Peshawar Nights

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Peshawar Nights is a Shi'a book by Sultanu'l-Wa'izin Shirazi^[1] ("Prince of Preachers from Shiraz")^[2] claiming to recount a public debate between Shi'a Muslims and Sunni Muslims. The debate is said to have taken place in the city of Peshawar in the Soba-e-Serhed (North West Frontier) province of Pakistan beginning on 27 January 1927.^[2]

1 History
2 The Book
3 Sunni view
4 Shi'a view
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

According to the preface:

A condition of the dialogue was that only sources acceptable to both sects would be cited. The dialogue was held in Farsi, commonly understood in the city of Peshawar. The transcript, made by four reporters and published in the newspapers daily, was published in book form in Teheran and soon became a classic authority in the East. The present work is based on the fourth edition, published in Teheran in 1971, the year in which Sultanu'l-Wa'izin died at the age of 75^[3]

Axhasan 22:58, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Book

Peshawar Nights is a must read for anyone who has wondered what the differences are between Shia's and Sunnis. The book maintains an impressive characteristic of citing detailed references when making arguments, which is a rarity in itself when reading religious books on such topics. The Question, Answer, Counter format does make it an easy read. Peshawar Nights tackles all the topics on the subject, from as disputed as the right to succession, to more obvious ones like combining prayers. Decorum and respect are always maintained in the book, but no punches are held back.

[edit] Sunni view

Sunni Muslims claim that this book is a Persian forgery, first printed in Teheran, Iran. They say that there is no proof that any such debate ever took place in Peshawar, and that internal evidence from the book disproves its historicity.^[4] Sunnis have challenged Shi'a to produce copies or fragments of the newspapers on which these public debates were originally said to have been printed and say that no Shi'a have been able to prove that the debate ever took place. Sunnis argue that this is a fictional narration following in the methods of previous Shia apologists such as Abul Futuh ar-Razi and Radiyy ad-Din Ibn Tawus who employed the same tactics

[edit] Shi'a view

The Shi'a view it as a good collection of arguments to consider in Shi'a-Sunni argumentations, and as historically authentic. The Sunni denial is considered as an attempt to dismiss the facts of history. Another view proposed by Shi'as is that regardless of whether Peshawar Nights is a forgery or not, the arguments put forth by the protagonists of the book cannot be denied.