Rashidun Empire
Encyclopedia
The Rashidun Caliphate ( al-khilafat ar-Rāshidīyah), comprising the first four caliph
s in Islam
's history, was founded after Muhammad
's death in 632
, Year 10 A.H.
. At its height, the Caliphate
extended from the Arabian Peninsula
, to the Levant
, Caucasus
and North Africa
in the west, to the Iranian highlands
and Central Asia
in the east. It was the largest empire in history up until that time. It is also known as the Patriarchal Caliphate.
After Muhammad's death in 632, the Medina
n Ansar
debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslim
s while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar (a Quraysh) and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr
, with the Ansar and the Quraish soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalifa Rasul Allah (Successor of the Messenger of God), and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First, though, he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had gone back on their oaths of allegiance to Islam and the Islamic community. As a Khalifa or Caliph he was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did his three successors do so.
's succession, threatening the unity and stability of the new community and state. Apostasy
had actually begun in the lifetime of Muhammad, and the first major action of the apostasy was fought and satisfactorily concluded while Muhammad still lived. But the real and most serious danger of apostasy arose after Muhammad's death, when a wild wave of disbelief-after-belief moved across Arabia and had to be tackled by Abu Bakr.
The first major event of the apostasy occurred in Yemen
and is known as the Incident of Aswad Al Ansi, who was killed on May 30, 632 (the 6th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 11 Hijri) by a Persian
Muslim
governor of Yemen
named Firoz. The news of his assassination reached Medina shortly after the death of Muhammad. The chief cause of the apostasy was lack of firm Islamic faith. Most of the tribes, that had taken to Islam
, converted in the ninth and tenth years of the Hijra,.
The apostasy
had become so general that it affected every tribe
in Arabia with the exception of the people in Mecca
and Medina
and the tribe
of Thaqeef in Taif. In some cases the entire tribe apostatised. Some withheld the zakat
, the alms tax, though they did not otherwise challenge Islam. Many tribal leaders made claims to prophethood, some like Musaylima made it during the lifetime of Muhammad. The tribes claimed that they had submitted to Muhammad and that with Muhammad's death, their allegiance was ended. Abu Bakr insisted that they had not just submitted to a leader but joined the Muslim
community, of which he was the new head. Apostasy
is a capital offense under traditional interpretations of Islamic law
, and Abu Bakr declared war
on the rebels.
This was the start of the Ridda wars
(Arabic
for the Wars of Apostasy). The apostasy
of central Arabia was led by self-proclaimed prophet Musaylima, while the other centers of the rebels were to the south and east in Bahrain
, Oman
, Mahra
and Yemen
. Abu Bakr planned his strategy accordingly. He divided the Muslim army into several corps. The strongest corps, and this was the primary force of the Muslim
s, was the corps of Khalid ibn Walid. This corps was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to bring the less dangerous apostate tribes to submission. Abu Bakr
's plan was first to clear the area of West
and Central Arabia (the area nearest Madinah), then tackle Malik ibn Nuwayrah
, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous enemy - Musaylima. After series of successful campaigns Khalid ibn Walid finally defeated Musaylima in the Battle of Yamama
. The Campaign on the Apostasy
was fought and completed during the eleventh year of the Hijri
. The year 12 Hijri dawned, on March 18, 633, with Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph
at Madinah. According to the Sunni Muslims, by putting down these larger insurrections and defeating the rival prophets among the Bedouin
tribe
s, Abu Bakr was able to solidify the rest of Arabia under Islam
, and basically rescue the Islamic state from collapse.
Once the rebellions had been put down, Abu Bakr
began a war
of conquest. Whether or not he intended a full-out imperial conquest is hard to say; he did, however, set in motion a historical trajectory that in just a few short decades would lead to one of the largest empires in history. Abu Bakr began with Iraq
, the richest province of the Sassanid empire
. He sent his most brilliant general Khalid ibn Walid to invade the Sassanid empire
in 633. He thereafter also sent 4 armies to invade Roman Syria, but decisive operation was only undertaken when Khalid, after completing the conquest of Iraq, was transferred to the Syrian front in 634.
Despite the initial reservations of his advisers, Abu Bakr
recognised military and political prowess in Umar
and desired him to succeed as caliph. The decision was enshrined in his will, and on the death of Abu Bakr in 634, Umar was confirmed in office. The new caliph continued the war of conquests begun by his predecessor, pushing further into the Sassanid Persian Empire, north into Byzantine
territory, and west into Egypt
. These were regions of great wealth controlled by powerful states, but long internecine conflict between Byzantines and Sassanids had left both sides militarily exhausted, and the Islamic armies easily prevailed against them. By 640, they had brought all of Mesopotamia
, Syria
and Palestine
under the control of the Rashidun Caliphate; Egypt was conquered by 642, and the entire Persian Empire by 643.
While the caliphate continued its rapid expansion, Umar laid the foundations of a political structure that could hold it together. He created the Diwan
, a bureau for transacting government affairs. The military was brought directly under state control and into its pay. Crucially, in conquered lands, Umar did not require that non-Muslim populations convert to Islam
, nor did he try to centralize government (as the Persians
had done). Instead, he allowed subject populations to retain their religion
, language
and customs
, and he left their government relatively untouched, imposing only a governor (amir
) and a financial officer called an amil. These new posts were integral to the efficient network of taxation that financed the empire.
With the booty secured from conquest, Umar was able to support its faith in material ways: the companions of Muhammad
were given pensions on which to live, allowing them to pursue religious studies and exercise spiritual leadership in their communities and beyond. Umar is also remembered for establishing the Muslim calendar; like the Arabian calendar, it is lunar, but the origin is set in 622, the year of the Hijra
when Muhammad
emigrated to Medina
.
Umar was mortally wounded in an assassination attempt by the Persian slave Abu Lulu Fieroz during morning prayers in 644.
The committee narrowed down the choices to two: 'Uthman and 'Ali
. 'Ali was from the Banu Hashim clan (the same clan as Muhammad) of the Quraysh tribe, and he was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and had been a companion to the Prophet from the inception of his mission.Uthman
was from the Umayyad
clan of the Quraish.
Uthman reigned for twelve years as caliph
, during the first half of his reign he enjoyed a position of the most popular caliph among all the Rashidun
s, while in the later half of his reign he met increasing opposition. This opposition was led by the Egyptians and was concentrated around Ali, who would, albeit briefly, succeed Uthman as caliph.
Despite internal troubles, Uthman continued the wars of conquest started by 'Umar
. The Rashidun army
conquered North Africa
from the Byzantine
s and even raided Spain
, conquering the coastal areas of the Iberian peninsula
, as well as the islands of Rhodes
and Cyprus
. Also coastal Sicily
was raided in 652. The Rashidun army
fully conquered the Sassanid Persian Empire, and its eastern frontiers extended up to the lower Indus River.
Uthman's greatest and most lasting achievement was the formal recension of the Qur'an.
s, and preferred negotiations. His polite attitude towards rebels emboldened them and they broke into Uthman's house and killed him while he was reading the Qur'an
.
selected Ali
to be the new Caliph. Soon thereafter, Ali dismissed several provincial governors, some of whom were relatives of Uthman, and replaced them with trusted aides such as Malik al-Ashtar and Salman the Persian
. Ali then transferred his capital from Medina to Kufa
, the Muslim garrison city in what is now Iraq
. The capital of the province of Syria
, Damascus
, was held by Mu'awiyah
, the governor of Syria
and a kinsman of Uthman, Ali's slain predecessor. Uthman's death was ironic for many reasons, including the fact that he was the first Islamic caliph
to be killed by fellow Muslim
s. Following the assassination of Caliph
Uthman ibn Affan, the first Muslim civil war
started, which continued during the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abu Talib, and ended, on the whole, by Mu'awiya's assumption of the caliphate, an event which then laid the foundation of the Umayyad Empire
. This civil war is often called the Fitna, and regretted as the end of the early unity of the Islam
ic ummah
(nation).
In 656, after Uthman ibn Affan was murdered by a group of rebels as he sat reading the Qur'an
in his home in Medina
, the city fell into chaos and uproar. Citizens flocked to Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and a respected community leader who had been passed over for the leadership three times since the death of Muhammad. They then urged him to take the caliphate. Initially reluctant due to the circumstances of the caliph's death, he eventually chose to accept.
Ali then had to fight against numerous challengers to his rule. The cry of revenge of the blood of Caliph Uthman grew, and a large army of the Muslims led by Zubayr, Talha and the widow of Muhammad, Ayesha
set for revenge from the rebels. As the rebels gathered from Egypt
, Kufa
and Basra
, their first objective was Basra. The army reached Basra and captured it, 4000 suspected seditionists were assassinated. Ali
who had already transferred his capital from Madinah to Kufa, turned towards Basra and a battle was fought between the Caliph Ali
's army and the army of Muslims who demanded revenge of Uthman. Though neither Ali nor the leaders of the opposing army Talha and Zubayr wanted to fight, a fight broke out suddenly at night between the two armies. It is said according to Sunni Muslim traditions that the rebels who were involved in the assassination of Uthman initiated combat as they were afraid that as a result of negotiation between Ali and opposing army, the killers of Uthman would be hunted down and killed. The battle thus fought was the first battle between Muslims and is known as the Battle of the Camel. After the Caliphate had won and the dispute was settled, Ali sent his son Hassan ibn Ali to escort Ayesha
back to Madinah. The eminent companions of Mohammad, Talha and Zubayr were killed in the battle after they withdrew from the battlefield refusing to fight against Muslims.
After this dark episode of Islamic history, another cry for revenge for the blood of Uthman rose. This time it was by Mu'awiya
, kinsmen of Uthman and governor of the province of Syria. However it is regarded as more an attempt of assuming the caliphate by Mu'awiya
than to take revenge for Uthman's murder from the rebels. Ali
fought Uthman's kinsman Mu'awiya
, the governor of Syria
, at the Battle of Siffin
to a stalemate and then lost a controversial arbitration; and he fought his own mutinous soldiers (the first Kharijites
). Large sections of the new empire created in the twenty-four years (632-656) were lost due to the civil war, like Sicily
, North Africa
, the coastal areas of Spain
and some forts in Anatolia
. But the Byzantine
s tended not to re-capture their lost land, particularly areas in the western empire. According to Muslim history, Mu'awiya
sent a letter to the Byzantine emperor threatening him not to reclaim Islamic lands or Mu'awiya would make peace with his kinsmen (referring to Ali) and they would both together destroy the Byzantine Empire
.
In 661 CE, Ali was assassinated in the Mosque of Kufa by Ibn Muljam, a relative of one of the rebel soldiers he had defeated and killed. His last words were "Fuztu wa rabb al-Ka'bah" - meaning By The Lord of the Ka'bah, I have succeeded.
His son Hasan ibn Ali
, the grandson of Muhammad, briefly assumed the caliphate upon being appointed by Ali. He came to an agreement with Mu'awiya and fixed relations between the two groups of Muslims that were each loyal to one of the two men. Mu'awiya gained control of the empire and founded the Umayyad Empire
, with it the Rashidun Caliphate dismantled.
, the Middle East
, Transoxiana
, the Caucasus
, parts of Anatolia
, the whole of the Sassanid Persian empire, the Greater Khorasan
, the islands of Cyprus
, Rhodes
and Sicily
, the Iberian Peninsula
was invaded, and Baluchistan
was conquered, the empires eastern frontiers reaching the lower Indus river in the Indian subcontinent
and western frontiers to the Atlantic Ocean
.
The Islamic Invasion of Sassanid Persia resulted in the conquest of the whole Sassanid Persian empire, after the Persians declined to submit and continued to strive to re-capture their lost territory. Unlike the Sassanid Persians
, the Byzantine
s after losing Syria
, retreated back to western Anatolia
and as a result, also lost Egypt
, North Africa
, Sicily
, Cyprus
and Rhodes
to the invading Rashidun army
, although the civil wars among the Muslims halted the war of conquest for many years and this gave time for the Byzantine Empire to recover.
The first Islamic invasion of the Persian empire launched by Caliph Abu Bakr
in 633 was a swift conquest in the time span of only 4 months led by legendary general Khalid ibn Walid. Abu Bakr sent his most brilliant general Khalid to conquer Mesopotamia
after the Ridda wars
. After entering Iraq
with his army of 18,000, Khalid won decisive victories in four consecutive battles: Battle of Chains
, fought in April 633; Battle of River
, fought in the 3rd week of April 633; Battle of Walaja
, fought in May 633 (where he successfully used a double envelopment
manoeuvre), and Battle of Ullais
, fought in the mid of May 633 . In the last week of May 633 , the capital city of Iraq fell to the Muslims after initial resistance in the Battle of Hira
.
