Lesson 4: The Rashidun Caliphs

Question 1

Abu Bakr

Answer 1

Abdullah ibn Uthman (573 CE – 23 August 634 CE) was a companion and, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first of the Rashidun Caliphs. Initially a rich and respected businessman, Abu Bakr later became one of the first converts to Islam and extensively contributed his wealth in support of Muhammad’s work. He was among Muhammad’s closest companions, accompanying him on his migration to Medina and being present at a number of his military conflicts, such as the battles of Badr and Uhud. Following Muhammad’s death in 632, Abu Bakr succeeded in the leadership of the Muslim community as the first Rashidun Caliph. During his reign, he overcame a number of uprisings, collectively known as the Ridda wars, as a result of which he consolidated and expanded the rule of the Muslim state over the entire Arabian peninsula. He also commanded the initial incursions into the neighbouring Sassanian and Byzantine empires, which in the years following his death, would eventually result in the Muslim conquests of Persia and the Levant. Abu Bakr died of illness after a reign of 2 years, 2 months and 14 days. Was elected by council of both Qurayesh and Ansar, though the latter did so reluctantly.

Question 2

Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb

Answer 2

was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history. He was a senior companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He succeeded Abu Bakr (632–634) as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate in August 634. He was an expert Muslim jurist known for his pious and just nature, which earned him the epithet Al-Farooq. Under Umar, the caliphate expanded at an unprecedented rate, ruling the Sasanian Empire and more than two-thirds of the Byzantine Empire. His attacks against the Sasanian Empire resulted in the conquest of Persia in less than two years (642–644). Abu Bakr appointed Umar as his successor before dying in 634 CE.

Question 3

Uthman ibn Affan

Answer 3

was, a son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the third of the Rashidun, or “Rightly Guided Caliphs”. Born into a prominent Meccan clan, Banu Umayya of the Quraysh tribe, he played a major role in early Islamic history and is known for having ordered the compilation of the standard version of the Quran. When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab died in office aged 59/60 years, Uthman, aged 64/65 years, succeeded him and was the second-oldest to rule as Caliph. According to Sunni and Shia belief, Uthman was married to Ruqayyah, and upon her death, married Umm Kulthum. Both his wives having been elder daughters of Muhammad and Khadija earned him the honorific title Dhū al-Nurayn (“The Possessor of Two Lights”). Thus, he was also the brother-in-law of the fourth Rashidun Caliph Ali whose wife Fatimah was the younger sister of Uthman’s wives Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum. Under Uthman’s leadership, the Islamic empire expanded into Fars (present-day Iran), and some areas of Khorasan. His reign also saw widespread protests and unrest that eventually led to armed revolt and his assassination. Umar, on his deathbed, formed a committee of six people to choose the next caliph from amongst themselves. This committee was completely made up of senior Qurayesh men. Uthman was assassinated during his prayers in 656 in his house by Egyptian rebels. Was a proponent of centralized power in Medina.

Question 4

Majlis-ash-Shura

Answer 4

is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected, the other way being by nomination. First Shura was the one that appointed Abu-Bakr as Caliph

Question 5

Bay’ah

Answer 5

is an Islamic practice of declaring on oath, one’s allegiance to a particular leader. In an Islamic religious context, this oath is the standard procedure of pledging allegiance to a religious leader. It is known to have been practiced by the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his successors (caliphs) after him with those wishing to join the Islamic community.

Question 6

Caliph

Answer 6

The term derives from the Arabic word khalīfah which means “successor”, “steward”, or “deputy” and has traditionally been considered a shortening of Khalīfat Rasūl Allāh (“successor of the messenger of God”).

Question 7

The Ridda Wars

Answer 7

also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr against rebel Arabian tribes during 632 and 633, just after Muhammad died. The rebels’ position was that they had submitted to Muhammad as the prophet of Allah, but owed nothing to Abu Bakr. Some rebels followed either Tulayha, Musaylima or Sajjah, all of whom claimed prophethood. Most of the tribes were defeated and reintegrated into the Caliphate. The peoples surrounding Mecca did not revolt.

