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This book is written by one the most distinguished research scholars of Islamic history and culture and certainly an authority on the history and doctrines of the Isma‘ilis. As pointed out by the author, he has been conducting research on the subject that was still relatively new, with a handful of scholars making original contribution on the basis of recently recovered Isma‘ili manuscript sources. It is a fact that the true nature of the history and teaching of the Shi‘i communities still continues to be misunderstood by other Muslims as well as non-Muslims for a variety of reasons. In realisation of these realities the author embarked on the study and introduces more inclusively all the major Shi‘i Muslim communities, the present book being the result of his research elaborating the doctrinal positions of the various Muslim groups.
Shi‘i Islam has recently become the focus of international attention in the context of various conflicts and crises afflicting the Middle East. Such global exposure has accentuated how little is known outside the Muslim communities about the history and tradition of Shi‘i Muslims. Shi‘i Islam has played a crucial role in the manifold achievements of Islamic civilization.
Islam is a civilisation as well as a major world religion, with some 1.3 billion believers scattered across the world. Muhammad (peace be on him), the Messenger of God (Rasul Allah), succeeded in founding a religious community of considerable power and prestige. It was during basically a single decade, stretching from the time of Muhammad’s emigration (hijrah) from Makkah to Madinah in September 622 (marking the initiation of the Islamic era) until his death after a brief illness in 11/632, that most of the desert-dwelling Bedouin tribes of the Arabian Peninsula pledged their allegiance to the Prophet. The death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), however, confronted the nascent Islamic community with its first major crisis.
The successor to Muhammad (peace be on him) could not be another prophet as it had already been known through divine revelation that Muhammad (peace be on him) was the ‘seal of the prophets’ (Khatam al-Nabiyyin). Apart from delivering and interpreting the message of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) had also acted as the leader of the Islamic community. A...