.jpg)
After resting his armies, Khalid moved in June 633 towards Al Anbar, which resisted and was defeated in the Battle of Al-Anbar
, and eventually surrendered after a siege of a few weeks in July 633 . Khalid then moved towards the south, and conquered the city of Ein ul Tamr after the Battle of ein-ul-tamr
in the last week of July, 633. By now, almost the whole of Iraq was under Islamic control. Khalid received a call of help from northern Arabia at daumat-ul-jandal, where another Muslim Arab general, Ayaz bin Ghanam, was trapped among the rebel tribes. Khalid went to Daumat-ul-jandal and defeated the rebels in the Battle of Daumat-ul-jandal
in the last week of August, 633 CE. Returning from Arabia, he received news of the assembling of a large Persian army. Within a few weeks, he decided to defeat them all separately in order to avoid the risk of defeat to a large unified Persian army. Four divisions of Persian and Christian
Arab auxiliaries were present at Hanafiz, Zumiel, Sanni and Muzieh.
Khalid divided his army in three units, and decided to attack these auxiliaries one by one from three different sides at night, starting from the Battle of Muzieh, then the Battle of Sanni, and finally the Battle of Zumail
. In November 633 CE, Khalid defeated the enemy armies in his series of three sided attacks at night. These devastating defeats ended Persian control over Iraq. In December 633 CE, Khalid reached the border city of Firaz, where he defeated the combined forces of the Sassanid Persians
, Byzantine
Romans
and Christian Arabs in the Battle of Firaz
. This was the last battle in his conquest of Iraq.
After the conquest of Iraq, Khalid left Mesopotamia to lead another campaign at Syria
against the Roman Empire
, after which Mithna ibn Haris took command in Mesopotamia. The Persians once again concentrated armies to regain the lost Mesopotamia
, while Mithna ibn Haris withdraw from central Iraq to the region near the Arabian desert
to delay war until reinforcement came from Madinah. Caliph Umar
sent reinforcements under the command of Abu Ubaidah Saqfi. With some initial success this army was finally defeated by the Sassanid army
at the Battle of the Bridge
in which Abu Ubaid was killed. The response was delayed until after a decisive Muslim victory against the Romans in the Levant
at the Battle of Yarmuk in 636 Caliph
Umar
, was then able to transfer forces to the east and resume the offensive against the Sassanids. Caliph
Umar
dispatched 36,000 men along with 7500 troops from the Syrian front, under the command of Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās against the Persian army. The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah
followed, with the Persians prevailing at first, but on the third day of fighting, the Muslims gained the upper hand. The legendary Persian general Rostam Farrokhzād
was killed during the battle. According to some sources, the Persian losses were 20,000, and the Arabs lost 10,500 men.
Following the Battle, the Arab Muslim armies pushed forward toward the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
(also called Madā'in in Arabic), which was quickly evacuated by Yazdgird after a brief siege. After seizing the city, they continued their drive eastwards, following Yazdgird and his remaining troops. Within a short span of time, the Arab armies defeated a major Sāsānian counter-attack in the Battle of Jalūlā', as well as other engagements at Qasr-e Shirin, and Masabadhan. By the mid-7th Century, the Arabs controlled all of Mesopotamia, including the area that is now the Iranian province of Khuzestan. It is said that Caliph Umar did not wish to send his troops through the Zagros mountains
and onto the Iranian plateau. One tradition has it that he wished for a "wall of fire" to keep the Arabs and Persians apart. Later commentators explain this as a common-sense precaution against over-extension of his forces. The Arabs had only recently conquered large territories that still had to be garrisoned and administered. The continued existence of the Persian government was however an incitement to revolt in the conquered territories and unlike the Byzantine army
, the Sassanid army
was continuously striving to regain their lost territories. Finally Umar decided to push his forces for further conquests, which eventually resulted in the whole scale conquest of the Sassanid Persian empire. Yazdegerd, the Sassanid king, made yet another effort to regroup and defeat the invaders. By 641 he had raised a new force, which took a stand at the Battle of Nihawānd
, some forty miles south of Hamadan
in modern Iran
. The Rashidun army
under the command of Umar's appointed general Nu'man ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani, attacked and again defeated the Persian forces. The Muslims proclaimed it the Victory of victories (Fath alfotuh) as it marked the End of the Sassanids, shattering the last strongest Sassanid army
.
was unable to raise another army and became a hunted fugitive. In 642, Caliph
Umar
sent the army to conquer the whole of the Persian empire. The whole of present day Iran
was conquered, followed by the conquest of Greater Khorasan
(which included modern Iranian Khorasan province and modern Afghanistan
), Transoxania, and Balochistan
, Makran
, Azerbaijan
, Dagestan
(Russia
), Armenia
and Georgia
, this regions were later also re-conquered during Caliph Utman's reign with further expansion to the regions which were not conquered during Umar’s reign, and the Rashidun Caliphate’s frontiers in the east extended to the lower river Indus and north to the Oxus River
.
After, Khalid captured Iraq and firmly took control of it, Abu Bakr sent armies to Syria on the Byzantine front. Four armies were sent under four different commanders, Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
acting as their supreme commander, Amr ibn al-As, Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan
and Shurhabil ibn Hasana. These armies were all assigned their objectives. However their advance was halted by a concentration of the Byzantine army at Ajnadayn. Abu Ubaidah then send for reinforcements. Abu Bakr ordered Khalid, who by now was planning to attack Ctesiphon
, to march to Syria with half of his army out of Iraq. Khalid took half of his army and rather took an unconventional route to Syria. There were 2 major routes to Syria from Iraq, one passing through Mesopotamia
and the other through Daumat ul-Jandal. Khalid took a route through the Syrian Desert
, and after a perilous march of 5 days, appeared in north-western Syria.
The border forts of Sawa, Arak, Tadmur, Sukhnah, Qaryatayn and Hawarin were the first to fall to the invading Muslims. Khalid marched on to Bosra
via the Damascus
road. At Bosra, the Corps of Abu Ubaidah and Shurhabil joined Khalid, after which here as per orders of Caliph Abu Bakr, Khalid took the high command from Abu Ubaidah. Bosra was not ready for this surprise attack and siege, and thus surrendered after a brief siege in July 634, (see Battle of Bosra
) this effectively ending the Ghassanid Dynasty.
From Bosra Khalid send orders to other corps comamnders to join him at Ajnadayn, where accodring to early Muslim historians, a Byzantine army of 90.000 was concentrated to push back the Muslims. These figures, however, are not reliable. The Byzantine army was defeated decisively on 30 July 634 in the Battle of Ajnadayn
. It was the first major pitched battle
between the Muslim army
and the Christian Byzantine army
and cleared the way for the Muslims to capture central Syria. Damascus
, the Byzantine stronghold, was conquered shortly after on 19 September 634. After the Muslim Conquest of Damascus, the Byzantine army
was given a deadline of 3 days to go as far as they can, with their families and treasures, or simply agree to stay in Damascus and pay tribute.
_syria.jpg)
After the three days deadline was over, the Muslim cavalry under Khalid's command attacked the Roman army by catching up to them using an unknown shortcut at the battle of Maraj-al-Debaj
.
On 22 August 634, Caliph Abu Bakr
died, making Umar
his successor. As Umar became caliph, he relieved Khalid from commanding the Islamic armies and appointed Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
as the new commander of the Muslim army
. The conquest of Syria slowed down under him and Abu Ubaida relied heavily on the advices of Khalid, and he kept him beside him as much as possible.
The last large garrison of the Byzantine army was at Fahl, which was joined by survivors of Ajnadayn. With this threat at their rear the Muslim armies could not move further north nor south, thus Abu Ubaidah decided to deal with the situation, and had this garrison defeated and routed at the Battle of Fahl
on 23 January 635. This battle proved to be the "Key to Palestine". After this battle Abu Ubaidah and Khalid marched north towards Emesa, Yazid was stationed in Damascus while Amr and Shurhabil marched south to capture Palestine.
While the Muslims were at Fahl, sensing the weak defense of Damascus, Emperor Heraclius
sent an army to re-capture the city. This army however could not make it to Damascus and was intercepted by Abu Ubaidah and Khalid on their way to Emesa. The army was routed and destroyed in the battle of Maraj-al-Rome and the 2nd battle of Damascus. Emesa and the strategical town of Chalcis
made peace with the Muslims for one year. This was, in fact, done to let Heraclius prepare for defences and raise new armies. The Muslims welcomed the peace and consolidated their control over the conquered territory. As soon as the Muslims received the news of reinforcements being sent to Emesa and Chalcis, they marched against Emesa, laid siege to it
and eventually captured the city in March 636.
The prisoners taken in the battle informed them about Emperor Heraclius's final effort to take back Syria. They said that an army possibly two hundred thousand (200,000) strong would soon emerge to recapture the province. Khalid stopped here on June 636. This huge army set out for their destination. As soon as Abu Ubaida heard the news, he gathered all his officers to plan their next move. Khalid suggested that they should summen all of their forces present in the province of Syria (Syria, Jordan, Palestine) and to make a powerful joint force and then move towards the plain of for battle.
Abu Ubaida ordered all the Muslim commanders to withdraw from all the conquered areas, return the tributes that they previously gathered, and move towards Yarmuk. Heraclius's army also moved towards Yarmuk. The Muslim armies reached it in July 636. A week or two later, around mid July, the Byzantine army arrived. Khalid's Mobile guard
defeated Christian Arab auxiliaries of the Roman army in a skirmish.
Nothing happened until the third week of August in which the Battle of Yarmouk
was fought. The battle lasted 6 days during which Abu Ubaida transferred the command of the entire army to Khalid. The Byzantine
army was defeated on October 636 CE. Abu Ubaida held a meeting with his high command officers, including Khalid to decide of future conquests. They decided to conquer Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months after which the city agreed to surrender, but only to Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in person. Amr ibn Al As suggested that Khalid should be sent as Caliph
, because of his very strong resemblance with Caliph Umar
.
Khalid was recognized and eventually, Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab came and Jerusalem surrendered
on April 637 CE. Abu Ubaida sent the commanders Amr bin al-As, Yazid bin Abu Sufyan, and Sharjeel bin Hassana back to their areas to reconquer them. Most of the areas submitted without a fight. Abu Ubaida himself along with Khalid moved to northern Syria
once again to conquer it with a 17,000 men army. Khalid along with his cavalry was sent to Hazir and Abu Ubaidah moved to the city of Qasreen.
Khalid defeated a strong Byzantine army in the Battle of Hazir
and reached Qasreen before Abu Ubaidah. The city surrendered to Khalid. Soon, Abu Ubaidah arrived in June 637. Abu Ubaidah then moved against Aleppo
. As usual Khalid was commanding the cavalry. After the Battle of Aleppo the city finally agreed to surrender in October 637.
Abu Ubaida and Khalid ibn Walid, after conquering all of northern Syria, moved north towards Anatolia
conquering the fort of Azaz to clear the flank and rear from Byzantine troops. On their way to Antioch, a Roman army blocked them near a river on which there was an iron bridge. Because of this, the following battle is known as the Battle of Iron bridge
. The Muslim army defeated the Byzantines and Antioch
surrendered on 30 October 637 CE. Later during the year, Abu Ubaida sent Khalid and another general named Ayaz bin Ghanam at the head of two separate armies against the western part of Jazira, most of which was conquered with out strong resistance, including parts of Anatolia, Edessa
and the area up to the Ararat plain
. Other columns were sent to Anatolia
as far west as the Taurus Mountains
, the important city of Marash and Malatya
which were all conquered by Khalid in the autumn of 638 CE. During Uthman’s reign, the Byzantines recaptured many forts
in the region and on Uthman's orders, series of campaigns were launched to regain control of it. In 647 Muawiyah
, the governor of Syria sent an expedition against Anatolia. They invaded at Cappadocia
and sacked Caesarea Mazaca. In 648 the Rashidun army
raided Phrygia
. A major offensive into Cilicia
and Isauria
in 650–651 forced the Byzantine Emperor Constans II to enter into negotiations with Caliph Uthman
's governor of Syria
, Muawiyah.
The truce that followed allowed a short respite, and made it possible for Constans II to hold on to the western portions of Armenia
. In 654–655 on the orders of Caliph Uthman
, an expedition was preparing to attack the Byzantine capital Constantinopole but did not carry out the plan due to the civil war that broke out in 656.
The Taurus Mountains
in Turkey marked the western frontiers of the Rashidun Caliphate in Anatolia during Caliph Uthman's reign.
