The Echoes of Fitna

Aaron M. Hagler, Ph.D. (2011), University of Pennsylvania, is Associate Professor of History at Troy University. He has previously published work in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Arabica, and Der Islam, among others.

Acknowledgements



Introduction: Making Use of Uncertainty

 1 The Later Historians: Ibn al-Athīr and Ibn Kathīr

 2 Their Source

 3 Establishing the Texts’ Relationships

 4 Methodology: Performative Historiographical Analysis

 5 Mapping the Fitna

 6 Structure



1 Historical Background of the Fitna and Its Histories

 1 A Brief History of Islam before Our Extant Sources and the Emergence of Sectarian Rivalry

 2 The Raw Data: The Sectarian Narratives

 3 The Fitna as Narrative

 4 Historical Context: Damascus during and after the “Sunnī Revival”

 5 Conclusion



Part 1 The Slaughter at Karbalāʾ



2 The Karbalāʾ Narrative

 1 The Story of Karbalāʾ

 2 Ibn Kathīr on al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī

 3 Ibn al-Athīr on Karbalāʾ

 4 Conclusion



3 The Fight and Its Aftermath

 1 The Immediate Preparation

 2 The Battle

 3 Conclusion



4 Approaching Karbalāʾ

 1 Towards Karbalāʾ

 2 Umayyad Representatives, Softened and Erased

 3 Al-Ḥusayn is Detained and Denied Water

 4 Conclusion

 5 Next Stop



Part 2 The Betrayal at Ṣiffīn



5 The Ṣiffīn Narrative

 1 Sourcing Ṣiffīn

 2 The Elements of the Story

 3 The Stakes



6 The Battle of Ṣiffīn: Fight and Conclusion

 1 Introduction

 2 A Broken Link to the Prophet: The Battlefield Death of the Elderly ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir

 3 Arbitration, Negotiation, and a Portentous Stalemate



7 Preparing the Battle

 1 Introduction

 2 The Battle of the Camel

 3 The Allegiances of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī

 4 The Correspondence between ʿAlī and Muʿāwiya

 5 The Battle by the Water: Softening Umayyad Villainy at Ṣiffīn

 6 Conclusion



Part 3 The Election of ʿUthmān



8 The Story of ʿUthmān

 1 The Shūrā

 2 Six Good Years, Six Bad Years

 3 Muʿāwiya on the Minbar

 4 The Stakes

 5 Six Good Years and Six Bad Years: The Caliphate of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān



9 The Shūrā of ʿUthmān

 1 Introduction

 2 Narrating the Shūrā

 3 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf: Cynical or Sincere?

 4 ʿAlī’s Reactions: Playing the Wild Card

 5 Looking Backward



Part 4 Further Ripples



10 The Stories of Succession

 1 Introduction

 2 The Death of the Prophet and the Sāqifa

 3 The Caliphate of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

 4 The Stakes



11 The Prophet Muḥammad and His Role in the Narrative



Conclusion: The Tapestry of History

 1 Karbalāʾ the Pebble



Bibliography

Index