The Qur'an too, Madelung argues, stresses importance of kinship ties,[2] and earlier prophets had wished to be succeeded by their descendants or relatives.

He consolidated his caliphate by empowering the Quraysh, sidelining the Ansar, who supported Ali, and marginalizing Muhammad's clan Banu Hashim.

Ali's acceptance of arbitration at the Battle of Siffin is characterized as a flaw in his leadership which demoralized his supporters and gave moral victory to his opponent, Mu'awiya.

The latter is roundly criticized in Conclusion, which discusses events after Ali's death, as a despot and a coward,[2] who turned the caliphate into a tool of imperial repression.

[5] Elton L. Daniel called the book "erudite, complex, and fascinating", praising it for "counter-balancing popular views about origins and development of Shi'ism".

He criticized Madelung's uncritical attitude towards early Arabic sources which he uses to recover "precise words, thoughts, and even emotions of the principal actors."

Madelung's attitude to sources is shared by few historians, as he uses them with utmost trust, taking utterances ascribed to various characters as if they were "minutes of a council meeting".

[9] Ingrid Mattson finds Madelung "thorough" in his treatment of the subject but "not very scholarly" as he is selective in his source use, accepting traditions that support his argument and rejecting those that do not.

Madelung's assessment that the egalitarianism and tribal autonomy of the early period were replaced by an imperial government is correct, but he associates the change with "the personalities, ambitions, and intrigues of the individuals", blaming especially Mu'awiya and the Umayyads for the transformation, while in reality it was an inevitable consequence of broader processes of conquests, Arab migration out of Arabia and state building.