At the commencement of the Muslim conquest of Egypt
, Egypt
was part of the Byzantine Empire
with its capital in Constantinople
. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II (616 to 629 AD
). The power of the Byzantine empire
was shattered during the Muslim conquest of Syria
, and therefore the conquest of Egypt was much easier. In 639, some 4,000 Rashidun troops
led by Amr ibn al-As, were sent by Caliph Umar
to conquer the land of the ancient pharaoh
s. The Rashidun army
crossed into Egypt from Palestine in December 639 and advanced rapidly into the Nile Delta
. The imperial garrisons retreated into the walled towns, where they successfully held out for a year or more. But the Muslims sent for reinforcements and the invading army, joined by another 12,000 men in 640, defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Heliopolis
. Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria
, which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on November 8, 641. The Thebaid
seems to have surrendered with scarcely any opposition.
The ease with which this valuable province was wrenched from the Byzantine Empire
appears to have been due to the treachery of the governor of Egypt, Cyrus
, , Melchite (i.e., Byzantine/Chalcedonian Orthodox, not Coptic) Patriarch of Alexandria
, and the incompetence of the generals of the Byzantine forces, as well as due to the loss of most of the Byzantine troops
in Syria
against the Rashidun army
. Cyrus had persecuted the local Coptic Christians
. He is one of the authors of monothelism, a seventh century heresy, and some supposed him to have been a secret convert to Islam
.
During the reign of Caliph Uthman
, an attempt was made in the year 645 to regain Alexandria for the Byzantine empire, but it was retaken by Amr in 646. In 654 an invasion fleet sent by Constans II was repulsed. From that time no serious effort was made by the Byzantines to regain possession of the country.
The Muslims were assisted by some Copts, who found the Muslims more tolerant than the Byzantines, and of these some turned to Islam. In return for a tribute of money and food for the troops of occupation, the Christian inhabitants of Egypt were excused from military service and left free in the observance of their religion and the administration of their affairs. Others sided with the Byzantines, hoping that they would provide a defense against the Arab invaders. During the reign of Caliph Ali
, Egypt was captured by rebel troops under the command of former Rashidun army general
Amr ibn al-As, who killed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr
the governor of Egypt appointed by Ali
.
After the withdrawal of the Byzantine
s from Egypt
, the Exarchate of Africa
had declared its independence under its exarch, Gregory the Patrician
. The dominions of Gregory extended from the borders of Egypt
to Morocco
. Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad used to send raiding parties to the west. As a result of these raids the Muslim
s got considerable booty. The success of these raids made Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad feel that a regular campaign should be undertaken for the conquest of North Africa
.
Uthman gave him permission after considering it in the Majlis al Shura. A force of 10,000 soldiers was sent as reinforcement. The Rashidun army
assembled in Barqa in Cyrenaica
, and from there they marched west to capture Tripoli
, after Tripoli the army marched to Sufetula, the capital of King Gregory. He was defeated and killed in the battle due to superb tactics used by Abdullah ibn Zubayr. After the Battle of Sufetula the people of North Africa
sued for peace. They agreed to pay an annual tribute. Instead of annexing North Africa
, the Muslim
s preferred to make North Africa a vassal state
. When the stipulated amount of the tribute was paid, the Muslim forces
withdrew to Barqa. Following the First Fitna
, the first Islamic civil war, Muslim forces withdraw from north Africa to Egypt. The Ummayad Caliphate, re-invaded north Africa in 664
.
A campaign was undertaken against Nubia
during the Caliphate of Umar in 642
, but failed after the Makurian took victory at the First Battle of Dongola
. The army was pulled out of Nubia without any success. Ten years later, Uthman’s governor of Egypt, Abdullah ibn Saad, sent another army to Nubia. This army penetrated deeper into Nubia and laid siege to the Nubian capital of Dongola
. The Muslims damaged the cathedral
in the center of the city, but the battle
also went in favor of Makuria. As the Muslims were not able to overpower Makuria, they negotiated a peace with their king Qaladurut. According to the treaty that was signed, each side agreed not to make any aggressive moves against the other. Each side agreed to afford free passage to the other party through its territories. Nubia agreed to provide 360 slaves
to Egypt every year, while Egypt agreed to supply grain
, horses and textiles to Nubia according to demand.
During Umar's reign, the governor of Syria, Muawiyah I
, sent a request to build a naval force to invade the islands of the Mediterranean Sea
but Umar rejected the proposal because of the risk of death of soldiers at sea. During his reign Uthman gave Muawiyah permission to build a navy after concerning the matter. In 650 AD the Arabs made the first attack on the island of Cyprus
under the leadership of Muawiya. They conquered the capital, Salamis
- Constantia, after a brief siege, but drafted a treaty with the local rulers. In the course of this expedition a relative of the Prophet
, Umm-Haram fell from her mule near the Salt Lake
at Larnaca
and was killed. She was buried in that same spot which became a holy site for both many local Muslims and Christians and, much later in 1816, the Hala Sultan Tekke
was built there by the Ottomans
. After apprehending a breach of the treaty, the Arabs re-invaded the island in 654
AD with five hundred ships. This time, however, a garrison of 12,000 men was left in Cyprus, bringing the island under Muslim
influence. After leaving Cyprus the Muslim fleet headed towards the island of Crete
and then Rhodes
and plundered them without much resistance. In 652-654, the Muslims lounched a naval campaign against Sicily
and they succeeded in capturing a large part of the island. Soon after this Uthman was murdered, and no further expansion efforts were made, and the Muslims accordingly retreated from Sicily. In 655 Byzantine Emperor Constans II led a fleet in person to attack the Muslims at Phoinike
(off Lycia
) but it was defeated: 500 Byzantine ships were destroyed in the battle, and the emperor himself narrowly avoided death.
In Islamic history the conquest of Spain
was undertaken by forces led by Tariq ibn Ziyad and Musa ibn Nusair in 711 - 712 C.E
, in the time of the Umayyad
Caliph
Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. According to Muslim historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
, Spain was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate of Uthman in 653 . Other promenient Muslim
historian
s like Ibn Kathir
have also quoted the same narration .
According to the account of al-Tabari , when North Africa
had been duly conquered by Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad, two of his generals, Abdullah ibn Nafiah ibn Husain, and Abdullah ibn Nafi' ibn Abdul Qais, were commissioned to invade coastal areas of Spain by sea.
No details of campaigns in Spain during the caliphate of Uthman are given by al-Tabari
or by any other historian, leaving what actually happened unclear. The account of al-Tabari is merely to the effect that an Arab force aided by a Berber
force landed in Spain and took possession of some coastal areas . It seems that Muslims may have invaded coastal areas of Spain during the caliphate of Uthman, though the account does not indicate if these conquests led to an occupation of territory or were simply military raids. One possibility is that some short-lived advance outposts were established on the coastland of southern Spain but there is no Byzantine or Visigothic account mentioning the existence of such settlements, which would have alarmed them.
The non-Muslim inhabitants of the conquered lands were given the status of Dhimmi
according to Islamic law
. Those who accepted Islam
were treated in a similar manner as other Muslims, and were given equivalent rights in legal matters. Non-Muslims were given legal rights according to their faiths' law.
Dhimmi
peoples were allowed to "practice their religion, and to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy" and were guaranteed their personal safety and security of property in return for paying tax and acknowledging Muslim rule. Dhimmis were also subject to pay jizya
(muslims were expected to pay zakat
and kharaj
, which was considered material proof of their subjection. Caliph Umar was the first Caliph to provide Allowance to non-Muslims and Muslims, after they reached old age.
The basic administrative system of the Dar al-Islamiyyah (The House of Islam) was laid down in the days of the Prophet. Caliph Abu Bakr stated in his sermon when he was elected: "If I order any thing that would go against the order of Allah and his Messenger; then do not obey me". This is considered to be the foundation stone of the Caliphate.
Caliph Umar has been reported to have said: "O Muslims, straighten me with your hands when I go wrong", and at that instance a Muslim man stood up and said "O Amir al-Mu'minin (Leader of the Believers) if you are not straightened by our hands we will use our sword to straighten you!". Hearing this Caliph Umar said "Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) I have such followers."
In the administrative field Caliph Umar
was the most brilliant among the Rashidun
Caliphs, it was his dazzling administrative qualities because of which the most of the administrative structure of the empire was established.
Under Caliph Abu Bakr
, the empire was not clearly divided into provinces, though it had many administrative districts, like:
Under Umar
the Empire was divided into a number of province
s which were as follows:
In his testament, Caliph Umar
had instructed his successor not to make any change in the administrative set up for one year after his death. Thus for one year Uthman maintained the pattern of political administration as it stood under Umar, however latter he made some amendments. Uthman made Egypt one province and created a new province comprising North Africa
. Syria
, previously divided into two provinces, also become a single division.
During Uthman’s reign the empire was divided into twelve provinces. These were:
Caliph Ali
, during his reign, with the exception of Syria
(which was under Muawiyah I
's control) and Egypt
(that he lost during late years of his caliphate to the rebel troops of Amr ibn Al-A'as
), ruled the remaining ten provinces, which kept their administrative organization as under Caliph Uthman.
The provinces were further divided into district
s. The over 100 districts of the empire, along with the main cities, were administered by a Governor
or Wāli
. Other officers at the provincial level were:
In some districts there were separate military officers, though the Governor (Wali) was in most cases the Commander-in-chief
of the army quartered in the province.
The officers were appointed by the Caliph. Every appointment was made in writing. At the time of appointment an instrument of instructions was issued with a view to regulating the conduct of Governors. On assuming office, the Governor was required to assemble the people in the main mosque
, and read the instrument of instructions before them.
Umar's general instructions to his officers were:
During the reign of Caliph Abu Bakr, the state was economically weak, while during Umar’s reign because of increase in revenues and other sources of income, the state was on its way to economic prosperity. Hence Umar felt it necessary that the officers be treated in a strict way as to prevent the possible greed for money that may lead them to corruption. During his reign, at the time of appointment, every officer was required to make the oath:
Caliph Umar himself followed the above postulates strictly. During the reign of Uthman the state become more economically prosperous than ever before; the allowance of the citizens was increased by 25% and the economical condition of the ordinary person was more stable, which lead Caliph Uthman to revoke the 2nd and 3rd postulates of the oath.
At the time of appointment a complete inventory of all the possessions of the person concerned was prepared and kept in record. If there was an unusual increase in the possessions of the office holder, he was immediately called to account, and the unlawful property was confiscated by the State. The principal officers were required to come to Mecca on the occasion of the Hajj
, during which people were free to present any complaint against them. In order to minimize the chances of corruption, Umar made it a point to pay high salaries to the staff. Provincial governors received as much as five to seven thousand dirham
´s annually besides their share of the spoils of war (if they were also the commander in chief of the army of their sector).
, the judicial administration was also established by him and the other Caliphs followed the same system without any type of basic amendment in it. In order to provide adequate and speedy justice for the people, an effective system of judicial administration was set up, hereunder justice was administered according to the principles of Islam.
Qadi
s (Judges) were appointed at all administrative levels for the administration of justice. Umar was the first ruler in history to separate judiciary from the executive. The Qadis were chosen for their integrity and learning in Islamic law
. High salaries were fixed for the Qadis so that there was no temptation to bribery. Wealthy men and men of high social status were appointed as Qadis so that they might not have the temptation to take bribes, or be influenced by the social position of any body. The Qadis were not allowed to engage in trade. Judges were appointed in sufficient number, and there was no district which did not have a Qadi.
, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests (1981), argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early Caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader's death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this shura
, or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader, but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunni view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.
This argument is advanced by Sunni Muslims that Muhammad's companion Abu Bakr was elected by the community, and this was the proper procedure. They further argue that a caliph is ideally chosen by election or community consensus. The caliphate became a hereditary office or the prize of the strongest general after the Rashidun caliphate. However, Sunni Muslims believe this was after the 'rightly guided' caliphate ended (Rashidun caliphate).
Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani
has said that the leader of the Muslims simply should be from the majority. Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man
also wrote that the leader must come from the majority.
. At that meeting, Abu Bakr was elected caliph by the Muslim community. Sunni Muslims developed the belief that the caliph is a temporal political ruler, appointed to rule within the bounds of Islamic law (Sharia). The job of adjudicating orthodoxy and Islamic law was left to Islamic lawyers
, judiciary, or specialists individually termed as Mujtahids and collectively named the Ulema
. The first four caliphs are called the Rashidun
, meaning the Rightly Guided Caliphs, because they are believed to have followed the Qur'an and the sunnah
(example) of Muhammad in all things.
The majlis is also the means to elect a new caliph. Al-Mawardi has written that members of the majlis should satisfy three conditions: they must be just, they must have enough knowledge to distinguish a good caliph from a bad one, and must have sufficient wisdom and judgment to select the best caliph. Al-Mawardi also said in emergencies when there is no caliphate and no majlis, the people themselves should create a majlis, select a list of candidates for caliph, then the majlis should select from the list of candidates.
