Rashidun Caliphate: A Visual History

The Rashidun Caliphate (632-661) was the state led by the first four successors of the Prophet Muhammad: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. In under three decades its armies destroyed the Sasanian Empire, took Syria, Egypt and much of North Africa from Byzantium, and reached Armenia and eastern Iran. It also saw the compilation of the Quran, the founding of garrison cities and, from 656, the first Muslim civil war that ended with Ali's assassination and the rise of the Umayyads.

When it existed: the era ribbon

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Territory of the caliphate

Timeline of the Rashidun Caliphate

1. 632
   Muhammad dies; Abu Bakr caliphThe Ridda wars.
2. 634
   Umar becomes caliph
3. 636
   Yarmouk and al-QadisiyyahByzantine Syria and Sasanian Iraq fall.
4. 638
   Jerusalem surrenders
5. 642
   Egypt and NahavandAlexandria taken; the Sasanian army destroyed.
6. 644
   Umar assassinatedUthman elected.
7. 651
   Last Sasanian king killedYazdegerd III murdered near Merv.
8. 656
   Uthman murderedAli becomes caliph; civil war.
9. 661
   Ali assassinatedMuawiya founds the Umayyad dynasty.

Abu Bakr and the Ridda wars

Muhammad died in 632 without naming a successor. His father-in-law Abu Bakr was chosen as caliph (khalifa, successor) and spent his two-year reign crushing the Arabian tribes who renounced Islam or refused to pay tax, then sent Khalid ibn al-Walid into Iraq and Syria.

Umar's conquests

Under Umar (634-644) the conquests became astonishing. Khalid crushed the Byzantines at the Yarmouk in 636 and Syria fell; the Sasanians were destroyed at al-Qadisiyyah the same year and their capital Ctesiphon taken; Jerusalem surrendered in 638; Amr ibn al-As took Egypt by 642; the last Sasanian army was broken at Nahavand in 642. Umar organised the state: garrison towns at Basra, Kufa and Fustat, a stipend register for warriors, and the hijri calendar.

Uthman, Ali and the first fitna

Uthman (644-656) had the Quran compiled in a standard text and continued expansion into North Africa and Iran, but was accused of favouring his Umayyad relatives and was murdered by mutinous soldiers in Medina. Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law, became caliph and faced the Battle of the Camel against Aisha and then a stand-off at Siffin against Muawiya of Syria. A Kharijite assassinated Ali in 661; his son Hasan ceded the caliphate to Muawiya.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Umayyad Caliphate (661 to 750)
• Abbasid Caliphate (750 to 1258)
• Sasanian Empire (224 to 651)
• Byzantine Empire (395 to 1453)
• Kingdom of Armenia (ancient) (331 BC to 428)
• Kingdom of Aksum (100 to 940)

8 surprising things about the Rashidun Caliphate

1. Two empires that had fought each other for centuries, Rome and Persia, both lost their richest provinces to Arab armies within six years.
2. Umar entered Jerusalem in 638 on foot, dressed in worn clothes, and declined to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so it would not be turned into a mosque.
3. The Islamic calendar counts from the hijra of 622 because Umar chose it as year one in 638.
4. Three of the four Rashidun caliphs were assassinated.
5. Khalid ibn al-Walid, the 'Sword of God', was dismissed from command by Umar at the height of his success and died in bed, reportedly lamenting it.
6. The standard text of the Quran used today is the one Uthman had compiled; he ordered variant copies burned.
7. The Battle of the Camel is named for the camel Aisha rode into battle against Ali.
8. Sunni Muslims revere all four caliphs; Shia regard Ali as the only legitimate one and the first imam.

Sources

• Rashidun Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Rashidun Caliphate Wikipedia
• Rashidun Caliphate World History Encyclopedia
• Hugh Kennedy, The Great Arab Conquests (2007) Weidenfeld and Nicolson

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