Question 8

Khālid ibn al-Walīd

Answer 8

was a companion of Muhammad and an army commander under Abu Bakr and Umar ibn Khattab. Having remained undefeated, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest warriors and military generals in history. Khalid ibn al-Walid was from the Meccan tribe of Quraysh, from a clan that initially opposed Muhammad. He played a vital role in the Meccan victory at the Battle of Uhud against the Muslims. He converted to Islam, and joined Muhammad after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and participated in various expeditions for him. After Muhammad’s death, he played a key role in commanding Medinan forces for Abu Bakr in the Ridda wars, conquering central Arabia and subduing Arab tribes. He captured the Sassanid Arab client Kingdom of Al-Hirah, and defeated the Sassanid Persian forces during his conquest of Iraq (Mesopotamia). He was later transferred to the western front to capture Roman Syria and the Byzantine Arab client state of the Ghassanids. Although Umar later relieved him of high command, he nevertheless remained the effective leader of the forces arrayed against the Byzantines during the early stages of the Byzantine–Arab Wars. Under his command, Damascus was captured in 634 and the key Arab victory against the Byzantine forces was achieved at the Battle of Yarmouk (636), which led to the conquest of the Bilad al-Sham (Levant).

Question 9

Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah

Answer 9

Abu Ubaidah was born in the year 583 CE in the house of ‘Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah, a merchant by profession. Abu Ubaidah belonged to the Qurayshi clan. He embraced Islam a day after Abu Bakr in the year 611 at the age of 28. Umar relieved Khalid ibn al-Walid from the command of the Islamic army and appointed Abu Ubaidah as the new commander. This was done to dispel the impression that the victories were due to Khalid

Question 10

Amr ibn al-As al-Sahmi

Answer 10

was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in c. 629 and was assigned important roles in the nascent Muslim community by the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The first caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) appointed Amr as a commander of the conquest of Syria. He conquered most of Palestine, to which he was appointed governor, and led the Arabs to decisive victories over the Byzantines at the battles of Ajnadayn and Yarmouk in 634 and 636. Amr launched the conquest of Egypt on his own initiative in late 639, defeating the Byzantines in a string of victories ending with the surrender of Alexandria in 641 or 642. It was the swiftest of the early Muslim conquests and Egypt has remained under Muslim rule since.

Question 11

Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās

Answer 11

was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet. Sa’d was the third or fourth person to embrace Islam at the age of seventeen. Sa` ad Ibn Abi Waqqas, was the one who built the city of Kufa in Iraq during the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Saʿd also fought under ʿUmar’s command against the Sassanid army at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah and Battle of Nahāvand. He was later appointed the governor of Kufa and Nejd during the caliphate of ʿUmar.

Question 12

The Battle of Yarmouk

Answer 12

was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a complete Muslim victory that ended Byzantine rule in Syria. The Battle of Yarmouk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim conquests after the death of Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then Christian Levant. To check the Arab advance and to recover lost territory, Emperor Heraclius had sent a massive expedition to the Levant in May 636. As the Byzantine army approached, the Arabs tactically withdrew from Syria and regrouped all their forces at the Yarmouk plains close to the Arabian Peninsula, where, they were reinforced and defeated the numerically superior Byzantine army. The battle is considered to be one of Khalid ibn al-Walid’s greatest military victories and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest tacticians and cavalry commanders in history.

Question 13

The Battle of Ajnadayn

Answer 13

was fought in July or August 634 in an unknown location close to Beit Guvrin in present-day Israel; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi.

Question 14

The Battle of the Bridge or the Battle of al-Jisr

Answer 14

was a battle at the bank of the Euphrates river between Arab Muslims led by Abu Ubaid al-Thaqafi, and the Persian Sasanian forces led by Bahman Jaduya. It is traditionally dated to the year 634, and was the only major Sassanian victory over the invading Muslim armies.

Question 15

The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah

Answer 15

fought in 636, was a decisive battle between the Arab Muslim army and the army of the Sasanian Empire during the first period of Muslim conquests. Led by Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās. First time ex-apostate tribes were allowed to participate in the conquests.