Some modern interpretations of the role of the Majlis al-Shura include those by Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
and by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
, the founder of a transnational political movement devoted to the revival of the Caliphate. In an analysis of the shura chapter of the Qur'an, Qutb argued Islam requires only that the ruler consult with at least some of the ruled (usually the elite), within the general context of God-made laws that the ruler must execute. Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
, writes that Shura is important and part of "the ruling structure" of the Islamic caliphate, "but not one of its pillars," and may be neglected without the Caliphate's rule becoming unislamic. Non-Muslims may serve in the majlis, though they may not vote or serve as an official.
or remove rulers in the Caliphate. This is usually when the rulers are not meeting public responsibilities obliged upon them under Islam.
Al-Mawardi said that if the rulers meet their Islamic responsibilities to the public, the people must obey their laws, but if they become either unjust or severely ineffective then the Caliph or ruler must be impeached via the Majlis al-Shura. Similarly Al-Baghdadi believed that if the rulers do not uphold justice
, the ummah via the majlis should give warning to them, and if unheeded then the Caliph can be impeached. Al-Juwayni
argued that Islam is the goal of the ummah, so any ruler that deviates from this goal must be impeached. Al-Ghazali believed that oppression
by a caliph is enough for impeachment. Rather than just relying on impeachment, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
obliged rebellion
upon the people if the caliph began to act with no regard for Islamic law. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said that to ignore such a situation is haraam
, and those who cannot revolt inside the caliphate should launch a struggle from outside. Al-Asqalani used two ayah
s from the Qur'an to justify this:
Islamic lawyers commented that when the rulers refuse to step down via successful impeachment through the Majlis, becoming dictators through the support of a corrupt army, if the majority agree they have the option to launch a revolution
against them. Many noted that this option is only exercised after factoring in the potential cost of life.
establishes the principle of rule of law
in relation to nepotism
and accountability
Various Islamic lawyers do however place multiple conditions, and stipulations e.g. the poor cannot be penalised for stealing out of poverty, before executing such a law, making it very difficult to reach such a stage. It is well known during a time of drought in the Rashidun caliphate
period, capital punishment
s were suspended until the effects of the drought passed.
Islamic jurists
later formulated the concept of the rule of law, the equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land, where no person is above the law and where official
s and private citizens are under a duty
to obey the same law. A Qadi
(Islamic judge) was also not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of religion
, gender
, colour
, kinship
or prejudice
. There were also a number of cases where Caliph
s had to appear before judges as they prepared to take their verdict.
According to Noah Feldman, a law professor at Harvard University
, the legal scholars and jurists who once upheld the rule of law
were replaced by a law governed by the state due to the codification of Sharia by the Ottoman Empire
in the early 19th century:
and his successor Caliph Uthman
. At first it was Umar who introduced these reforms on strong bases, his successor Uthman who himself was an intelligent businessman, had further reformed it. During Uthman's reign the people of the empire enjoyed a prosperous life.
there was no permanent Bait-ul-Mal or public treasury. Whatever revenues or other amounts were received were distributed immediately. There were no salaries to be paid, and there was no state expenditure. Hence the need for the treasury at public level was not felt.
In the time of Abu Bakr
as well there was not treasury. Abu Bakr earmarked a house where all money was kept on receipt. As all money was distributed immediately the treasury generally remained locked up. At the time of the death of Abu Bakr there was only one dirham
in the public treasury.
things changed. With the extension in conquests money came in larger quantities, Umar also allowed salaries to men fighting in the army
. Abu Huraira who was the Governor of Bahrain
sent a revenue of five hundred thousand dirham
s. Umar summoned a meeting of his Consultative Assembly and sought the opinion of the Companions about the disposal of the money. Uthman ibn Affan advised that the amount should be kept for future needs. Walid bin Hisham suggested that like the Byzantine
s separate departments of Treasury
and Accounts should be set up.
After consulting the Companions Umar
decided to establish the Central Treasury
at Madinah. Abdullah bin Arqam was appointed as the Treasury Officer. He was assisted by Abdur Rahman bin Awf and Muiqib. A separate Accounts Department was also set up and it was required to maintain record of all that was spent.
Later provincial treasuries were set up in the provinces. After meeting the local expenditure the provincial treasuries were required to remit the surplus amount to the central treasury at Madinah. According to Yaqubi the salaries and stipends charged to the central treasury amounted to over 30 million dirham
s.
A separate building was constructed for the royal treasury by the name bait ul maal, which in large cities was guarded by as many as 400 guards.
In most of the historical accounts it states that among the Rashidun
Caliph
s Uthman ibn Affan was first to struck the coins, some accounts however states that Umar
was first to do so. When Persia was conquered three types of coin
s were current in the conquered territories, namely Baghli of 8 dang; Tabari of 4 dang; and Maghribi of 3 dang. Umar
( according to some accounts Uthman
) made an innovation and struck an Islamic dirham of 6 dang.
The concepts of welfare and pension
were introduced in early Islamic law
as forms of Zakat
(charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam
, since the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar
in the 7th century. The tax
es (including Zakat and Jizya
) collected in the treasury
of an Islamic government
were used to provide income
for the needy
, including the poor
, elderly
, orphan
s, widow
s, and the disabled
. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali
(Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster
or famine
occurred. The Caliphate was thus one of the earliest welfare state
s.
Zakāt is the Islam
ic concept of luxury tax. It was taken from the Muslim
s in the amount of 2.5% of their dormant wealth (over a certain amount unused for a year) for use in only specified categories. Only persons whose annual wealth exceeded a minimum level (nisab
) were collected from. The Nisab does not include primary residence, primary transportation, moderate amount of woven jewelry, etc. Zakāt is one of the Five Pillars of Islam
and it is obligation on all Muslim
s who qualify as wealthy enough.
jizya or jizyah ' onMouseout='HidePop("39493")' href="/topics/Ottoman_Turkish_language">Ottoman Turkish
: cizye). It was a per capita
tax
imposed on able bodied non-Muslim
men of military age since non-Muslims did not have to pay Zakat. The tax was not supposed to be levied on slaves, women, children, monks, the old, the sick, hermits and the poor,. It is important to note that not only were some non-Muslims exempt (such as sick, old), they were also given stipends by the state when they were in need.
Fay was the income from State land, whether an agricultural land or a meadow, or a land with any natural mineral
reserves.
Ghanimah or Khums
was the booty captured on the occasion of war with the enemy. Four-fifth of the booty was distributed among the soldiers taking part in the war while one-fifth was credited to the State fund.
kharaj was a tax
on agricultural
land.
Initially, after the first Muslim conquests
in the 7th century, kharaj usually denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the conquered provinces and collected by the officials of the former Byzantine
and Sassanid empire
or, more broadly, any kind of tax levied by Muslim
conquerors on their non-Muslim subjects, dhimmi
s. At that time, kharaj was synonymous with jizyah, which later emerged as a poll tax
paid by dhimmis. Muslim
s landowners, on the other hand, paid only ushr, a religious tithe
, which carried a much lower rate of taxation.
Ushr was a reciprocal ten per cent levy on agricultural land as well as merchandise imported from states that taxed the Muslims on their products. Caliph Umar
was the first Muslim ruler to levy Ushr. Ushr as the name implies was an import duty levied at ten per cent on the value of goods imported.
When the Muslim
traders went to foreign lands for the purposes of trade they had to pay a ten per cent tax to the foreign states. Ushr was levied on reciprocal basis on the goods of the traders of other countries who chose to trade in the Muslim dominions.
Umar issued instructions that Ushr should be levied in such a way so as to avoid hardship, that it will not effect the trade activities in the Islamic empire. The tax was levied on merchandise meant for sale. Goods imported for consumption or personal use but not for sale were not taxed. The merchandise valued at two hundred dirhams or less was not taxed. When the citizens of the State imported goods for the purposes of trade, they had to pay the customs duty or import tax at lower rates. In the case of the Dhimmis the rate was five per cent and in the case of the Muslim
s 2.5 per cent. In the case of the Muslims the rate was the same as that of Zakat
. The levy was thus regarded as a part of Zakat and was not considered a separate tax.
and Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
the Muslims won heavy spoils. The coffers at Medina
became full to the brim and the problem before Umar
was as to what should be done with this money. Some one suggested that money should be kept in the treasury for the purposes of public expenditure only. This view was not acceptable to the general body of the Muslim
s. Consensus was reached on the point that whatever was received during a year should be distributed.
The next question that arose for consideration was as to what system should be adopted for distribution. One suggestion was that it should be distributed on ad hoc basis and whatever was received should be equally distributed. Against this view it was felt that as the spoils were considerable that would make the people very rich. It was therefore decided that instead of ad hoc division the amount of the allowance to the stipend should be determined before hand and this allowance should be paid to the person concerned regardless of the amount of the spoils. This was agreed to.
About the fixation of the allowance
there were two opinions. There were some who held that the amount of the allowance for all Muslims should be the same. Umar did not agree with this view. He held that the allowance should be graded according to one's merit with reference to Islam
.
Then the question arose as to what basis should be used for placing some above others. Suggested that a start should be made with the Caliph and he should get the highest allowance. Umar rejected the proposal and decided to start with the clan of the Muhammad.
Umar
set up a Committee
to compile a list of persons in nearness to Muhammad
. The Committee produced the list clan wise. Bani Hashim appeared as the first clan. Then the clan of Abu Bakr was put and in the third place the clan of Umar was put. Umar accepted the first two placements but delegated his clan lower down in the scale with reference to nearness in relationship to Muhammad.
In the final scale of allowance that was approved by Umar the main provisions were:
In this award Umar's son Abdullah ibn Umar got an allowance of 3,000 dirhams. On the other hand Usama ibn Zaid got 4,000.
The ordinary Muslim citizens got the allowance between 2,500 - 2000. The regular annual allowance was given only to the urban population, because they formed the backbone of the state's economic resources . The Bedouin living in the desert, cut off from the states affairs having no contributions in the developments were given stipends often. On assuming office, Caliph
Uthman ibn Affan increased these stipends by 25 per cent.
During the caliphate of Umar
many new cities were founded. These included Kufa
, Basra
, and Fustat. These cities were laid in according with the principles of town planning. All streets in these cities led to the Friday mosque
which was sited in the center of the city. Market
s were established at convenient points, which were under the control of market officers who was supposed to check the affairs of market and quality of goods. The cities were divided into quarters, and each quarter was reserved for particular tribes. During the reign of Caliph Umar, there were restrictions on the building of palatial buildings by the rich and elites, this was symbolic of the egalitarian society of Islam
, where under all were equal, although the restrictions was latter revoked by Caliph Uthman, because of the financial prosperity of ordinary men, and the construction of double story building was permitted, as a result many palatial buildings were constructed though out the empire, Uthman himself built a huge palace for himself in Madinah which was famous by the name Al-Zawar, he constructed it from his personal resources.
Many buildings were built for administrative purposes. In the quarters called Dar-ul-Amarat Government offices and houses for the residence of officers were provided. Buildings known as Diwans were constructed for the keeping of official records. Buildings known as Bait-ul-Mal were constructed to house royal treasuries. For the lodging of persons suffering sentences as punishment, Jail
s were constructed for the first time in Muslim history
. In important cities Guest Houses were constructed to serve as rest houses for traders and merchants coming from far away places. Roads and bridges were constructed for public use. On the road from Medina
to Mecca
, shelters, wells, and meal houses were constructed at every stage for the ease of the people who came for hajj
.
Military cantonments were constructed at strategic points. Special stables were provided for cavalry. These stables could accommodate as many as 4,000 horses. Special pasture grounds were provided and maintained for Bait-ul-Mal animals.
