The Murder of the third Caliph, Uthman b. Affan, and the subsequent Civil War between Ali and Mu’awiya certainly constitute the first great rupture in Islamic Civilization. How were these events understood by writers at another moment of rupture – namely the encounter with western Europe? My paper analyzes the second volume of Taha Husayn’s Al-Fitna al-Kobra, the volume on “Ali and his sons.” Clearly all of the relevant characters, as Companions (and descendants) of the Prophet, have a rarified status that in many ways catapults them outside of history for Muslim writers. However, Taha Husayn, as a scholar trained in traditional Islamic and modern European sources and methods, has a unique perspective. Moreover, he was a part of the reformist Islamiyyat movement that reinterpreted early Islamic events in order to draw modern lessons. So what lessons does Taha Husayn draw? I am asking several questions: 1. How does Taha Husayn frame Ali’s succession and whether he should punish Uthman’s murderers? 2. How does he analyze the hope for a fresh start, albeit inaugurated in violence, of Ali’s caliphate and the descent into division and civil war? 3. How does he portray those who opposed Ali? 4. In what ways does his presentation of Ali and his sons engage with Sunni versus Shii polemic ? 5. How does he present the martyrdom of these first Shii Imams? Taha Husayn, along with other Islamiyyat writers, presented Islam as inaugurating an ideal democratic and just society; it was thrown off course by the fitna. The events of Ali’s caliphate are reminiscent of those currently unfolding in Egypt. A group rises up against a supposedly corrupt ruler and the new leader is supposed to right the wrongs of his predecessor, punish the perpetrators, and restore unity to the community. In the end no one is satisfied and efforts to legitimize their dissatisfaction only drive the divisions deeper. This raises additional questions: when is forgiveness weak? partisan? high minded? When the community has gotten off track, is it possible to be set right again, and if so, how and by whom? This paper builds on my earlier research on the medieval historiography of al-fitna al-kobra. It also serves as a bridge to a future project analyzing how the formative events of the early Islamic period are being re-interpreted and redeployed by contemporary scholars and commentators in light of the events of the Arab Spring.