Question 16

Jund

Answer 16

was a term for a military division, which became applied to Arab military colonies in the conquered lands and, most notably, to the provinces into which Greater Syria (the Levant) was divided. The most notable use of the term was in Syria, where already the Rashidun Caliph Abu Bakr is credited with dividing the region into four ajnad: Hims (Jund Hims), Damascus (Jund Dimashq), Jordan (Jund al-Urdunn), and Palestine (Jund Filastin).

Question 17

Amṣar

Answer 17

are the ‘garrison towns’ or settlements that were established by Muslim warriors in conquered lands, in the first centuries of Islam. The first were created under Caliph Umar I during his reign from 634-644 AD. Many of these garrisons attracted civilians and became towns. Examples: Kufa, Basra, and Fustat.

Question 18

Basra

Answer 18

The city was founded at the beginning of the Islamic era in 636 and began as a garrison encampment for Arab tribesmen constituting the armies of the Rashid Caliph Umar. Located on the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, near the gulf.

Question 19

Kufa

Answer 19

is a city in Iraq, about 170 kilometres south of Baghdad located on the banks of the Euphrates River. Originally formed as a garrison town by Umar.

Question 20

Fustat

Answer 20

was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. It was built by the Muslim general ‘Amr ibn al-‘As immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641. Built as a garrison town.

Question 21

Dīwān

Answer 21

was created under Caliph Umar. It comprised the names of the warriors of Medina who participated in the Muslim conquests and their families, and was intended to facilitate the payment of salary to them, according to their service and their relationship to Muhammad.

Question 22

Mawla/Mawali

Answer 22

After Muhammad’s death, this institution was adapted by the Umayyad dynasty to incorporate new converts to Islam into Arab-Muslim society and the word mawali gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab Muslims in the early Islamic caliphates. The solution appeared to be the creation of a contract, a wala’, through which the non-Arab Muslims acquired an Arab patron (mawla). They continued to pay a similar tax that was required from the people of the book and were generally excluded from government and the military until the end of the Umayyad Caliphate. In Khorasan and Persia, the Arabs held most of the higher positions in the armed forces and in the upper echelons of government.

Question 23

Ata

Answer 23

the actual salary paid out to soldiers according to the diwan

Question 24

People of the Book/Scripture

Answer 24

Ahl al-Kitāb is an Islamic term which refers to Jews, Christians and Sabians and is sometimes applied to members of other religions such as Zoroastrians.

Question 25

Ahl al-Dhimmi

Answer 25

is a historical term referring to the status accorded to People of the Book living in an Islamic state. The word literally means “protected person.” According to scholars, dhimmis had their rights fully protected in their communities, but as citizens in the Islamic state, had certain restrictions, and it was obligatory for them to pay the jizya tax, which complemented the zakat, or alms, paid by the Muslim subjects. Dhimmis were excluded from specific duties assigned to Muslims, and did not enjoy certain political rights reserved for Muslims, but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation.

Question 26

Jizyah

Answer 26

is a per capita yearly taxation historically levied in the form of financial charge on permanent non-Muslim subjects (dhimmi) of a state governed by Islamic law in order to fund public expenditures of the state, in place of the Zakat and Khums that Muslims are obliged to pay. The Quran and hadiths mention jizya without specifying its rate or amount. Historically, the jizya tax has been understood in Islam as a fee for protection provided by the Muslim ruler to non-Muslims, for the exemption from military service for non-Muslims, for the permission to practice a non-Muslim faith with some communal autonomy in a Muslim state, and as material proof of the non-Muslims’ submission to the Muslim state and its laws.

Question 27

Kharaj

Answer 27

refers to the land tax levied by Muslim rulers on their non-Muslim subjects, collectively known as dhimmi.

Question 28

Fai

Answer 28

was that property and wealth that was gained from confiscation without strife, that is if the nonbelievers refused to fight or violently opposed the raid. It practically was the income from State land, whether an agricultural land or a meadow, or a land with any natural mineral reserves.

