Peshawar Nights

Peshawar Nights is a Shi'a book by Sultanu'l-Wa'izin Shirazi ("Prince of Preachers from Shiraz") 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.

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 Persian, 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

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.. Sunnis argue that this is a fictional narration.

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. the only reasons sunnis deny it is due to the fact that the shia side emerged victorious