Canal
s were dug to irrigate fields as well as provide drinking water for the people. Abu Musa canal (after the name of governor of Basra
Abu-Musa al-Asha'ari
) it was a nine mile (14 km) long, canal which brought water from the Tigris
to Basra
. Another canal known as Maqal canal was also dug from the Tigris
. A canal known as the Amir al-Mu'minin canal ( after the title Amir al-Mu'minin that was assumed by Caliph Umar) was dug to join the Nile
to the Red Sea
. During the famine of 639 food grains were brought from Egypt
to Arabia through this canal from the sea which saved the lives of millions of inhabitants of Arabia. Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas canal (After the name of governor of Kufa
Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas
) dug from the Euphrates
brought water to . 'Amr ibn al-'As
the Governor of Egypt
, during the reign of Caliph Umar, even proposed the digging of a canal to join the Mediterranean to Red Sea
. The proposal, however, did not materialize due to unknown reasons, and it was 1200 years later that such a canal was dug in the shape of the Suez Canal
. Shuaibia was the port for Makkah. It was inconvenient. Caliph Uthman selected Jeddah
as the site of the new seaport, and a new port was built there. Uthman also reformed the department of Police in cities.
ic armed forces of the 7th century
, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy
. The Rashidun Army maintained a very high level of discipline, strategic prowess, organization along with motivation and self initiative of the officer corps. For much of its history this army was one of the most powerful and effective military forces in all of the region. At the height of the Rashidun Caliphate
the maximum size of the army was around 100,000 troops. The Rashidun army was divided into the two basic categories of infantry
and light cavalry
. Reconstructing the military equipment of early Muslim armies is problematic. Compared with Roman armies or later medieval Muslim armies, the range of visual representation is very small, often imprecise and difficult to date. Physically very little material evidence has survived and again, much of it is difficult to date. The soldiers used to wear Iron
and bronze
segmented helmet
that comes from Iraq
and was of central Asia
n type. The standard form of protective body armor was chain mail
. There are also references to the practice of wearing two coats of mail (dir’ayn), the one under the main one being shorter or even made of fabric or leather. Hauberk
s and large wooden or wickerwork shield
s were used as a protection in combat. The soldiers were usually equipped with Sword
s that were hanged in baldric
. They also possessed spear
s and dagger
s. Caliph
Umar
was the first Muslim
ruler to organize the army as a State Department. This reform was introduced in 637. A beginning was made with the Quraish and the Ansar
and the system was gradually extended to the whole of Arabia and to Muslim
s of conquered lands. The basic strategy of early Muslim armies sent out to conquer foreign lands was to exploit every possible weakness of the enemy army in order to achieve victory. Their key strength was mobility. The cavalry had both horses and camels. The camels were used as both transport and food for long marches through the desert (Khalid bin Walid’s extraordinary march from the Persian border to Damascus utilized camels as both food and transport). The cavalry was the army’s main striking force and also served as a strategic mobile reserve. The common tactic used was to use the infantry and archers to engage and maintain contact with the enemy forces while the cavalry was held back till the enemy was fully engaged. Once fully engaged the enemy reserves were absorbed by the infantry and archers the Muslim cavalry was used as pincers (like modern tank and mechanized divisions) to attack the enemy from the sides or to attack enemy base camps. The Rashidun army
was quality-wise and strength-wise bellow standard versus the Sassanid Persian army
and the Byzantine army
. Khalid ibn Walid was the first general of the Rashidun Caliphate to conquer foreign lands and to trigger the whole scale deposition of the two most powerful empires. During his campaign against the Sassanid Persian Empire(Iraq 633 - 634) and the Byzantine Empire
(Syria 634 - 638) Khalid developed brilliant tactics, that he used effectively against both the Sassanid army
and the Byzantine army
. The Caliph Abu Bakr
's way was to give his generals their mission, the geographical area in which that mission would be carried out, and the resources that, could be made available for that purpose. He would then leave it to his generals to accomplish their mission in whatever manner they chose. On the other hand Caliph Umar
in the latter part of his Caliphate use to direct his generals as to where they would stay and when to move to the next target and who will be commanding the left and right wing of the army in the particular battle. This made the phase of conquest comparatively slower but provided well organized campaigns. Caliph Uthman
used the same method as Abu Bakr: he would give missions to his generals and then leave it to them how they should accomplish it. Caliph Ali
also followed the same method.
. The non-Muslim people were nominally allowed to practice whichever religion they wanted to follow. The Sharia Law
was exercised by the state, and nominally extended only to Muslims, but in reality had jurisdiction over non-Muslims who had commit offenses against the Muslim community.
Islam was the guiding force of the Caliphate. Any act of state was first to be approved by the Qur'ān and the Traditions of Prophet Muhammed. If there were no such guidelines available, then wisdom or Hikmat was used, after which if the act would go against the established principals, norms, system etc., it was not carried on with.
Christians and Jews were - and are - considered People of the Book
(Arabic: أهل الكتاب 'Ahl al-Kitāb), an Islamic term and legal status afforded to adherents of the other Abrahamic religions.
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
s in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
's history, was founded after Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
's death in 632
632
Year 632 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 632 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* January 27 – Annular eclipse of the...
, Year 10 A.H.
Hijri year
The Hijri year is year numbering system used in the Islamic calendar. It commemorates the Hijra , or emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 CE. In Arabic, AH is symbolized by the letter هـ...
. At its height, the Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
extended from the Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
, to the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
in the west, to the Iranian highlands
Iranian plateau
The Iranian plateau, or Iranic plateau, is a geological formation in Southwest Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north, the Hormuz Strait and Persian...
and Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
in the east. It was the largest empire in history up until that time. It is also known as the Patriarchal Caliphate.
Origin
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
n Ansar
Ansar (Islam)
Ansar is an Islamic term that literally means "helpers" and denotes the Medinan citizens that helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the migration to Medina...
debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial. Umar (a Quraysh) and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
Amir ibn `Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah , more commonly known as Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, was one of the ten companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who were promised Paradise as mentioned in early Islamic historical accounts and records...
pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
, with the Ansar and the Quraish soon following suit. Abu Bakr thus became the first Khalifa Rasul Allah (Successor of the Messenger of God), and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. First, though, he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had gone back on their oaths of allegiance to Islam and the Islamic community. As a Khalifa or Caliph he was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did his three successors do so.
Succession of Abu Bakr
Troubles emerged soon after Abu BakrAbu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
's succession, threatening the unity and stability of the new community and state. Apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
had actually begun in the lifetime of Muhammad, and the first major action of the apostasy was fought and satisfactorily concluded while Muhammad still lived. But the real and most serious danger of apostasy arose after Muhammad's death, when a wild wave of disbelief-after-belief moved across Arabia and had to be tackled by Abu Bakr.
The first major event of the apostasy occurred in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
and is known as the Incident of Aswad Al Ansi, who was killed on May 30, 632 (the 6th of Rabi-ul-Awwal, 11 Hijri) by a Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
governor of Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
named Firoz. The news of his assassination reached Medina shortly after the death of Muhammad. The chief cause of the apostasy was lack of firm Islamic faith. Most of the tribes, that had taken to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, converted in the ninth and tenth years of the Hijra,.
The apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
had become so general that it affected every tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
in Arabia with the exception of the people in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
and the tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
of Thaqeef in Taif. In some cases the entire tribe apostatised. Some withheld the zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
, the alms tax, though they did not otherwise challenge Islam. Many tribal leaders made claims to prophethood, some like Musaylima made it during the lifetime of Muhammad. The tribes claimed that they had submitted to Muhammad and that with Muhammad's death, their allegiance was ended. Abu Bakr insisted that they had not just submitted to a leader but joined the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community, of which he was the new head. Apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
is a capital offense under traditional interpretations of Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, and Abu Bakr declared war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
on the rebels.
This was the start of the Ridda wars
Ridda wars
The Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
(Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
for the Wars of Apostasy). The apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
of central Arabia was led by self-proclaimed prophet Musaylima, while the other centers of the rebels were to the south and east in Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
, Mahra
Mahra Sultanate
The Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra or sometimes the Mahra Sultanate of Ghayda and Socotra was a sultanate that included both the historical region of Mahra and the Indian Ocean island of Socotra in what is now eastern Yemen...
and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. Abu Bakr planned his strategy accordingly. He divided the Muslim army into several corps. The strongest corps, and this was the primary force of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, was the corps of Khalid ibn Walid. This corps was used to fight the most powerful of the rebel forces. Other corps were given areas of secondary importance in which to bring the less dangerous apostate tribes to submission. Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
's plan was first to clear the area of West
West
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
and Central Arabia (the area nearest Madinah), then tackle Malik ibn Nuwayrah
Malik ibn Nuwayrah
Malik ibn Nuwaira , also spelled as Malik ibn Nuwera, was a chief of the Bani Yarbu', a large section of the powerful tribe of Bani Tamim which inhabited the north-eastern region of Arabia, above Bahrain. Being close to Persia, some elements of the Bani Tamim had embraced Zoroastrianism, but by and...
, and finally concentrate against the most dangerous enemy - Musaylima. After series of successful campaigns Khalid ibn Walid finally defeated Musaylima in the Battle of Yamama
Battle of Yamama
The Battle of Yamama was fought in December AD 632 as part as the Ridda or apostate wars on the plain of Aqraba in the region of Yamama between the forces of Muslim Caliph Abu Bakr and Musaylimah, an apostate.-Background:...
. The Campaign on the Apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
was fought and completed during the eleventh year of the Hijri
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
. The year 12 Hijri dawned, on March 18, 633, with Arabia united under the central authority of the Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
at Madinah. According to the Sunni Muslims, by putting down these larger insurrections and defeating the rival prophets among the Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s, Abu Bakr was able to solidify the rest of Arabia under Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, and basically rescue the Islamic state from collapse.
Once the rebellions had been put down, Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
began a war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
of conquest. Whether or not he intended a full-out imperial conquest is hard to say; he did, however, set in motion a historical trajectory that in just a few short decades would lead to one of the largest empires in history. Abu Bakr began with Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, the richest province of the Sassanid empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. He sent his most brilliant general Khalid ibn Walid to invade the Sassanid empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
in 633. He thereafter also sent 4 armies to invade Roman Syria, but decisive operation was only undertaken when Khalid, after completing the conquest of Iraq, was transferred to the Syrian front in 634.
Succession of Umar
| Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death... |
632 | 634 |
| Umar Umar `Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death.... |
634 | 644 |
| Uthman Uthman Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph.... |
644 | 656 |
| Ali Ali ' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam... |
656 | 661 |
Despite the initial reservations of his advisers, Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
recognised military and political prowess in Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
and desired him to succeed as caliph. The decision was enshrined in his will, and on the death of Abu Bakr in 634, Umar was confirmed in office. The new caliph continued the war of conquests begun by his predecessor, pushing further into the Sassanid Persian Empire, north into Byzantine
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
territory, and west into Egypt
Muslim conquest of Egypt
At the commencement of the Muslims conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II...
. These were regions of great wealth controlled by powerful states, but long internecine conflict between Byzantines and Sassanids had left both sides militarily exhausted, and the Islamic armies easily prevailed against them. By 640, they had brought all of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
under the control of the Rashidun Caliphate; Egypt was conquered by 642, and the entire Persian Empire by 643.
While the caliphate continued its rapid expansion, Umar laid the foundations of a political structure that could hold it together. He created the Diwan
Divan
A divan was a high governmental body in a number of Islamic states, or its chief official .-Etymology:...
, a bureau for transacting government affairs. The military was brought directly under state control and into its pay. Crucially, in conquered lands, Umar did not require that non-Muslim populations convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, nor did he try to centralize government (as the Persians
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
had done). Instead, he allowed subject populations to retain their religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
and customs
Convention (norm)
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom....
, and he left their government relatively untouched, imposing only a governor (amir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
) and a financial officer called an amil. These new posts were integral to the efficient network of taxation that financed the empire.
With the booty secured from conquest, Umar was able to support its faith in material ways: the companions of Muhammad
Sahaba
In Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
were given pensions on which to live, allowing them to pursue religious studies and exercise spiritual leadership in their communities and beyond. Umar is also remembered for establishing the Muslim calendar; like the Arabian calendar, it is lunar, but the origin is set in 622, the year of the Hijra
Hijra
Hijra as an Arabic word meaning migration or flight may refer to:* The Hijra is the emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 CE, marking the first year of the Islamic calendar, 1 AH * Hijri year, marks the start of the Hijri year of the Islamic calendar*...
when Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
emigrated to Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
.
Umar was mortally wounded in an assassination attempt by the Persian slave Abu Lulu Fieroz during morning prayers in 644.
Election of Uthman
Before Umar died, he appointed a committee of six men to decide on the next caliph, and charged them with choosing one of their own number. All of the men, like Umar, were from the tribe of Quraish.The committee narrowed down the choices to two: 'Uthman and 'Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
. 'Ali was from the Banu Hashim clan (the same clan as Muhammad) of the Quraysh tribe, and he was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad and had been a companion to the Prophet from the inception of his mission.Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
was from the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
clan of the Quraish.
Uthman reigned for twelve years as caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
, during the first half of his reign he enjoyed a position of the most popular caliph among all the Rashidun
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
s, while in the later half of his reign he met increasing opposition. This opposition was led by the Egyptians and was concentrated around Ali, who would, albeit briefly, succeed Uthman as caliph.
Despite internal troubles, Uthman continued the wars of conquest started by 'Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
conquered North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
from the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s and even raided Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, conquering the coastal areas of the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, as well as the islands of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. Also coastal Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
was raided in 652. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
fully conquered the Sassanid Persian Empire, and its eastern frontiers extended up to the lower Indus River.
