THE 4 CALIPHS

Following the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, Islam was lead by a series of four caliphs who had known the Prophet. These caliphs, known collectively by the Sunnis as the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs, led the Islamic world and greatly expanded its territory for the next 29 years.

Abu Bakr:

Abu Bakr was Muhammad’s father-in-law and served as one of his senior advisors. He was called Al-Siddiq (the truthful) by the Prophet as well as by later generations of Muslims.

Abu Bakr is mentioned in the Qur’an as the “second of the two who lay in the cave.” This was in reference to an event of hijra with the Prophet Muhammad where they hid in the cave in Jabal Thawr from the Meccan search party that had been sent after them. Abu Bakr was afraid that they would be found, but a spider spun a web over the cave entrance. The search party passed by the cave, assuming that it was unoccupied because of the spider’s web.

Abu Bakr was the first adult male to revert to Islam. He was a successful trader and he helped the nascent Muslim community financially.

After Muhammad became ill with his fatal illness, he said:

No doubt, I am indebted to Abu Bakr more than to anybody else regarding both his companionship and his wealth. And if I had to take a Khalil from my followers, I would certainly have taken Abu Bakr, but the fraternity of Islam is sufficient. Let no Door of the Mosque remain open, except the door of Abu Bakr.
Abu Bakr became the first caliph following Muhammad’s death. In his first address as caliph, he said:

I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me; and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God wills; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God wills. Obey me so long as I obey God and His Messenger. But if I disobey God and His Messenger, ye owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, God have mercy upon you.
As caliph, Abu Bakr defeated the rebellion of several Arab tribes (the Ridda Wars, or the Wars of Apostasy) and unified the entire Arabian peninsula. With stability in the area, he was able to launch successful campaigns against the Sassanid Empire (Persian Empire) and the East Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) who had been threatening Arabia’s borders.

In response to the initial posting of this piece on  Street Prophets,  JDsg provided additional background:

The Ridda or Apostasy Wars were a series of conflicts with various Arab tribes that had become Muslim in the last years of Muhammad's (pbuh) life.  These people thought that their agreement to become Muslim was a contract only with Muhammad (pbuh), and that once Muhammad (pbuh) was dead the contract was no longer valid.  But Muslim thought has always been that becoming a Muslim is a lifetime commitment and, should a person's beliefs waver, it is the responsibility of the community to help the person back to a state of belief. 
According to the Sunni Islam tradition, many Muslims who had memorized the Qur’an died in the Battle of Yamama, fought in 632. Umar ibn al-Khattab asked Caliph Abu Bakr to preserve the Qur’an so that it would not become corrupted. Subsequently, Abu Bakr appointed a committee headed by Zayd ibn Thabit to collect all of the Qur’anic verses. After the committee was satisfied that they had not missed any verses or made any mistakes in recording them, the text was written as a single manuscript and presented in a book form to Abu Bakr.

After only two years (27 months) as caliph, Abu Bakr died after an illness.

Umar ibn al-Khattab:

In 634, Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Commander of the Faithful, became the second caliph. He had been one of the chief advisors to Abu Bakr and had served as his secretary. Abu Bakr named Umar ibn al-Khattab as his successor because of his will power, intelligence, political astuteness, impartiality, justice, and care for poor and underprivileged people.

Umar ibn al-Khattab was a gifted orator and his addresses generally moved the people. He stressed the well being of the poor and underprivileged. Since the poor and underprivileged made up the bulk of the population, his popularity increased.

Many regard Umar ibn al-Khattab as one of the greatest political geniuses in history. He is often seen as the architect of the Islamic Empire. Under his leadership, the empire expanded and he undertook many administrative reforms. As a jurist, he began to codify Islamic law. He decreed that the Islamic calendar should be counted from the year of the Hijra of Muhammad from Mecca to Madinah.

In 644, Umar ibn al-Khattab was assassinated by a Persian in response to the Muslim conquest of Persia. On his death bed, he appointed a committee of six persons to select his successor.

