Al-Ifada fi tarikh al-a?imma al-sada

As is well known, the main difference between the Imamiyya and Zaydiyya branches in Shi?i Islam is to do with the fact that the Zaydiyya-named so after their first leader Zayd b.?Ali b. al-Husayn (d. 122/740)-did not unconditionally condemn the first three caliphs before ?Ali b. Abi Talib, while to the Imamiyya branch, all Sunnis were infidels. But even though the Zaydis did not consider Sunnis generally as infidels, they regarded rebellion against Sunni rule-unlawful to them-as a religious duty for all. The Imamis on the other hand, while radical in doctrine, did not have a militant attitude comparable to that of the Zaydis. Geographically, the Zaydis divided into a Yemeni and an Iranian branch, concentrated along the shores of the Caspian sea. The present work contains the biographies of 15 Zaydi imams, some from the Caspian, the author-Abu Talib Haruni (d. 424/1033)-being a Zaydi scholar from that region.