God's Caliph : Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam is a book co-authored by Middle East Scholars and historiographer

Historiography of early Islam

The historiography of early Islam refers to the study of the early origins of Islam based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and examination of authentic primary source materials and the organization of these sources into a narative timeline....

 of early Islam Patricia Crone

Patricia Crone

Patricia Crone, Ph.D., is a scholar, author, Orientalist, and historian of early Islamic history working at the Institute for Advanced Study. She established herself as a major challenger to the established narrative of the early history of Islam.- Career :Patricia Crone completed her...

 and Martin Hinds

Martin Hinds

Martin Hinds was a scholar of the Middle East and historiographer of early Islam . He co-authored with Patricia Crone the book God's Caliph : Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam.-References:...

.

The book examines the distribution of religious authority in early Islam.It provides evidence that the Ummayyad caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

s thought of themselves as representatives of God on earth (Shiite ideology) and not representatives of the Prophet of God (Sunni ideology), as the established Muslim canon maintains they were, following the death of the Prophet.
The Sunni version represents the outcome of a conflict between the caliph and early scholars who, as spokesmen of the community, assumed religious leadership for themselves.
Many Islamicists have assumed the Shi'ite concept of the imamate to be a deviant development. In contrast, this book argues that it is an archaism preserving the concept of religious authority with which all Muslims began.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The title khalifat Allah
3. The Umayyad conception of the caliphate
4. Caliphal law
5. From caliphal to Prophetic sunna
6. Epilogue; Appendices; Index.