Uthman ibn-Affian:

Uthman ibn Affian was converted to Islam by Abu Bakr. When Abu Bakr became caliph, Uthman ibn Affian was one of the first to offer his allegiance. He became a close advisor to the caliph and on his deathbed, Abu Bakr dictated his will to Uthman ibn Affian, naming Umar ibn al-Khattab as his successor. Uthman ibn Affian was the first to offer his allegiance to the new caliph. On the fourth day after the death of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affian was elected as the third caliph in 644.

As caliph, Uthman ibn Affian established the first Islamic naval force. He worked for the expansion of Islam and sent the first official Muslim envoy to China in 650. Although the envoy was unable to convert the Chinese emperor, he did obtain permission to proselytize in China and established the first Chinese mosque.

Caliph Uthman ibn Affian is best known for forming the committee which produced multiple copies of the Qur’an. Islam by this time had spread far beyond the Arabian Peninsula and there was some concern that different traditions would develop in some areas. It was important to develop a standardized text in order to eliminate regional variations.

Under the leadership of Caliph Uthman ibn Affian, the people prospered economically and they enjoyed a larger degree of political freedom. However, an anti-Uthman movement developed. Sunni and Shia scholars disagree as to the actual reasons for this movement. Egypt, Kufa, and Basra became independent from the caliph and became the centers of revolt.

A contingent of 1,000 people were sent from Egypt to Medina with instructions to assassinate Caliph Uthman and overthrow the government. Tempers flared, words were exchanged, and the pro- and anti-Uthman contingents pelted each other with stones. Uthman was hit and was carried into his house unconscious. The anti-Uthman forces stopped food and water from going into his house. The rebels broke into his house and assassinated him in 656.

Ali ibn Abu Talib:

Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, became the Fourth Caliph in 656. According to Shia sources, he had been born in the Kaaba sanctuary in Mecca and was raised in the household of Muhammad. Muhammad told Ali that God had ordered him to give his daughter, Fatimah, to Ali in marriage.

Following the death of Muhammad, Ali withdrew from public affairs, devoting himself to his family and working as a farmer. He later became a trusted advisor to Caliph Umar ibn Khattab and served as the Chief Judge of Medina. He served on the council which selected the third caliph.

Following the assassination of Caliph Uthman, Ali was persuaded to become the fourth caliph. He was a profoundly religious man, dedicated to the cause of Islam and the rule of justice in accordance with the Qur’an. However, he assumed leadership at a time when the Islamic world was not unified. He was unwilling to compromise his principles for the sake of political expediency.

Caliph Ali ibn Abu Talib was murdered in 661, ending the period of rule by the four “rightly guided” caliphs.

Overview:

Sunni Muslims identify Abu Bakr and his three followers as the equally rightful successors to the Prophet and they celebrate them as the Rightly Guided Caliphs (Rashidun).

The Shiah Muslims regard Ali as the first in a line of infallible religious leaders called imams. They reject the authority of the first three caliphs. Ali is regarded by the Shiah Muslims as the first legitimate leader by virtue of his blood relationship with the Prophet and his status as Muhammad’s first convert to Islam.

This essay was originally posted on  Street Prophets and has been updated thanks to the helpful comments from JDsg. His insights have helped in my understanding of Islam.

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Ojibwa AUTHOR
Feb 19, 2011 at 07:22:12 PM
Tip Jar
boatsieOjibwa AUTHOR
Feb 19, 2011 at 07:32:48 PM
valuable, valuable diary
amazing piece of work, oji. thank you so much. i just tweeted and messaged the hell outta this one!

We so need education to counter the messaging on Islam. The media is once again resorting to faux noise talk on the ME not being "READY' for democracy.

WTF? like any country is? like we are a good example? Sometimes i think in intangible ways we are more controlled and fundamentalist than most other countries. Our stringpullers tho' are the uber elite multinationals with nothing but time and ideaology and deformed brain structures

always love your work!

