Annals of the Early Caliphate — Sir William Muir

First published in 1883, Sir William Muir's Annals of the Early Caliphate is a detailed history of the founding decades of Islam — from the death of the Prophet Muhammad through the election of Abu Bakr, the wars of the Ridda, the great conquests in Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Persia, and the caliphates of Umar, Uthman and Ali. It covers the Battle of the Camel, the Battle of Siffin, and the tragedy of Karbala: the very events at the root of the historical divide between Sunni and Shia Islam. Muir wrote as a nineteenth-century British Orientalist historian, drawing primarily on classical Arabic chronicles such as Tabari, Ibn al-Athir, and Baladhuri. His framing and language reflect the scholarship and attitudes of his era, and this edition is offered as a historical source for readers interested in the period, not as a neutral modern account. This edition omits the author's original footnotes, source citations, and index, which were prepared for specialist reference; the full scholarly apparatus remains available in the original 1883 edition.

Author: Sir William Muir

Genre: History / Islamic History