Shi’ite Islam: Orthodoxy Or Heterodoxy? Second Amended and Amplified Edition

This book addresses many essential issues concerning the split between the followers of Ahlul Bayt and the followers of Ahlul Sunnah. Transcending the historical, the author focuses on historical aspects in the genesis of adherence, stressing the esoteric foundation of Shi’s Islam, as opposed to the exoteric foundation of Sunni Islam which forces its followers to find spirituality in various Sufi orders.

• Dedication
• About the Author
• About the Translator, Editor, and Annotator
• Exordium
• Opening Remarks: The Foundations of Islamic Unity
• Foreword by Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi
• Commendatory Preface by Barbara Castelton
• Translator’s Preface
• Acknowledgments and Observations
• Genesis of the Work
• Author’s Preface
• Introduction: The Issue at Hand
• Chapter 1: Towards a Definition of Heterodoxy in Islam
• Chapter 2: Towards a Definition of Shi‘ism
• Chapter 3: al-Ijma‘ or Scholarly Consensus, An Accepted Method for Controlling Heresy?
• Chapter 4: The Infallible Divine Authority, Source of Law and Doctrine in Islamic ijma‘
• Chapter 5: Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
• Chapter 6: The Caliphate at a Crossroads, Abu Bakr and the Collusion of the Powerful Classes
• Chapter 7: Prophethood and Imamate, Two Inseparable Metaphysical Realities
• Chapter 8: The Wilayah
• Chapter 9: The Imamate, The Esoteric Inheritance or the Batin of the Prophet
• Conclusions
• Bibliography