BlueJessamineboatsie
Feb 19, 2011 at 07:43:38 PM
Yes
a very valuable diary.

blueoregon
Feb 19, 2011 at 08:01:21 PM
Great diary, thanks.
docterry
Feb 19, 2011 at 08:38:31 PM
Abu Bakr's first speech
should be required reading for any leader.  Thanks for the diary!

esquared
Feb 19, 2011 at 10:34:42 PM
Easy on the religious propaganda
Interesting post, but two nits to pick. Why use the phrase “prophet Mohamed” in the post? I assure you that as an atheist he is most certainly not my prophet! Just like I would find it irksome to read some referring to “our savior Christ”, “our Lord Jesus Christ”  (he aint my savior or Lord!), that kind of language has no place here. Of course people are free to believe that Mohamed was a prophet, I just object to the use of this phrase uncritically.  Perhaps living in an overwhelmingly Christian country we are more attuned to any preface to Christ’s name that would indicate his divinity, but the use of  “prophet” is equally offensive. I would suggest simply calling him “Mohammed” without the qualifier.

Also I guess in a similar vein “revert” to Islam?  Lets stop the religious propaganda shall we? The word is convert to Islam. Revert implies that Islam is the only true religion, and that when someone converts they are in fact reverting to their natural relation with God by being Muslim. It is a patronizing and offensive statement to anyone who has any other religious belief.

Eddie in MEesquared
Feb 19, 2011 at 11:15:33 PM
I wasn't aware
that we couldn't be religious on this blog.

And I'm not Muslim. Muhammed is a prophet.

Thanks for your concern... though maybe as an athiest who seems to offend easily when religion wanders into the conversation, you should avoid diaries titled "Islamic History"...

LanceBoyleEddie in ME
Feb 20, 2011 at 12:11:12 AM
I have no problem calling Isaiah
a prophet, or Zoroaster, or Teiresias. I think you're being too touchy.

And on the issue of "reversion," remember that Muhammad did not say Islam was a new religion; it was submission to the one true God, the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus-- so "reversion" means rediscovery and recovery of the original monotheistic truth of the Jews and Christians, from which the Jews had strayed (because of their exclusion of the other nations) and the Christians had strayed (by dividing God up into a Trinity-- a backsliding towards polytheism).

A further irony here: bin Laden and al-Zawahiri claim to be struggling for the revival of the Caliphate. But they mean only the Caliphate as a political empire. They could not possibly establish a unity of the umma, because in their rabid intolerance they are actually Kharijites-- those who provoke the destruction of the Caliphate of the Rashidun.

I am an atheist, not a Muslim or Christian, but I find the history of the early Caliphate very interesting and in places even inspiring.

clutch1esquared
Feb 19, 2011 at 11:39:57 PM
wow...
i won't say more...


mayimesquared
Feb 20, 2011 at 01:30:06 AM
Ummm......
If one wants to be picky, using Christ (which literally means messiah) instead of Jesus is also making a comment about the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth ;-)

Consistency is a good thing  ;-)


AaronInSanDiegoesquared
Feb 20, 2011 at 01:34:39 AM
why do you use the word "Christ"
to refer to Jesus?

decembersueesquared
Feb 20, 2011 at 01:39:17 AM
the phrase "prophet mohamed"
helps to distinguish from That Guy Named Mohamed Who Works At Your Office.

esquared
Feb 19, 2011 at 11:26:00 PM
treat all relgions equally
No I don't offend easily. I just think that we should have one standard. I would be curious to see what responses someone posting on the history of Christianity would get if they used loaded religious terms that implied the superiority of Christianity over all religions. Also I am curious, how can you call Muhammad a prophet and not be a Muslim?

decembersueesquared
Feb 20, 2011 at 01:42:27 AM
I haven't seen you objecting
to any of this diarist's similar work on a wide variety of other cultures.  Which is presented in a very similar fashion. just sayin'.



a gilas girlesquared
Feb 20, 2011 at 06:03:11 AM
well...
I'm not Jewish, but when I meet someone who has trained at a Yeshiva, studied the Torah and has been recognized in his faith as I rabbi, I call him or her "Rabbi".

