The Prophet's Heir

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The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Hassan Abbas

View Inside Format: Hardcover
Price: $33.00

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The life and legacy of one of Mohammad’s closest confidants and Islam’s patron saint: Ali ibn Abi Talib

“The best biography of Ali I’ve ever read.”—Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

“For Muslims, this book is a must, for non-Muslims, it is essential reading in order to understand the correct history and true spirit of Islam.”—Dr. Akbar Ahmed, AlBilad

Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. Through his teachings and leadership as fourth caliph, Ali nourished Islam. But Muslims are divided on whether he was supposed to be Mohammad’s political successor—and he continues to be a polarizing figure in Islamic history.

Hassan Abbas provides a nuanced, compelling portrait of this towering yet divisive figure and the origins of sectarian division within Islam. Abbas reveals how, after Mohammad, Ali assumed the spiritual mantle of Islam to spearhead the movement that the prophet had led. While Ali’s teachings about wisdom, justice, and selflessness continue to be cherished by both Shia and Sunni Muslims, his pluralist ideas have been buried under sectarian agendas and power politics. Today, Abbas argues, Ali’s legacy and message stands against that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.

Hassan Abbas is distinguished professor of international relations at Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of The Taliban Revival and Pakistan's Drift into Extremism.

“Hassan Abbas has stepped skilfully and eloquently into a lacuna [and] has produced a book that is not only timely and germane, but which pleads the cause of Ali before a contemporary generation, offering him afresh as a fitting and relevant paradigm for an age in which people hunger for the things for which Ali hungered and struggled.”—Professor Christopher Clohessy, Islamochristiana

“This is the best biography of Ali that I have ever read.”—Reza Aslan, author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

“Ali was a hugely gifted thinker and speaker, one of the earliest scribes and something of a poet. But it is hard to be objective about him. The evidence is often contradictory and he is shrouded by accretions, pious and otherwise. In The Prophet’s Heir, Hassan Abbas—an enthusiast for his subject, and an objective enthusiast—pursues Ali on the ground. Fantastic.”—Tim Mackintosh-Smith, author of Arabs

“For Muslims, this book is a must, for non-Muslims, it is essential reading in order to understand the correct history and true spirit of Islam.”—Dr. Akbar Ahmed, AlBilad

“The Prophet’s Heir is likely to be a very popular book. It is lively and well-written, which will make it accessible to the broad reading public. Non-specialist Western audiences will acquire a detailed and compelling narrative of the events of early Islam.”—Jonathan P. Berkey, Medieval Review

“The book is balanced—often offering differing interpretations of historical events or prophetic sayings. . . . [It] is also replete with fascinating details. . . . Anyone interested in early Islamic history/world history, the Prophet and his holy progeny, and how today’s sectarianism is ahistorical, would find this book illuminating”—Pouya Alimagham, author of Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings, on Twitter

“An erudite and accessible biography of Ali, one that tells his life story, and discusses his teachings and values, and how his legacy continues to loom large over Muslim world.”—Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revival

"This erudite but readable book shows why the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law Ali is central to Islam today, and should be both an inspiration and a figure for reconciliation."—John McHugo, author of A Concise History of Sunnis & Shi'is

ISBN: 9780300229455
Publication Date: March 16, 2021

256 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
8 colour illus. + 3 maps + 3 figures

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