A Word to the Reader

Double dates denote, first, the Islamic Hijra date and then that of the common Christian era. When they appear in parentheses after an individual’s name, they denote the death date of an individual, unless otherwise noted; for example, al-Ḥibarī (286/899) or (d. [i.e. died in] 286/899). When the month is not known, the two years of the Common Era which the Hijra year straddles are noted; for example, 329/940–41.

Translations from the Qur’an are my own, unless otherwise noted, in which case the source of the translation is given. In Qur’anic references the first numeral indicates the sura and the second the verse according to the customary division; for example, 2:43 = the Qur’an, sura 2, verse 43.

The term Hadith designates the second scriptural source in Islam after the Qur’an. It denotes what is called the Islamic Tradition, namely, the teachings attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad and, for Sunnis, certain of his companions; and, for Shi’ites, attributed to the Prophet, his daughter Fāṭima, ʿAlī, and the imams descended from them. When referring to the realm of Islamic Tradition or those disciplines that relate to it, it is here written with a capital H (Hadith) but with a small h (hadith) when referring to a specific tradition or teaching.

With regard to Arabic nomenclature, an individual’s name is almost always followed by that of his father. This relationship is designated here by the letter b the abbreviation of ibn, that is, “son of”; for example, Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh = Muḥammad ibn (i.e. “son of”) ʿAbdallāh.

In the footnotes, authors’ names and the titles of works are given with or without the article al. This is taken up in the bibliography at the end.

System of Transcription of Arabic and Persian Letters

Consonants: ’ (denotes the hamza, a laryngeal glottal stop), b, p, t, th (like English “th” in “think”), j (as “dj”), č (like English “China”), ḥ (“h” unvoiced pharyngeal), kh (like Spanish jota or the German ch in Buch), d, dh (like English that), r (always strongly rolled), z, ž (like French gentil), s, sh (like English shy), ṣ (emphatic s), ḍ (emphatic d), ṭ (emphatic t), ẓ (emphatic z), ʿ (indicates the voiced pharyngeal ʿayn), gh (as in French r, grassayé), f, q (velarized uvular stop, the palatodorsal articulation of k), k, g, l, m, n, w, h (laryngeal spirant), y (as in yak).

Vowels: short: a, i, u; long: ā, ī, ū.

Historical Points of Reference

616–19:	violent tension among influential members of the Quraysh, particularly the Banū ʿAbd Shams, the clan of the Umayyads, and the Banū Hāshim, the clan of Muḥammad.
1/622:	the Hijra: according to tradition, the emigration of Muḥammad and his first followers from Mecca to Medina (beginning of the Muslim calendar).
2/624:	battle of Badr: victory of Muḥammad over the Quraysh of Mecca.
3/625:	battle of Uḥud: victory of the Meccans over the Prophet’s followers.
8/630:	conquest of Mecca by Muḥammad and his supporters.
11/632:	death of Muḥammad. The naming of Abū Bakr as his successor at the saqīfa (porch) of the clan of the Banū Sāʿida. Death of Fāṭima, Muḥammad’s daughter, a few months after that of her father. Start of the “Wars of Apostasy”
13/634:	death (by violence?) of Abū Bakr. Accession of ʿUmar to the caliphate.
15/636:	beginning of Arab conquests: Damascus and most of Syria and Palestine.
16–22/637–642:	conquest of Jerusalem, Ctesiphon (capital of Sasanian Persia), Mesopotamia, Armenia. Evacuation of Alexandria by the Byzantines.
23/644:	assassination of ʿUmar. Beginning of caliphate of ʿUthmān.
26–29/649–50:	Arab incursions into Cappadocia, Phrygia, Carthage. Landing at Cyprus.
35/656:	assassination of ʿUthmān. Beginning of the caliphate of ʿAlī.
36–38/657–59:	civil wars of the Camel (Jamal), Ṣiffīn, Nahrawān. Muʿāwiya is acknowledged as the first Umayyad caliph in Syria.
40/661:	assassination of ʿAlī. Umayyad caliphate from 661 to 750.
49–50/669–670:	death of al-Ḥasan, elder son of ʿAlī and Fāṭima, probably poisoned on Muʿāwiya’s orders.
61/680:	massacre of al-Ḥusayn, younger son of ʿAlī and Fāṭima, and his family at Karbalā by the troops of the caliph Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya.
65–86/685–705:	caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān. Probable establishment of the official version of the Qur’an.
133/750:	Fall of the Umayyads to the Abbasid revolution. Beginning of the Abbasid caliphate which will last until the Mongol invasion in 656/1258.

Main Clans of the Tribe of Quraysh the Banū Hāshim (main figures) and the Family of Moḥammad

The Banū ʿAbd Shams (main figures)

Geneology of the Leading Imams and the Broad Divisions of Shi’ism