun caliphs except some minor chronological mistakes which we can expect from non Muslim authors for the books like these are good critical analysis of the events but everything must not be taken as a fact. For instance the autho ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Ejaz Husseini rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Heirs of Prophet Muhammad review: there is so much we don’t know, O (Shia, Sunni) brothers…

The Heirs of Prophet Muhammad

By “Barnaby Rogerson”

On one hand, this book is a swaggering saga of ambition, self-sacrificing nobility and blood rivalry, while on the other it allows us to understand some of the complexities of our modern world. For within this fifty-years span of conquest and empire-building, Rogerson also identifies the seeds of discord that destroyed the unity of Islam, and traces the ...more

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Feb 16, 2014 Mehmet Akif Koç rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not bad, especially for non-Muslim beginners to early history of Islam. However, provides poor information/comments on the roots of Sunni-Shia schism...

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Nov 16, 2016 Nathik rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, religion, 2016

A good primer on the history of Rashidun Caliphate. As with all primer, lacks solid historical analysis.

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Jan 25, 2018 Nathan Albright rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: challenge-2018

Although the author does not consider himself a scholar and he uses some terminology that scholars would frown at relating to Islam and the early figures in it in order to make his writing more accessible to Western audiences, this is quite an impressive book as a narrative history. The author quotes someone in this book to the effect that it's hard to write about Islam to a contemporary general audience because one's potential readers are either bored or afraid, but this book is neither boring ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Azaghedi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, british, 21st-century, islam

As the subtitle says, this book is about the first century of Islam and the origins of the Sunni-Shia split. Thus, it does not go into great detail about the Sunni-Shia split that truly becomes visible and hardened long after Islam's first century (though it does give a very brief outline of this in one of two appendices after the main narrative). I was hoping for more detail about how this first century of Islam and its people and events affected the split, but the fact that the book didn't rea ...more

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Jan 30, 2021 Peyman Majidi added it · review of another edition

This book was my first reading on the subject of Islam after the passing of prophet Muhamad (peace be upon him). Though I was brought up in Iran and knew somethings about the hadiths and the division of the Shia & Sunni I've never had read book penned by a westerner, presumably impartial to Islam and its Shia & Sunni Sect.

In general I enjoyed reading and learning about the first century of Islam and the cultural and tribal traditions and the vast cultural differences between Mecca and Medina.

O ...more

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Jul 15, 2017 Zulfiqar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"Three years after Karbala, in 688, an army sent from Damascus, bolstered by regiments of Christians from Syria first slaughtered the defenders of Medina in a battle fought out in it the volcanic landscape of the Harron hills and then sacked, looted and raped its way through the capital of Islam for three days. Then holy Mecca itself was besieged. Two months into this offensive, the Kaaba was burned to the ground when it was accidentally hit by a Naph-tha treated arrows launched by besiegers." ( ...more

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Oct 11, 2019 Nabilah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

It could be better. The author out-rightly admitted to not knowing Arabic and he relied entirely on secondary sources (translated materials) so beware.

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Jun 16, 2013 Nikki rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history-islam

The Good:
1) This is a good BASIC introductory book, a good starting book to read in understanding the early history and the root of the Sunni Shia schism in Islam. The style of the book is storytelling, not academic, therefore, easy to follow, and understand without getting bogged down with footnotes. There is a good list "further reading(s)" on p.398-402.

2) Because the Arabic names, and the style of writing lineage such as son of (ibn) or father of (abu), mother of (ummu), can be very confusing The Good:
1) This is a good BASIC introductory book, a good starting book to read in understanding the early history and the root of the Sunni Shia schism in Islam. The style of the book is storytelling, not academic, therefore, easy to follow, and understand without getting bogged down with footnotes. There is a good list "further reading(s)" on p.398-402.

2) Because the Arabic names, and the style of writing lineage such as son of (ibn) or father of (abu), mother of (ummu), can be very confusing and overwhelming, Rogerson did an excellent job in just simplifying everything so these does not collude the storytelling itself. There is very nice family tree charts at the end too so the reader can get a general idea why for example Talha and Zubayr are so close to the family of Abu Bakar and Aisha.

The (slightly) not so good:

1) Because this reduced to be basic and easily read story, for someone that is looking for more "meat" in understanding what went wrong (the root of the split) of this important period of the early history of Islam like me, are left with more questions. For example, during the storytelling, there are direct quotes of the principal characters which leaves me wondering is this as reported from writings of Ibn Ishaq? Al Waqidi? Al Zuhri? Tabari? From a hadith? Or is it the author's taking the artistic "liberty" creating a plausible dialogue that fits the occasion? I am left wondering. ..

2) Rogerson did have an appendix B titled "How can we know? Aisha's Legacy among the storytellers of Medina" (p.359-366).
Yes, I understand Aisha was in invaluable source of candid stories that we know today that later became the cornerstones of the early Islamic history as we know today. She is the most respected, most vocal, and the most fascinating of all the wives of the prophet. However, what about the source(s) of the Shia version of the story? Rogerson only made a passing comment that the old Ali vs Aisha did continue into the next generation with Aisha niece and namesake ( the daughter of her young half sister and her kinsmen Talha) locked into a lifelong rivalry with Sukainah, Ali's granddaughter, competing for patronage of the most esteemed singers, Koranic reciters, storytellers within Medina.(p.362).

