Journalist Lesley Hazleton says that if you want to understand headlines from the Middle East today, you have to understand the story of Islam’s first civil war. When the prophet Muhammad died, factions in the young faith became embroiled in a succession crisis. The power grabs, violence, and political machinations resulted in the schism between Sunni and Shia. Tuesday, Hazleton joins Doug to tell the story of Islam’s sectarian divide and to explain how that history influences current events.
Journalist Lesley Hazleton reported from Jerusalem for 13 years. She's written The New York Times, Harper's and other publications. Her books include The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad [Indiebound|Amazon] and After the Prophet: The Epic of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam [Amazon|Indiebound]
