Islam Decoded

Islam Decoded covers the sources first: the Qur'an, its structure and transmission, and the hadith literature with its apparatus for grading reliability.

It then covers practice — the five pillars — and law, including how the major Sunni schools and the Shia tradition derive rulings and where they differ.

The historical sections run from the life of Muhammad through the caliphates to the modern period, with the Sunni–Shia division treated at the point it actually arose.