Islam

Since its discovery in Yemen in 1972 a collection of brittle documents, believed to be among the earliest Koranic texts, has been the subject of fierce and divisive debate among scholars of Islamic history, as Scott MacMillan reports.

Richard Cavendish remembers the assassination of Caliph Ali, on January 24th, 661.

A solution to the turmoil in the Middle East seems as far away as ever. But, says Martin Gilbert, past relations between Muslims and Jews have often been harmonious and can be so again.

Edna Fernandes visits a madrassa in northern India founded in the wake of the Indian Mutiny. One of the first Islamic fundamentalist schools, its influence has spread into Pakistan and Afghanistan, among the Taliban and followers of Osama bin Laden.

Clive Foss introduces the Kharijites, a radical sect from the first century of Islam based in southern Iraq and Iran, who adopted an extreme interpretation of the Koran, ruthless tactics and opposed hereditary political leadership. After causing centuries of problems to the caliphate, they survive in a quietist form in East Africa and Oman.

Christopher J. Walker asks whether the two religions that frequently appear locked in an inevitable clash of civilizations in fact share more than has often been thought.

While Hezbollah again hit the headlines during the summer, its historical roots are less familiar. Andrew Arsan traces the political emergence of the Shi’a community in Lebanon.

Diplomat and traveller Hugh Leach draws on his experience of working with Arab tribes to examine T.E. Lawrence’s strategy in the Arab revolt, in anticipation of a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum.

Robert Johnson puts the decline of a once-great Empire into an international context.

Hugh Kennedy examines the life of one of the most powerful men in the world in the eighth century.

Corinne Atkins examines the events in Iraq in the 7th century AD, which precipitated the first and only great division of Islam, the ramifications of which are seen today in Iraq and more widely.

Philip Mansel explores the City of the Sultans from 1453 onwards, and finds it characterised by a vibrant multi-culturalism until the Ottoman demise of 1922.

Richard Fletcher asks to what extent medieval Christians and Muslims sought to move beyond mutual hostility.