The Rashidun Caliphat

(noun)

The Islamic caliphate in the earliest period of Islam, comprising the first four caliphs—the "Rightly Guided" caliphs. It was founded after Muhammad's death in 632 (year 11 AH in the Islamic calendar). At its height, the caliphate controlled an empire from the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant to the Caucasus in the north, North Africa from Egypt to present-day Tunisia in the west, and the Iranian plateau to Central Asia in the east.

Related Terms

Examples of The Rashidun Caliphat in the following topics:

  • Post-Byzantine Egypt

    • The Rashidun Caliphate was the Islamic caliphate in the earliest period of Islam, comprising the first four caliphs.
    • In 639, some 4,000 Rashidun troops led by Amr ibn al-As were sent by Umar to conquer the land of the ancient pharaohs.
    • The Rashidun army crossed into Egypt from Palestine and advanced rapidly into the Nile Delta.
    • The Rashidun Caliphate expanded gradually.
    • As a result, they also lost Egypt to the invading Rashidun army.

  • Muhammad's Successors

    • He established a new unified Arabian Peninsula, which led to the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates and the rapid expansion of Muslim power over the next century.
    • This period is known as the Fitna, or the first Islamic civil war.
    • The followers of Ali later became the Shi'a minority sect of Islam, which rejects the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.
    • The followers of all four Rashidun caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) became the majority Sunni sect.
    • Under the Rashidun, each region (Sultanate) of the caliphate had its own governor (Sultan).

  • Expansion Under the Umayyad Caliphates

    • The Umayyad Caliphate, the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad, expanded the territory of the Islamic state to one of the largest empires in history.
    • The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad.
    • The Umayyads incorporated the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb, and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world.
    • According to one common view, the Umayyads transformed the caliphate from a religious institution (during the Rashidun) to a dynastic one.
    • This map shows the extension of Islamic rule under Muhammad, the Rashidun Caliphate, and the Umayyad Caliphate.

  • Timeline

    • 2560 BCE: The approximate time accepted as the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest pyramid of the Giza Plateau.
    • 405 CE: Saint Jerome completes the Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Bible.
    • 632-661: The Rashidun Caliphate results in the Arab conquest of Persia, Egypt, and Iraq, bringing Islam into those regions.
    • 650: The verses of the Qur'an are compliled in the form of a book in the era of Uthman RA, the third Caliph of Islam.
    • 1789 - 1799: The Dechristianisation of France during the Revolution: the state confiscates Church properties, bans monastic vows with the passage of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, removes the Church from the Roman Pope and subordinates it as a department of the Government, replaces the traditional Gregorian Calendar, and abolishes Christian holidays.

  • Early Islamic Society

    • Many social changes took place after Islam was established (between 610 and 661), including the period of Muhammad's mission and the rule of his four immediate successors, who established the Rashidun Caliphate.
    • Bernard Lewis believes that the advent of Islam was a revolution that only partially succeeded due to tensions between the new religion and the very old societies that the Muslims conquered.
    • The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing an end to the bitter, inter-tribal fighting between the clans of the Aws (Banu Aus) and Banu Khazraj within Medina.
    • Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, is the 2nd most sacred Mosque in Islam.
    • It was where the early Muslim community (ummah) developed under the Prophet's leadership, then under the leadership of the first four caliphs of Islam: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali.

  • The Purpose of Elections

    • Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century.
    • However, in the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the nationality of the country of residence is not required.
    • Ancient Arabs also used election to choose their caliphs, Uthman and Ali, in the early medieval Rashidun Caliphate; and to select the Pala king Gopala in early medieval Bengal.
    • Suffrage is the right to vote gained through the democratic process.
    • However, in the European Union, one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; the nationality of the country of residence is not required.