The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a factual account. The story also informs the competing perspectives of Sunni and Shi i Islam, which read into it the legitimacy of their claims. Yet while descriptive and varied, these approaches have long excluded a third reading, which views the conflict over the succession to the Prophet as a parable. From this vantage point, the motives, sayings, and actions of the protagonists reveal profound links to previous texts, not to mention a surprising irony regarding political and religious issues.
About the Author
Tayeb El-Hibri is professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of Reinterpreting Islamic Historiography: Harun al-Rashid and the Narrative of the ?Abbasid Caliphate (1999).
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