Uthman's greatest and most lasting achievement was the formal recension of the Qur'an.
Siege of Uthman
Uthman refused to initiate any military action, in order to avoid civil war between MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, and preferred negotiations. His polite attitude towards rebels emboldened them and they broke into Uthman's house and killed him while he was reading the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
.
Crisis and fragmentation
After the assassination of the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, the Companions of Muhammad in MedinaMedina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
selected Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
to be the new Caliph. Soon thereafter, Ali dismissed several provincial governors, some of whom were relatives of Uthman, and replaced them with trusted aides such as Malik al-Ashtar and Salman the Persian
Salman the Persian
Salman the Persian or Salman al Farisi was one of Muhammad's companions.During some of his later meetings with the other Sahaba, he was referred to as Abu Abdullah .-Birth place:...
. Ali then transferred his capital from Medina to Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
, the Muslim garrison city in what is now Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. The capital of the province of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, was held by Mu'awiyah
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
, the governor of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and a kinsman of Uthman, Ali's slain predecessor. Uthman's death was ironic for many reasons, including the fact that he was the first Islamic caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
to be killed by fellow Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. Following the assassination of Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Uthman ibn Affan, the first Muslim civil war
First Fitna
The First Islamic Civil War , also called the First Fitna , was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate. It arose as a struggle over who had the legitimate right to become the ruling Caliph...
started, which continued during the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abu Talib, and ended, on the whole, by Mu'awiya's assumption of the caliphate, an event which then laid the foundation of the Umayyad Empire
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
. This civil war is often called the Fitna, and regretted as the end of the early unity of the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic ummah
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
(nation).
In 656, after Uthman ibn Affan was murdered by a group of rebels as he sat reading the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
in his home in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, the city fell into chaos and uproar. Citizens flocked to Ali ibn Abu Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, and a respected community leader who had been passed over for the leadership three times since the death of Muhammad. They then urged him to take the caliphate. Initially reluctant due to the circumstances of the caliph's death, he eventually chose to accept.
Ali then had to fight against numerous challengers to his rule. The cry of revenge of the blood of Caliph Uthman grew, and a large army of the Muslims led by Zubayr, Talha and the widow of Muhammad, Ayesha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
set for revenge from the rebels. As the rebels gathered from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
and Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, their first objective was Basra. The army reached Basra and captured it, 4000 suspected seditionists were assassinated. Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
who had already transferred his capital from Madinah to Kufa, turned towards Basra and a battle was fought between the Caliph Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
's army and the army of Muslims who demanded revenge of Uthman. Though neither Ali nor the leaders of the opposing army Talha and Zubayr wanted to fight, a fight broke out suddenly at night between the two armies. It is said according to Sunni Muslim traditions that the rebels who were involved in the assassination of Uthman initiated combat as they were afraid that as a result of negotiation between Ali and opposing army, the killers of Uthman would be hunted down and killed. The battle thus fought was the first battle between Muslims and is known as the Battle of the Camel. After the Caliphate had won and the dispute was settled, Ali sent his son Hassan ibn Ali to escort Ayesha
Aisha
Aisha bint Abu Bakr also transcribed as was Muhammad's favorite wife...
back to Madinah. The eminent companions of Mohammad, Talha and Zubayr were killed in the battle after they withdrew from the battlefield refusing to fight against Muslims.
After this dark episode of Islamic history, another cry for revenge for the blood of Uthman rose. This time it was by Mu'awiya
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
, kinsmen of Uthman and governor of the province of Syria. However it is regarded as more an attempt of assuming the caliphate by Mu'awiya
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
than to take revenge for Uthman's murder from the rebels. Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
fought Uthman's kinsman Mu'awiya
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
, the governor of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, at the Battle of Siffin
Battle of Siffin
The Battle of Siffin 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 and Muawiyah I, on the banks of the Euphrates river, in what is now Ar-Raqqah, Syria...
to a stalemate and then lost a controversial arbitration; and he fought his own mutinous soldiers (the first Kharijites
Kharijites
Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...
). Large sections of the new empire created in the twenty-four years (632-656) were lost due to the civil war, like Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, the coastal areas of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and some forts in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. But the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s tended not to re-capture their lost land, particularly areas in the western empire. According to Muslim history, Mu'awiya
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
sent a letter to the Byzantine emperor threatening him not to reclaim Islamic lands or Mu'awiya would make peace with his kinsmen (referring to Ali) and they would both together destroy the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
.
In 661 CE, Ali was assassinated in the Mosque of Kufa by Ibn Muljam, a relative of one of the rebel soldiers he had defeated and killed. His last words were "Fuztu wa rabb al-Ka'bah" - meaning By The Lord of the Ka'bah, I have succeeded.
His son Hasan ibn Ali
Hasan ibn Ali
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa...
, the grandson of Muhammad, briefly assumed the caliphate upon being appointed by Ali. He came to an agreement with Mu'awiya and fixed relations between the two groups of Muslims that were each loyal to one of the two men. Mu'awiya gained control of the empire and founded the Umayyad Empire
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
, with it the Rashidun Caliphate dismantled.
Military expansion
The Rashidun empire expanded gradually, with the time span of 24 years of conquest a vast territory was conquered comprising North AfricaNorth Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Transoxiana
Transoxiana
Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...
, the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, parts of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the whole of the Sassanid Persian empire, the Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
, the islands of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
was invaded, and Baluchistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
was conquered, the empires eastern frontiers reaching the lower Indus river in the Indian subcontinent
Subcontinent
A subcontinent is a large, relatively self-contained landmass forming a subdivision of a continent. By dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies "having a certain geographical or political independence" from the rest of the continent, or "a vast and more or less self-contained subdivision...
and western frontiers to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
The Islamic Invasion of Sassanid Persia resulted in the conquest of the whole Sassanid Persian empire, after the Persians declined to submit and continued to strive to re-capture their lost territory. Unlike the Sassanid Persians
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s after losing Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, retreated back to western Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and as a result, also lost Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
to the invading Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
, although the civil wars among the Muslims halted the war of conquest for many years and this gave time for the Byzantine Empire to recover.
Conquest of Persian empire
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
in 633 was a swift conquest in the time span of only 4 months led by legendary general Khalid ibn Walid. Abu Bakr sent his most brilliant general Khalid to conquer Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
after the Ridda wars
Ridda wars
The Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
. After entering Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
with his army of 18,000, Khalid won decisive victories in four consecutive battles: Battle of Chains
Battle of Chains
The Battle of Sallasil or the Battle of Chains was the first battle fought between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Persian Empire. The battle was fought soon after the Ridda Wars were over and Arabia was united under the authority of Caliph Abu Bakr...
, fought in April 633; Battle of River
Battle of River
According to Arab and Muslim sources, the Battle of River took place in Mesopotamia between the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Persian Empire. Muslims, under Khalid ibn al-Walid's command, defeated the numerically superior Persian army....
, fought in the 3rd week of April 633; Battle of Walaja
Battle of Walaja
The Battle of Walaja was a battle fought in Mesopotamia in May 633 between the Rashidun Caliphate army under Khalid ibn al-Walid and al muthanna ibn haarithah against the Persian Empire and its Arab allies...
, fought in May 633 (where he successfully used a double envelopment
Pincer movement
The pincer movement or double envelopment is a military maneuver. The flanks of the opponent are attacked simultaneously in a pinching motion after the opponent has advanced towards the center of an army which is responding by moving its outside forces to the enemy's flanks, in order to surround it...
manoeuvre), and Battle of Ullais
Battle of Ullais
The Battle of Ullais was fought between the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Persian Empire in the middle of May 633 A.D in Iraq, and is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Blood River since, as a result of the battle, there were enormous amounts of Sassanian and Arab Christian...
, fought in the mid of May 633 . In the last week of May 633 , the capital city of Iraq fell to the Muslims after initial resistance in the Battle of Hira
Battle of Hira
Al-Hirah city, widely known for its size and wealth, was a Sassanian dukedom as it was the capital of the Persian province of Iraq. Many of its Lakhmid Christian Arab inhabitants patrolled the desert on behalf of the Sassanians...
.
Battle of Al-Anbar
the Muslim Arab army was under the command of Khalid ibn al-Walid and the battle took place at Anbar which is located approximately 80 miles from the ancient city of Babylon. Khalid besieged the Sassanian Persians in the city fortress, which had strong walls. Scores of Muslim archers were used in...
, and eventually surrendered after a siege of a few weeks in July 633 . Khalid then moved towards the south, and conquered the city of Ein ul Tamr after the Battle of ein-ul-tamr
Battle of ein-ul-tamr
When the Muslim army conquered the town of Ayn al-Tamr they found a number of Arab Christian priests in a monastery. One of them was called Nusair another called Serine. They both embraced Islam. Nusair is the father of Mosa Ben Nusair, the supreme commander of the forces which later conquered...
in the last week of July, 633. By now, almost the whole of Iraq was under Islamic control. Khalid received a call of help from northern Arabia at daumat-ul-jandal, where another Muslim Arab general, Ayaz bin Ghanam, was trapped among the rebel tribes. Khalid went to Daumat-ul-jandal and defeated the rebels in the Battle of Daumat-ul-jandal
Battle of Daumat-ul-jandal
The Battle of Daumat-ul-jandal took place between Muslims and Rebel Arab tribes in August 633 AD. This was a part of the Riddah wars. Daumat ul jandal was given to Ayadh bin Ghanam to crush the rebels, but he failed in doing so, and send for help to Khalid ibn Walid who was in Iraq in those...
in the last week of August, 633 CE. Returning from Arabia, he received news of the assembling of a large Persian army. Within a few weeks, he decided to defeat them all separately in order to avoid the risk of defeat to a large unified Persian army. Four divisions of Persian and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Arab auxiliaries were present at Hanafiz, Zumiel, Sanni and Muzieh.
Khalid divided his army in three units, and decided to attack these auxiliaries one by one from three different sides at night, starting from the Battle of Muzieh, then the Battle of Sanni, and finally the Battle of Zumail
Battle of Zumail
The battle of Zumail was fought in 633 CE in what is now Iraq. It was a major Muslim victory in their conquest of that area. Under cover of night the Muslims attacked the Christian-Arab forces from three different sides...
. In November 633 CE, Khalid defeated the enemy armies in his series of three sided attacks at night. These devastating defeats ended Persian control over Iraq. In December 633 CE, Khalid reached the border city of Firaz, where he defeated the combined forces of the Sassanid Persians
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
, Byzantine
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
Romans
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
and Christian Arabs in the Battle of Firaz
Battle of Firaz
The Battle of Firaz was the last battle of the Muslim Arab commander Khalid ibn al-Walid in Mesopotamia against the combined forces of the Byzantine Roman Empire, Sassanid Persian Empire, and Christian Arabs...
. This was the last battle in his conquest of Iraq.
After the conquest of Iraq, Khalid left Mesopotamia to lead another campaign at Syria
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
against the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, after which Mithna ibn Haris took command in Mesopotamia. The Persians once again concentrated armies to regain the lost Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, while Mithna ibn Haris withdraw from central Iraq to the region near the Arabian desert
Arabian Desert
The Arabian Desert is a vast desert wilderness stretching from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. It occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, with an area of...
to delay war until reinforcement came from Madinah. Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
sent reinforcements under the command of Abu Ubaidah Saqfi. With some initial success this army was finally defeated by the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
at the Battle of the Bridge
Battle of the Bridge
The Battle of the Bridge was fought between Arab Muslims led by Abu Ubaid, and the Persian Sasanian Empire forces led by Bahman. It is traditionally dated to the year 634, and was the only major Persian victory over the invading Muslim armies....
in which Abu Ubaid was killed. The response was delayed until after a decisive Muslim victory against the Romans in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
at the Battle of Yarmuk in 636 Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
, was then able to transfer forces to the east and resume the offensive against the Sassanids. Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
dispatched 36,000 men along with 7500 troops from the Syrian front, under the command of Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās against the Persian army. The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was fought in 636; it was the decisive engagement between the Arab muslim army and the Sassanid Persian army during the first period of Muslim expansion. It resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia, and was key to the conquest of Iraq...
followed, with the Persians prevailing at first, but on the third day of fighting, the Muslims gained the upper hand. The legendary Persian general Rostam Farrokhzād
Rostam Farrokhzad
Rostam Farrokhzād was the Ērān Spāhbod of the Sāsānian Empire under the reign of Yazdgird, r. 632 - 651...
was killed during the battle. According to some sources, the Persian losses were 20,000, and the Arabs lost 10,500 men.