You don't have to be a member of a faith to refer to someone by the title which that person's faith has bestowed upon them and recognizes that they hold.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I still call the Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama.

I'm not a Catholic but I still call that German guy in Vatican City "the Pope", or "Pope Benedict".

For that matter, I'm not a Republican, but I still called GWB "President Bush".  I'll admit I was careful not to call him "my" President, but he was "the" President.

The same with Muhammad.  He may not be "my" prophet, but he is "the" prophet Muhammad.

clutch1
Feb 19, 2011 at 11:45:37 PM
i very much appreciate this diary
my level of understanding this history now actually qualifies as a level of understanding. and it seems to me that the progressive and civilized stage of that region within the political and religious framework was centuries ahead of europe. then again, the possibility exists that my understanding of europe of that time could be coming off the top of my head.
t&r'd
thanks!

IreGyreclutch1
Feb 20, 2011 at 01:10:55 AM
however the history was written by
the local "winners" at the time. There is little if anything to read from the losers in the area... not all the spread was peaceful and a lot of death, slavery and not entirely willing conversion took place that is not mentioned as such in detail. Only later, less completely successful expansion has left us with contrary alternate additional information from those who were not subsumed and continued with their own identity.

There was tolerance at times and at others virtually none at all. At one point all other religions on the Arab peninsula were effectively outlawed and not one single place of worship of other faiths was left standing if not converted to a mosque. Little remains of that pre-Islamic world. It was a quite thorough cleansing and probably not very uplifting at all from the point of the cleansed. Not until the spread of Islam ran into serious opposition elsewhere and those other empires and peoples whose conquest and involuntary "reversion" was delayed is are there more contrary voices and histories that survive. In fact the longer there was resistance the more there are written histories of other viewpoints... So like much of history, what we read is from the victors point of view. And it is good to read contrary histories to get a more rounded understanding of what happened.

The self myths of any creed have the same sorts of self-congratulatory messages. And a hagiography of Christianity is like any other in that it goes on breathlessly about the glories of spreading the word etc... glossing over the usual cleansing of opposing beliefs, places of worship, cultures, languages, traditions etc so similar to other militant expansionist belief systems... Islam like Christianity has done a partial monoculture steamrolling of what went before it... to be sure, plenty of local color and variation lingers on in each area in both traditions that adds additional color and variation (which is usually frowned on by purists) but that ignores how much was lost... which while largely unknowable is demonstrably enormous...

That is as true in North America and South America too as anywhere. The pre-Columbian traditions and culture/beliefs that still remain are but a small remnant of a huge lost tapestry of language and culture... local traditions and knowledge ... all lost to the spread of Western Culture and Faith whether by peaceful or by coercive means or by widespread disease the end result is a vanished heritage that was neither respected or understood and certainly not mourned by the victors and newcomers. Certainly many conquerors are generous and tolerant and display understanding towards the newly ruled but that means little in the end since there is also no going back to what was.

Bill in MD
Feb 20, 2011 at 12:20:53 AM
Thanks Ojibwa
I always enjoy your posts.

And since you didn't say "our prophet", I believe it is perfectly appropriate to call him the prophet Mohammed, since so many people believe that he is. BTW, if you had said "my prophet" I would have been OK with that too.

quarkstomper
Feb 20, 2011 at 04:29:29 AM
About that "Prophet" Thing
As far as I'm concerned, "Prophet" is Muhammad's title, like Mahatma Gandhi, President Obama or Mister Tibbs.  Or for that matter, Doctor Martin Luther, (as some of our Lutheran documents refer to him), or Jesus Christ.  I don't have to subscribe to all Muhammad's teachings to respect his position and the honor his followers give him.

And, as a previous commenter noted, refering to him as "The Prophet Muhammad" helps differentiate him from Muhammad Schwatz, the accountant down the street.