Rashidun
Sunni Islam, according to the author Carl Ernst, accepts the political status quo of their succession, regardless of its justice, whereas Shia Muslims largely reject the legitimacy of the first three caliphs, and maintain that Muhammad had appointed Ali as his successor.
[2][3] Abu Bakr, (Arabic: أَبُو بَكْرٍ), c. 573 CE unknown exact date 634/13 AH) was a senior companion of Muhammad (sahabah) and his father-in-law.
Uthman is perhaps best known for forming the committee which was tasked with producing copies of the Quran based on text that had been gathered separately on parchment, bones and rocks during the lifetime of Muhammad and also on a copy of the Quran that had been collated by Abu Bakr and left with Muhammad's widow after Abu Bakr's death.
[26] Ali is often considered the most able warrior in Muhammad's army and the two were the only Muslim men who represented Islam against a Christian delegation from Najran.
[31] In Shia Islam, Ali is considered the rightful successor of Muhammad whose appointment was announced at the event of Ghadir Khumm and earlier in his prophetic mission.
"[36] In the absence of any serious opposition and urged particularly by the Ansar and the Iraqi delegations, Ali eventually took up the mantle on 25th of Dhu al-Hijjah, 656 CE, and Muslims filled the Prophet's Mosque and its courtyard to pledge their allegiance to him.
[40][41] After his appointment as the caliph, Ali transferred his capital from Medina to Kufa, the Muslim garrison city in the present-day Iraq.
[43][44] Under a lenient Uthman, Muawiya had built a parallel power structure in Damascus that, according to Madelung, mirrored the despotism of the Roman Byzantine empire.
[43][45][46] Muawiya defied Ali's orders and, once the negotiations failed, the two sides engaged in a bloody and lengthy civil war, which is known as the First Fitnah.
[47][48] After Ali's assassination in 661 CE at the mosque of Kufa, his son, Hasan, was elected caliph and adopted a similar approach towards Muawiya.
[54][55] The Rashidun Caliphate greatly expanded Islam beyond Arabia, conquering all of Persia, Syria (637), Armenia (639), Egypt (639) and Cyprus (654).
[56] Upon conquest, in almost all cases, the caliphs were burdened with the maintenance and construction of roads and bridges in return for the conquered nation's political loyalty.
The canal was constructed within a year by 'Amr ibn al-'As, and Abdus Salam Nadiv writes that "Arabia was rid of famine for all the times to come.
At Mosul, Arfaja al-Bariqi, at the command of Umar, constructed a fort, a few churches, a mosque and a locality for the Jewish population.
For instance, the Fatimid Ismaili Imam-Caliph Al-Hakim bi Amr Allah ordered the public cursing of the first three caliphs in the year 1005 in Cairo.
[67] In Sunni Islam, the application of the label 'rightly-guided' to the first caliphs signifies their status as models whose actions and opinions (Arabic: sunna) should be followed and emulated from a religious point of view.
[citation needed] The Sunni have long viewed the period of the Rashidun as an exemplary system of governance—based upon Islamic righteousness and merit—which they seek to emulate.
[70][71][72] At the same time, it has been noted that the domination of Arabs over non-Arabs on an ethnic basis during Umar's reign and the widespread nepotism of Uthman's caliphate are in essential conflict with the call of Islam.
[73][74] The (Twelver) Shia view is that, similar to the past prophets in the Quran,[75] the succession to Muhammad was settled by divine appointment, rather than by consensus.
In the Shia view, while direct revelation ended with Muhammad's death, Ali remained the righteous guide or Imam towards God, similar to the successors of the past prophets in the Quran.
[82] In his absence, the vacuum in the Shia leadership is partly filled by marjaiyya and, more recently, by wilayat al-faqqih, i.e., guardianship of the Islamic jurist.
