Islamic History

Since Thew professed interest in my post on the founding struggles of Islam, I would point to Peter Wehner's review of the historical emergence of radical Islam over at Real Clear Politics.

The only point I would niggle about is that I was taught that the seeds of the Shiite/Sunni struggle occurred with the Umayyad takeover of the Caliphate. While the death of Ali was the result of a planned multiple assassination (including Muawiyah and Amr) by Islamic radicals, the other men survived and both happened to be bitter enemies of Ali. Muawiyah was very quick to take over the Caliphate as the first of the Umayyad Caliphs and then high-tailed it to Damascus to establish the throne.

Sound fishy to you? Under the Tilam view of Islam, the Battle of Karbala was open confrontation of arms, but the divergence of Shiites and Sunnies occurred nearly 20 years prior.