About the book • Reviews • Excerpt • News & Events • Interviews • About the author • Gallery • Contact Narrative history at its most compelling, After the Prophet tells the tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between Shia and Sunni -- an unforgettable epic as alive today as when it first happened.



Grippingly written and deeply moving, this is the book that allows Western readers to grasp the scope and power of the Shia-Sunni split as never before.

Read Lesley Hazleton's blog, The Accidental Theologist , here.







Finalist for the 2010 PEN-USA non-fiction award



Lesley Hazleton's new book: The First Muslim "Thrilling in its depiction of long-ago events... Passionately and scrupulously done."

-- The Wall Street Journal

"A profound story masterfully told... An exceptional book."

-- Publishers Weekly, starred and boxed review

"A new masterpiece... Thrillingly and intelligently distills one of the most consequential trains of events in all history."

-- Booklist, starred review

"A remarkable telling of the story of Islam -- a tale of power, intrigue, rivalry, jealousy, assassination, manipulation, greed and faith... but above all a very human story, in a wonderful novelistic style."

-- Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ

"Lesley Hazleton vividly recreates the personal rivalries and resentment that led to Islam's great schism in the wake of Muhammad's death, and makes one understand how truly contemporary they are with our own time... A terrific and necessary book."

-- Jonathan Raban, author of My Holy War and Surveillance

"The general Western reader will come away from this book with a newfound respect for the depth and power of the early schism in Islam."

-- Professor Wilferd Madelung, Oxford University, author of The Succession to Muhammad "After reading this gripping book, no one will be able to plead ignorance about why the split between Sunni and Shia happened and what it all means."

-- Alan Wolfe, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life

"A fine, highly readable history of Islam"

-- Harvey Cox, Professor of Divinity, Harvard University © Lesley Hazleton, 2009. Design by Olivier D'hose