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The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate, by Wilferd Madelung.
Cambridge, NY and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1997. xviii + 387 pages. Bibl. to p. 393. Index to p. 413. $69.95.
Reviewed by Elton L. Daniel
This erudite, complex, and fascinating book reexamines the struggle over and for the office of caliph, primarily during the period from the death of the Prophet Muhammad to that of his grandson al-Hasan bin `Ali bin Abi Talib (632-670 AD). As the author notes, "no event in history has divided Islam more profoundly and durably than the succession to Muhammad" (p. I), and the publisher's blurb predicts that this book will "rekindle the debate" over this topic. Since this debate has never really waned among Muslims (nor, it would seem, among Orientalists), "rekindle" might be a polite circumlocution for "fan the flames." This could have become the kind of history Paul Valery had in mind when he complained that "it inebriates nations, saddles them with false memories, exaggerates their defects, keeps their old sores running, torments them, and induces in them megalomania and the mania of persecution." 1
Fortunately such fears turn out to be unwarranted. Wilferd Madelung, a careful and judicious scholar, handles the discussion with great skill and authority. This is not to say that he does not have an axe to grind. If the debate over the succession to Muhammad has been...