600 (ca.)-661

Examines the lives of Muhammad's widows and the first four caliphs during the first fifty years following his death, tracing Islam's Sunni-Shia schism back to the conflict between his widow Aisha and his first disciple, Caliph Ali.

Examines the origins of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam, from its start in Arabia in 632 to its lasting influence on modern conflicts in the Middle East, explaining how the succession crisis following the death of Muhammad created a divide among the Muslim people that is still felt in the twenty-first century.