The work itself unfortunately does not give an equal treatment to all five caliphs in the sense of the number of pages covered in detailing their life | This is a proper traditional Islamic tarikh history book by the great scholar Al-Suyuti, may Allah have mercy on him |
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Considering it is a translated text, I found that the English flowed well, making it easy to read | Considering it is a translated text, I found that the English flowed well, making it easy to read |
The chapters mainly focus on the lives of the companions during their caliphates, only briefly touching on their endeavours during the time of the Prophet sAaws through reference of hadith.
27It makes for a good read | He makes some very valid points in that the greatness of these men should not trap the Muslims in a helpless idealism resulting in the perception of our current age as an irreversible decline |
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For that reason it may be problematic for an introductory work but one could sweep past such statements without requiring the additional information | If you are expecting a proper biography book with a narrative with only or mostly authentic sources, this book is not it |
This book, like many other tarikh books, has many authentic but also many weak and fabricated narrations as well, because the purpose of these works by the historians was to gather everything they could on a selected topic.
To understand the political surrounding at the time of each of their caliphate is important in appreciating why al-Suyuti has included certain information i | As he concludes, "This book is in honour of the khalifate to come; may Allah make it shine as brightly as those which have been |
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The reason for this omission is "because whoever is interested will find the Arabic text easily available | As the title suggests, it provides a concise compendium of the biographies of the first five rightly-guided caliphs in Islam, although the level of detail decreases considerably by chapter; the section on Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq is 105 pages, whereas the final chapter on Hasan Ibn Ali consis The English translation of this book is an abridged version of Jalal ad-Deen as-Suyuti's 'Tareekh al-Khulafaa'' |
The short preface to the second edition by Abdassamad Clarke is admirable.
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