Question 29

Fitna

Answer 29

means temptation in arabic.Came to have a primary sense of “‘revolt’, ‘disturbances’, ‘civil war’, but a civil war that breeds schism and in which the believers’ purity of faith is in grave danger.” This was especially so as it came, in the term First Fitna, to refer to the first major civil war of the Islamic Caliphate, which lasted from 656 to 661.

Question 30

Battle of the Camel

Answer 30

also known as the Battle of Basra, took place at Basra, Iraq on 7 November 656. The battle was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the cousin and son-in-law of the deceased Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, considered the fourth Rashidun Caliph of the Sunnis and the first Imam of the Shias, and A’isha widow of Prophet Muhammad, Talhah, and Zubayr (both Qurayshi men and part of the Shura) who led the war against Ali aiming to avenge the death of the third caliph Uthman who was the son-in-law of Muhammad, who had recently been killed as a result of rebellion by the followers of Ali. Marking the second chapter of the First Fitna, the fateful battle ended with victory for Ali and the defeat of Aisha.

Question 31

Battle of Siffin

Answer 31

May–July 657 occurred during the First Fitna, or first Muslim civil war, with the main engagement taking place from July 26 to July 28. It was fought between Ali ibn Abi Talib who ruled as the Fourth Caliph and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Raqqa, Syria. Was done with the alibi of seeking blood vengeance for Uthman. Neither side really wanted to fight and opened in negotiations.

Question 32

Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān

Answer 32

was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, and the second caliph from the Umayyad clan, the first being Uthman (r. 644–656) of the Rashidun Caliphate. Muawiyah and his father Abu Sufyan had opposed the Islamic prophet Muhammad, their distant Qurayshite kinsman, until the latter captured Mecca in 630, after which Muawiyah became one of Muhammad’s scribes. He was appointed by Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) a deputy commander of his brother Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan for the conquest of Syria and steadily moved up the ranks until becoming governor of Syria during the reign of Uthman. After Uthman’s assassination, Muawiyah took up the cause of avenging the caliph and opposed his successor, Ali. During the First Muslim Civil War, the two led their armies to a stalemate at the Battle of Siffin in 657, prompting an abortive series of arbitration talks to settle the war. Afterward, Muawiyah gained recognition as caliph by his Syrian supporters and his ally Amr ibn al-As, who conquered Egypt from Ali’s governor in 658. After the assassination of Ali in 661, Muawiyah compelled his son and successor Hasan ibn Ali to abdicate in Kufa and Muawiyah’s suzerainty was acknowledged throughout the Caliphate. Though Muawiyah confined the political influence of his clan to the governorship of Medina, in an unprecedented move in Islamic politics, he nominated his own son, Yazid I, as his successor. Opposition to this by prominent Muslim leaders, including Ali’s son Husayn and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, persisted after Muawiyah’s death and culminated with the outbreak of the Second Muslim Civil War.

Question 33

Khawarij

Answer 33

were members of a sect that appeared in the first century of Islam during the First Fitna, the crisis of leadership after the death of Muhammad. It broke into revolt against the authority of the Caliph Ali after he agreed to arbitration with his rival, Muawiyah I, to decide the succession to the Caliphate following the Battle of Siffin (657).A Khariji later assassinated Ali, and for hundreds of years, the Khawarij were a source of insurrection against the Caliphate.
The Khawarij opposed arbitration as a means to choose a new ruler on the grounds that “judgement belongs to God alone”. They considered arbitration a means for people to make decisions while the victor in a battle was determined by God. They believed that any Muslim—even one who was not a Quraysh or even an Arab—could be the Imam, the leader of the community, if he was morally irreproachable. If the leader sinned, it was the duty of Muslims to oppose and depose him.

Question 34

Battle of Nahrawan

Answer 34

was a battle between Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph and the extremist group called Kharijites near Nahrawan, twelve miles from Baghdad in 658. The battle ended in a total defeat of the Kharijites. Ali led the battlefield himself with his two sons, Hassan and Hussein.