Following the Battle, the Arab Muslim armies pushed forward toward the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
(also called Madā'in in Arabic), which was quickly evacuated by Yazdgird after a brief siege. After seizing the city, they continued their drive eastwards, following Yazdgird and his remaining troops. Within a short span of time, the Arab armies defeated a major Sāsānian counter-attack in the Battle of Jalūlā', as well as other engagements at Qasr-e Shirin, and Masabadhan. By the mid-7th Century, the Arabs controlled all of Mesopotamia, including the area that is now the Iranian province of Khuzestan. It is said that Caliph Umar did not wish to send his troops through the Zagros mountains
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
and onto the Iranian plateau. One tradition has it that he wished for a "wall of fire" to keep the Arabs and Persians apart. Later commentators explain this as a common-sense precaution against over-extension of his forces. The Arabs had only recently conquered large territories that still had to be garrisoned and administered. The continued existence of the Persian government was however an incitement to revolt in the conquered territories and unlike the Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
, the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
was continuously striving to regain their lost territories. Finally Umar decided to push his forces for further conquests, which eventually resulted in the whole scale conquest of the Sassanid Persian empire. Yazdegerd, the Sassanid king, made yet another effort to regroup and defeat the invaders. By 641 he had raised a new force, which took a stand at the Battle of Nihawānd
Battle of Nihawand
The Battle of Nahāvand Battle of Nahāwand was fought in 642 between Arab Muslims and Sassanid armies. The battle is known to Muslims as the "Victory of Victories." The History of Tabari mentions that Firuzan, the officer serving the Persian King Yazdgerd III had about 50,000 men, versus a Muslim...
, some forty miles south of Hamadan
Hamadan
-Culture:Hamadan is home to many poets and cultural celebrities. The city is also said to be among the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.Handicrafts: Hamadan has always been well known for handicrafts like leather, ceramic, and beautiful carpets....
in modern Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
under the command of Umar's appointed general Nu'man ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani, attacked and again defeated the Persian forces. The Muslims proclaimed it the Victory of victories (Fath alfotuh) as it marked the End of the Sassanids, shattering the last strongest Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
.
was unable to raise another army and became a hunted fugitive. In 642, Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
sent the army to conquer the whole of the Persian empire. The whole of present day Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
was conquered, followed by the conquest of Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
(which included modern Iranian Khorasan province and modern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
), Transoxania, and Balochistan
Balochistan (region)
Balochistan or Baluchistan is an arid, mountainous region in the Iranian plateau in Southwest Asia; it includes part of southeastern Iran, western Pakistan, and southwestern Afghanistan. The area is named after the numerous Baloch tribes, Iranian peoples who moved into the area from the west...
, Makran
Makran
The present day Makran is a semi-desert coastal strip in the south of Sindh, Balochistan, in Iran and Pakistan, along the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. The present day Makran derived its name from Maka, a satrap of Achaemenid Empire....
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
(Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, this regions were later also re-conquered during Caliph Utman's reign with further expansion to the regions which were not conquered during Umar’s reign, and the Rashidun Caliphate’s frontiers in the east extended to the lower river Indus and north to the Oxus River
Amu Darya
The Amu Darya , also called Oxus and Amu River, is a major river in Central Asia. It is formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers...
.
Conquest of Byzantine Syria
Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
Amir ibn `Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah , more commonly known as Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, was one of the ten companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who were promised Paradise as mentioned in early Islamic historical accounts and records...
acting as their supreme commander, Amr ibn al-As, Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan
Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan
Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan was one of the companions of Muhammad.-Biography:Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan was the son of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, he was the brother of Muawiya I. Not to be confused with Yazid ibn Muawiya who was the caliph during which Imam Hussain was killed...
and Shurhabil ibn Hasana. These armies were all assigned their objectives. However their advance was halted by a concentration of the Byzantine army at Ajnadayn. Abu Ubaidah then send for reinforcements. Abu Bakr ordered Khalid, who by now was planning to attack Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
, to march to Syria with half of his army out of Iraq. Khalid took half of his army and rather took an unconventional route to Syria. There were 2 major routes to Syria from Iraq, one passing through Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
and the other through Daumat ul-Jandal. Khalid took a route through the Syrian Desert
Syrian Desert
The Syrian Desert , also known as the Syro-Arabian desert is a combination of steppe and true desert that is located in the northern Arabian Peninsula covering 200,000 square miles . also the desert is very rocky and flat...
, and after a perilous march of 5 days, appeared in north-western Syria.
The border forts of Sawa, Arak, Tadmur, Sukhnah, Qaryatayn and Hawarin were the first to fall to the invading Muslims. Khalid marched on to Bosra
Bosra
Bosra , also known as Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra, Busra Eski Şam, Busra ash-Sham, and Nova Trajana Bostra, is an ancient city administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria...
via the Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
road. At Bosra, the Corps of Abu Ubaidah and Shurhabil joined Khalid, after which here as per orders of Caliph Abu Bakr, Khalid took the high command from Abu Ubaidah. Bosra was not ready for this surprise attack and siege, and thus surrendered after a brief siege in July 634, (see Battle of Bosra
Battle of Bosra
The Battle of Bosra was fought in 634 between the Rashidun Caliphate army and the Byzantine Empire for the possession of Bosra, in Syria. The city, then capital of the Ghassanid kingdom, a Byzantine vassal, was the first important one to be captured by the Islamic forces...
) this effectively ending the Ghassanid Dynasty.
Battle of Ajnadayn
The Battle of Ajnadayn, fought on July 30, 634, south of Beit Shemesh in present day Israel, was the first major pitched battle between the Eastern Roman Empire and the army of the Arabic Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory...
. It was the first major pitched battle
Pitched battle
A pitched battle is a battle where both sides choose to fight at a chosen location and time and where either side has the option to disengage either before the battle starts, or shortly after the first armed exchanges....
between the Muslim army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
and the Christian Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
and cleared the way for the Muslims to capture central Syria. Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, the Byzantine stronghold, was conquered shortly after on 19 September 634. After the Muslim Conquest of Damascus, the Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
was given a deadline of 3 days to go as far as they can, with their families and treasures, or simply agree to stay in Damascus and pay tribute.
Battle of Maraj-al-Debaj
Battle of Marj-ud-Deebaj was fought between the Byzantine army, survivors from the conquest of Damascus, and the Rashidun Caliphate army in September 634...
.
On 22 August 634, Caliph Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
died, making Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
his successor. As Umar became caliph, he relieved Khalid from commanding the Islamic armies and appointed Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah
Amir ibn `Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah , more commonly known as Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, was one of the ten companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who were promised Paradise as mentioned in early Islamic historical accounts and records...
as the new commander of the Muslim army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
. The conquest of Syria slowed down under him and Abu Ubaida relied heavily on the advices of Khalid, and he kept him beside him as much as possible.
The last large garrison of the Byzantine army was at Fahl, which was joined by survivors of Ajnadayn. With this threat at their rear the Muslim armies could not move further north nor south, thus Abu Ubaidah decided to deal with the situation, and had this garrison defeated and routed at the Battle of Fahl
Battle of Fahl
The Battle of Fahl or Battle of Pella was a Byzantine-Arab battle fought between the Rashidun army under Khalid ibn al-Walid Saifullah and the Roman Empire under Theodore the Sacellarius , in Fahl in January 635 AD...
on 23 January 635. This battle proved to be the "Key to Palestine". After this battle Abu Ubaidah and Khalid marched north towards Emesa, Yazid was stationed in Damascus while Amr and Shurhabil marched south to capture Palestine.
While the Muslims were at Fahl, sensing the weak defense of Damascus, Emperor Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
sent an army to re-capture the city. This army however could not make it to Damascus and was intercepted by Abu Ubaidah and Khalid on their way to Emesa. The army was routed and destroyed in the battle of Maraj-al-Rome and the 2nd battle of Damascus. Emesa and the strategical town of Chalcis
Chalcis
Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...
made peace with the Muslims for one year. This was, in fact, done to let Heraclius prepare for defences and raise new armies. The Muslims welcomed the peace and consolidated their control over the conquered territory. As soon as the Muslims received the news of reinforcements being sent to Emesa and Chalcis, they marched against Emesa, laid siege to it
Siege of Emesa
The Siege of Emesa was laid by the forces of Rashidun Caliphate from December 635 up until March 636. This led to the Islamic conquest of Emesa, which was a major trading city of the Byzantine Empire in the Levant.-Background:...
and eventually captured the city in March 636.
Abu Ubaida ordered all the Muslim commanders to withdraw from all the conquered areas, return the tributes that they previously gathered, and move towards Yarmuk. Heraclius's army also moved towards Yarmuk. The Muslim armies reached it in July 636. A week or two later, around mid July, the Byzantine army arrived. Khalid's Mobile guard
Mobile guard
The Mobile Guard was an elite light cavalry regiment of Rashidun army during the Muslim conquest of Syria, under the command of Khalid ibn Walid...
defeated Christian Arab auxiliaries of the Roman army in a skirmish.
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...
was fought. The battle lasted 6 days during which Abu Ubaida transferred the command of the entire army to Khalid. The Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
army was defeated on October 636 CE. Abu Ubaida held a meeting with his high command officers, including Khalid to decide of future conquests. They decided to conquer Jerusalem. The siege of Jerusalem lasted four months after which the city agreed to surrender, but only to Caliph Umar Ibn Al Khattab in person. Amr ibn Al As suggested that Khalid should be sent as Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
, because of his very strong resemblance with Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
.
Khalid was recognized and eventually, Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab came and Jerusalem surrendered
Siege of Jerusalem (637)
The Siege of Jerusalem was a part of a military conflict which took place in the year 637 between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate. It began when the Rashidun army, under the command of Abu Ubaidah, besieged Jerusalem in November 636. After six months, the Patriarch Sophronius...
on April 637 CE. Abu Ubaida sent the commanders Amr bin al-As, Yazid bin Abu Sufyan, and Sharjeel bin Hassana back to their areas to reconquer them. Most of the areas submitted without a fight. Abu Ubaida himself along with Khalid moved to northern Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
once again to conquer it with a 17,000 men army. Khalid along with his cavalry was sent to Hazir and Abu Ubaidah moved to the city of Qasreen.
Khalid defeated a strong Byzantine army in the Battle of Hazir
Battle of Hazir
Battle of Hazir took place between the Byzantine army and Rashidun army's elite cavalry the Mobile guard, in June 637, 3 miles east of Qinnasrin at Hazir in present-day Syria.-Background:...
and reached Qasreen before Abu Ubaidah. The city surrendered to Khalid. Soon, Abu Ubaidah arrived in June 637. Abu Ubaidah then moved against Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
. As usual Khalid was commanding the cavalry. After the Battle of Aleppo the city finally agreed to surrender in October 637.
Occupation of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
conquering the fort of Azaz to clear the flank and rear from Byzantine troops. On their way to Antioch, a Roman army blocked them near a river on which there was an iron bridge. Because of this, the following battle is known as the Battle of Iron bridge
Battle of Iron bridge
The Battle of Iron Bridge was fought between the Muslim Rashidun army and the Byzantine army in 637 AD. The battle was fought near a nine-arch stone bridge spanning the River Orontes, from which the battle took its name. The campaigns in Anatolia were undertaken after the decisive Rashidun...
. The Muslim army defeated the Byzantines and Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
surrendered on 30 October 637 CE. Later during the year, Abu Ubaida sent Khalid and another general named Ayaz bin Ghanam at the head of two separate armies against the western part of Jazira, most of which was conquered with out strong resistance, including parts of Anatolia, Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
and the area up to the Ararat plain
Ararat plain
The Ararat plain is one of the largest of the Armenian Plateau, stretches west of the Sevan basin, at the foothills of the Gegham mountains. In the north the plain borders on Mount Aragats, and in the south, on Mount Ararat...
. Other columns were sent to Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
as far west as the Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
, the important city of Marash and Malatya
Malatya
Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...
which were all conquered by Khalid in the autumn of 638 CE. During Uthman’s reign, the Byzantines recaptured many forts
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
in the region and on Uthman's orders, series of campaigns were launched to regain control of it. In 647 Muawiyah
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
, the governor of Syria sent an expedition against Anatolia. They invaded at Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
and sacked Caesarea Mazaca. In 648 the Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
raided Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
. A major offensive into Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
and Isauria
Isauria
Isauria , in ancient geography, is a rugged isolated district in the interior of South Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya province of Turkey, or the core of the Taurus Mountains. In...
in 650–651 forced the Byzantine Emperor Constans II to enter into negotiations with Caliph Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
's governor of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Muawiyah.
The truce that followed allowed a short respite, and made it possible for Constans II to hold on to the western portions of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. In 654–655 on the orders of Caliph Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
, an expedition was preparing to attack the Byzantine capital Constantinopole but did not carry out the plan due to the civil war that broke out in 656.
The Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
in Turkey marked the western frontiers of the Rashidun Caliphate in Anatolia during Caliph Uthman's reign.