3) Again, because of the focus on the "story", and in any good story, the more colorful the character, the more interesting the story is. Reading this "novel" makes it seems like as if the Sunni-Shia split is mostly due to the petty jealousy of Aisha towards the house of Ali. A split that continues for centuries to this day, and later developed into distinct theologies, I doubt it is that simple. ...more

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Sep 17, 2016 Atimia Atimia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A concise but adequate history of early Islam. Very elegantly and prosaically written, though I recommend reading a short introduction on Islam before diving into this. Also, the prose is confusing at the start, when you haven't figured out Rogerson gives most people at least a paragraph of praise.

The personal stories and frequent geological and thematic changes can be confusing if you're less familiar with the subject and regions, also it leads one to wonder what the sources are and if there ar ...more

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Oct 21, 2007 Nicholas Whyte added it · review of another edition

http://nhw.livejournal.com/932939.html[return][return]A breezily written, enthusiastic book about the early decades of Islam. Rogerson spends a good third of the book getting to the starting point, recapitulating his earlier biography of the Prophet.[return][return]Rogerson is clearly a sympathiser, and this means that the book cannot be considered particularly neutral. But that's perhaps not such a bad thing; I am more interested in finding out what the Prophet's followers believe than in getti ...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Benjamin Buchholz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a good, clear synopsis of what we know (or can know) of the first years of the Islamic state after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Rogerson wisely admits in his introductions the limits he has placed on himself, in terms of over-studying or devolving his arguments into the tangled levels of reliability of various traditions. He bluntly states that he has not read the volumes upon volumes of scholarly work in Arabic (not to mention Persian, German, English, Coptic, Syriac, Hebrew, Aram ...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Khairul Hezry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: religion, history-islam

Chronicles the the trials and tribulations (and also the successes) of the first four Caliphs of Islam and their generals after the death of Prophet Muhammad. Refreshing to read as I have read books on the same subject but written by Muslim authors in my native Malay language. The difference between those books and Rogerson's is that Rogerson also mentions their human failings (for they were after all, human beings) such as Omar al-Khattab's stern views on women's liberation, Muslim generals Kha ...more

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May 05, 2011 Jur rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, ancient

Can't figure out how much of this book is Rogerson's interpretation and imagination, as obviously the sources will probably not support his psychologisation.

But it's an interesting view to show how the four rightly led Caliphs were driven ever further off the right path by nepotism, manipulation and mutual distrust. It suggests that Muhammad was a great guy and that his heirs spoiled his legacy. But you could also argue that many of the flaws of the heirs were inherent in the teachings of Muhamm ...more

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May 10, 2007 Ali Al-Birminghami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is primarily a historical account of the events of the first thirty years after the death of the Prophet. The writer goes into extenstive (and often laborious) detail about the military conquests of the caliphs but more interestingly, describes the political alliances of the main characters that culminate in the rise of the Ummayad dynasty.

Despite the title of the book, he only vaguely alludes to the roots of the Sunni-Shia schism and does not do it justice. The accuracy of historical acco ...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Louise rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: religion, middle-east, islam

Rogerson makes this complex story intelligible. It's very involved, so it's no wonder that few non-Muslims understand it. Besides the interwoven relationships of the principals (nicely presented in charts at the end), there is the difficulty in seeing how religion gets spread through battle. This is clearly not a story that lends itself to sound bites.

While the book gives a framework for understanding the Shiite-Sunni split, I am at a loss to actually explain it to anyone. What I did learn, was ...more

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May 21, 2008 David added it · review of another edition

Don't know if the sub title is misleading or what, but I didn't learn much about the differences between the Sunnis and Shia. What I understand from the book, that the shift happened because some thought the wife of the Prophet was more important than the fourth Caliphate.... Dunno.... Doesn't seem anything like the rift between the Catholics and Protestants.

Having said that, this was an interesting book and I'd recommend. The stories of the first four Caliphates were worth the price of the boo ...more

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Nov 16, 2007 Catherine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I think this is a good introduction to the "companions of the prophet" and how they influenced the direction of Islam after Mohammed's death. The author doesn't shy away from some pretty controversial topics (ex. Mohammed's marriage to Aisha)- but he humanizes the stories so the final effect is fairly balanced. I really enjoyed learning about the personalities of the early Muslims (Ali, Omar, Uthman, etc.) and how the current Islamic communities interpret their legacies. Also essential to any un ...more

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Jun 11, 2007 Daniel rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Rogerson’s history of a critical era in Islam is informative but not always engaging. The book focuses on the first 40 years after the Prophet’s death, attempting to make this story accessible to Westerners and to illuminate the origins of the Shia-Sunni split. Unfortunately Rogerson’s narrative skills are frequently dull and his writing needs editing. This subject awaits a definitive treatment.

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Sep 24, 2016 Hassan Raza rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A very good narrative of many controversial events in an attempt to bridge the gap between two communities.

A chapter on Fatima is absent which is sad. It would have been interesting to read the author's view on her life and then her tragic death. She is the only uncontested child of the Messenger within two communities. ...more

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Oct 09, 2008 Becky rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone interested in monotheistic religions

The early history of Islam from an outsiders view, the author is not a Muslim, he is not Arabic, he is a travel writer. But he seems to be able to boil down the history into an inspiring storey, where the caliphs and the prophet are men, not unreachable or vague, but alive on the pages.

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May 06, 2016 Aaron Johnson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Overall good history of the 50 or so years after Muhammad. The author Barnaby was hilariously apologist however. Every beneficial act of Muhammad was played up but every act of violence committed by the prophet was apologized.

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Jul 29, 2007 Yasir Jafri rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent book, very informative, based on factual evidence...

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Aug 23, 2007 S rated it liked it · review of another edition

A romantic, epic, tragic account of the early years of Islam, and well-told. Not really scholarly (though paradoxically a bit over-detailed at times) but instructive and enlightening.

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