The Islamic Caliphate

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

The Islamic Caliphate — page 7 — THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr is depicted mourning the death of the Prophet in this sixteenth-century copy of a manuscript from 1368 10

The Islamic Caliphate — page 8 — THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHATE Upon Muhammad’s death in 632 the Muslims of Medina resolved the crisis of succession by accepting Abu Bakr as the first caliph Abu Bakr assumed the Prophet’s political and administrative functions He thereby initiated the Caliphate and began the spread of Islam as a world religion During his rather brief rule from 632 to 634 he suppressed the tribal political and religious uprisings known as the riddah He thus brought central Arabia under Muslim control He then expanded his rule into Iraq and Syria beginning a series of conquests that spread Islam far beyond Arabia Several precedents were set in the selection of Abu Bakr including that of choosing a member of the Quraysh tribe as caliph In fact the first four caliphs whose reigns constituted what later generations of Muslims would often remember as a golden age of pure Islam largely established the administrative and judicial organization of the Muslim community and forwarded the policy begun by Muhammad of expanding the Islamic religion into new territories During the 630s Syria Jordan Palestine and Iraq were conquered Egypt was taken from Byzantine control in 645 and frequent raids were launched into North Africa Armenia and Persia UMAR THE CONQUEROR Before his death Abu Bakr nominated Umar ibn Al-Khattab to succeed him Along with Abu Bakr 11

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