The Islamic Caliphate

The Islamic Caliphate — page 3 — THE ISLAM IC CALIPHATE successful the more the people within the empire wanted to adopt the customs customs of the ruling class Many people converted to Islam because membership membership in the Muslim community offered the best chance for social advancement Arabic was used as the language of Islam and the government government as well as of literature scholarship and other high culture Arabic was also widely adopted as a lin gua franca a second common language that allowed different peoples throughout the empire to communicate communicate with one another This example of naskhi script a calligraphic style developed in the tenth century for writing in Arabic is printed in a copy of the Quran found in Baghdad c 1000 During the first 250 years of the Caliphate Islam was thus transformed from the religion of a small Arab ruling class to the dominant faith of a vast empire As a result of this long gradual period of conversion Arab cultures intermingled with the cultures of the conquered peoples to produce a new Muslim civilization civilization The Arabs came to rule over a rich complex of old cultures they introduced new cultural elements and reoriented old ones in creative ways 6

The Islamic Caliphate — page 4 — Pilgrims visit the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina Saudi Arabia The mosque holds the tomb of Muhammad 7

The Islamic Caliphate — page 5 — THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE Over its history the Caliphate was ruled by many caliphs Abu Bakr the first caliph was from Muhammad's Muhammad’s tribe the Quraysh Later generations believed the head of the Islamic community had to be from the Quraysh tribe The continuity of descent within the tribe did not however mean that the caliphate the office of caliph passed in unbroken succession over the centuries there were several succeeding and sometimes simultaneous caliphates representing different clans within the tribe For historical clarity clarity four distinct caliphates may be noted the Rightly Guided the Umayyad the Abbasid and the Fatimid In addition a number of local dynasties opposed the caliphs or simply ignored them 8

The Islamic Caliphate — page 6 — CHAPTER 1 THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHATE The first four caliphs were Abu Bakr Umar I Uthman a member of the Umayyad clan and Ali cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad Collectively Collectively the four are known in Arabic as al-khulafa al-rashidun or the rightly guided caliphs These caliphs were the formative leaders of the Muslim community community or ummah ABU BAKR FIRST CALIPH Abu Bakr 573 634 was the father-in-law and closest companion of the Prophet Muhammad the founder of Islam Like Muhammad Abu Bakr was born in the Arabian town of Mecca now in Saudi Arabia His daughter Aishah became one of Muhammad’s wives He was chosen as Muhammad’s companion on his journey to Medina known as the hijrah in 622 CE In Medina he served as Muhammad’s chief advisor 9

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