Conquest of Egypt
Muslim conquest of Egypt
At the commencement of the Muslims conquest of Egypt, Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
was part of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
with its capital in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. However, it had been occupied just a decade before by the Persian Empire under Khosrau II (616 to 629 AD
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
). The power of the Byzantine empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
was shattered during the Muslim conquest of Syria
Muslim conquest of Syria
The Muslim conquest of Syria occurred in the first half of the 7th century, and refers to the region known as the Bilad al-Sham, the Levant, or Greater Syria...
, and therefore the conquest of Egypt was much easier. In 639, some 4,000 Rashidun troops
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
led by Amr ibn al-As, were sent by Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
to conquer the land of the ancient pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
s. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
crossed into Egypt from Palestine in December 639 and advanced rapidly into the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
. The imperial garrisons retreated into the walled towns, where they successfully held out for a year or more. But the Muslims sent for reinforcements and the invading army, joined by another 12,000 men in 640, defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Heliopolis
Battle of Heliopolis
The Battle of Heliopolis, or "Ayn Shams," was a decisive battle between Arab Muslim armies and Byzantine forces for the control of Egypt. Though there were several major skirmishes after this battle, it effectively decided the fate of the Byzantine rule in Egypt, and opened the door for the Muslim...
. Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on November 8, 641. The Thebaid
Thebaid
The Thebaid or Thebais is the region of ancient Egypt containing the thirteen southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. It acquired its name from its proximity to the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes....
seems to have surrendered with scarcely any opposition.
The ease with which this valuable province was wrenched from the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
appears to have been due to the treachery of the governor of Egypt, Cyrus
Cyrus of Alexandria
Cyrus of Alexandria was a Melchite patriarch of the Egyptian see of Alexandria in the seventh century, one of the authors of Monothelism and last Byzantine prefect of Egypt; died about 641.-Biography:...
, , Melchite (i.e., Byzantine/Chalcedonian Orthodox, not Coptic) Patriarch of Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
, and the incompetence of the generals of the Byzantine forces, as well as due to the loss of most of the Byzantine troops
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
against the Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
. Cyrus had persecuted the local Coptic Christians
Coptic Christianity
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different...
. He is one of the authors of monothelism, a seventh century heresy, and some supposed him to have been a secret convert to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
During the reign of Caliph Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
, an attempt was made in the year 645 to regain Alexandria for the Byzantine empire, but it was retaken by Amr in 646. In 654 an invasion fleet sent by Constans II was repulsed. From that time no serious effort was made by the Byzantines to regain possession of the country.
The Muslims were assisted by some Copts, who found the Muslims more tolerant than the Byzantines, and of these some turned to Islam. In return for a tribute of money and food for the troops of occupation, the Christian inhabitants of Egypt were excused from military service and left free in the observance of their religion and the administration of their affairs. Others sided with the Byzantines, hoping that they would provide a defense against the Arab invaders. During the reign of Caliph Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
, Egypt was captured by rebel troops under the command of former Rashidun army general
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
Amr ibn al-As, who killed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was the son of Abu Bakr, who was the senior companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and first Rashidun Caliph. His mother was Asma bint Umais...
the governor of Egypt appointed by Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
.
Conquest of North Africa
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, the Exarchate of Africa
Exarchate of Africa
The Exarchate of Africa or of Carthage, after its capital, was the name of an administrative division of the Eastern Roman Empire encompassing its possessions on the Western Mediterranean, ruled by an exarch, or viceroy...
had declared its independence under its exarch, Gregory the Patrician
Gregory the Patrician
Gregory the Patrician was a Byzantine governor, and self-proclaimed Emperor of the province of Africa.-Career:Gregory the Patrician was related by blood to the Imperial House of Heraclius, through the Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II's cousin Nicetas. Gregory was appointed Exarch of Africa by the...
. The dominions of Gregory extended from the borders of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad used to send raiding parties to the west. As a result of these raids the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s got considerable booty. The success of these raids made Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad feel that a regular campaign should be undertaken for the conquest of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
.
Uthman gave him permission after considering it in the Majlis al Shura. A force of 10,000 soldiers was sent as reinforcement. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
assembled in Barqa in Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
, and from there they marched west to capture Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, after Tripoli the army marched to Sufetula, the capital of King Gregory. He was defeated and killed in the battle due to superb tactics used by Abdullah ibn Zubayr. After the Battle of Sufetula the people of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
sued for peace. They agreed to pay an annual tribute. Instead of annexing North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s preferred to make North Africa a vassal state
Vassal state
A vassal state is any state that is subordinate to another. The vassal in these cases is the ruler, rather than the state itself. Being a vassal most commonly implies providing military assistance to the dominant state when requested to do so; it sometimes implies paying tribute, but a state which...
. When the stipulated amount of the tribute was paid, the Muslim forces
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
withdrew to Barqa. Following the First Fitna
First Fitna
The First Islamic Civil War , also called the First Fitna , was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate. It arose as a struggle over who had the legitimate right to become the ruling Caliph...
, the first Islamic civil war, Muslim forces withdraw from north Africa to Egypt. The Ummayad Caliphate, re-invaded north Africa in 664
664
Year 664 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 664 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* Arab armies conquer Kabul.* Kuo Wu Tsung of Tang...
.
Campaign against Nubia (Sudan)
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
during the Caliphate of Umar in 642
642
Year 642 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 642 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* August 5 – In the Battle of...
, but failed after the Makurian took victory at the First Battle of Dongola
First Battle of Dongola
The First Battle of Dongola was a meeting engagement or encounter between early Arab-Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Nubian-Christian forces of the Kingdom of Makuria in 642...
. The army was pulled out of Nubia without any success. Ten years later, Uthman’s governor of Egypt, Abdullah ibn Saad, sent another army to Nubia. This army penetrated deeper into Nubia and laid siege to the Nubian capital of Dongola
Dongola
Dongola , also spelled Dunqulah, and formerly known as Al 'Urdi, is the capital of the state of Northern in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancient city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank....
. The Muslims damaged the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in the center of the city, but the battle
Second Battle of Dongola
The Second Battle of Dongola or Siege of Dongola was a military engagement between early Arab-Egyptian forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Nubian-Christian forces of the Kingdom of Makuria in 652. The battle ended Muslim expansion into Nubia, establishing trade and a historic peace between the...
also went in favor of Makuria. As the Muslims were not able to overpower Makuria, they negotiated a peace with their king Qaladurut. According to the treaty that was signed, each side agreed not to make any aggressive moves against the other. Each side agreed to afford free passage to the other party through its territories. Nubia agreed to provide 360 slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
to Egypt every year, while Egypt agreed to supply grain
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
, horses and textiles to Nubia according to demand.
Conquest of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
, sent a request to build a naval force to invade the islands of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
but Umar rejected the proposal because of the risk of death of soldiers at sea. During his reign Uthman gave Muawiyah permission to build a navy after concerning the matter. In 650 AD the Arabs made the first attack on the island of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
under the leadership of Muawiya. They conquered the capital, Salamis
Salamis, Cyprus
Salamis was an ancient Greek city-state on the east coast of Cyprus, at the mouth of the river Pedieos, 6 km north of modern Famagusta. According to tradition the founder of Salamis was Teucer, son of Telamon, who could not return home after the Trojan war because he had failed to avenge his...
- Constantia, after a brief siege, but drafted a treaty with the local rulers. In the course of this expedition a relative of the Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, Umm-Haram fell from her mule near the Salt Lake
Salt Lake
For a lake containing a high concentration of salt, see salt lake.More specifically, Salt Lake may refer to:- Cities, counties, towns etc. :* Salt Lake, Hawaii, a neighborhood on the island of Oahu...
at Larnaca
Larnaca
Larnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...
and was killed. She was buried in that same spot which became a holy site for both many local Muslims and Christians and, much later in 1816, the Hala Sultan Tekke
Hala Sultan Tekke
Hala Sultan Tekke or the Mosque of Umm Haram is a very prominent Muslim shrine near Larnaca, on the island of Cyprus. Umm Haram was the Islamic prophet Muhammad's wet nurse and the wife of Ubada bin al-Samit....
was built there by the Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. After apprehending a breach of the treaty, the Arabs re-invaded the island in 654
654
Year 654 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 654 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Rhodes is invaded by an Arab force;...
AD with five hundred ships. This time, however, a garrison of 12,000 men was left in Cyprus, bringing the island under Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
influence. After leaving Cyprus the Muslim fleet headed towards the island of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
and then Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
and plundered them without much resistance. In 652-654, the Muslims lounched a naval campaign against Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and they succeeded in capturing a large part of the island. Soon after this Uthman was murdered, and no further expansion efforts were made, and the Muslims accordingly retreated from Sicily. In 655 Byzantine Emperor Constans II led a fleet in person to attack the Muslims at Phoinike
Finike
Finike, the ancient Phoenicus , is a district on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya Province of Turkey, 90 minutes west of the city of Antalya.Finike is located in the south of the Teke peninsula, and the coast here is a popular tourist destination...
(off Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
) but it was defeated: 500 Byzantine ships were destroyed in the battle, and the emperor himself narrowly avoided death.
First Muslim invasion of Iberian peninsula (Spain)
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
was undertaken by forces led by Tariq ibn Ziyad and Musa ibn Nusair in 711 - 712 C.E
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, in the time of the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Walid ibn Abd al-Malik. According to Muslim historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
, Spain was first invaded some sixty years earlier during the caliphate of Uthman in 653 . Other promenient Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s like Ibn Kathir
Ibn Kathir
Ismail ibn Kathir was a Muslim muhaddith, Faqih, historian, and commentator.-Biography:His full name was Abu Al-Fida, 'Imad Ad-Din, Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir, Al-Qurashi, Al-Busrawi...
have also quoted the same narration .
According to the account of al-Tabari , when North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
had been duly conquered by Abdullah Ibn Sa'ad, two of his generals, Abdullah ibn Nafiah ibn Husain, and Abdullah ibn Nafi' ibn Abdul Qais, were commissioned to invade coastal areas of Spain by sea.
No details of campaigns in Spain during the caliphate of Uthman are given by al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
or by any other historian, leaving what actually happened unclear. The account of al-Tabari is merely to the effect that an Arab force aided by a Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
force landed in Spain and took possession of some coastal areas . It seems that Muslims may have invaded coastal areas of Spain during the caliphate of Uthman, though the account does not indicate if these conquests led to an occupation of territory or were simply military raids. One possibility is that some short-lived advance outposts were established on the coastland of southern Spain but there is no Byzantine or Visigothic account mentioning the existence of such settlements, which would have alarmed them.
Treatment of Conquered Peoples
Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
according to Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. Those who accepted Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
were treated in a similar manner as other Muslims, and were given equivalent rights in legal matters. Non-Muslims were given legal rights according to their faiths' law.
Dhimmi
Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
peoples were allowed to "practice their religion, and to enjoy a measure of communal autonomy" and were guaranteed their personal safety and security of property in return for paying tax and acknowledging Muslim rule. Dhimmis were also subject to pay jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
(muslims were expected to pay zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
and kharaj
Kharaj
In Islamic law, kharaj is a tax on agricultural land.Initially, after the first Muslim conquests in the 7th century, kharaj usually denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the conquered provinces and collected by the officials of the former Byzantine and Sassanid empires or, more broadly, any kind of...
, which was considered material proof of their subjection. Caliph Umar was the first Caliph to provide Allowance to non-Muslims and Muslims, after they reached old age.
Political Administration
Caliph Umar has been reported to have said: "O Muslims, straighten me with your hands when I go wrong", and at that instance a Muslim man stood up and said "O Amir al-Mu'minin (Leader of the Believers) if you are not straightened by our hands we will use our sword to straighten you!". Hearing this Caliph Umar said "Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) I have such followers."
In the administrative field Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
was the most brilliant among the Rashidun
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
Caliphs, it was his dazzling administrative qualities because of which the most of the administrative structure of the empire was established.
Under Caliph Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
, the empire was not clearly divided into provinces, though it had many administrative districts, like:
- MeccaMeccaMecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
- MedinaMedinaMedina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
- YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
- BahrainBahrain' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
- IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
Under Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
the Empire was divided into a number of province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
s which were as follows:
- Arabia was divided into two provinces, MeccaMeccaMecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and MedinaMedinaMedina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
; - IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
was divided into two provinces, BasraBasraBasra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
and KufaKufaKufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
; - the province of Jazira was created in the upper reaches of the TigrisTigrisThe Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and the EuphratesEuphratesThe Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
; - SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
was a province; - PalestinePalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
was divided in two provinces: Aylya and Ramlah; - EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
was divided into two provinces: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt; - Persia was divided into three provinces: Khorasan, Azarbaijan, and Fars.
In his testament, Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
had instructed his successor not to make any change in the administrative set up for one year after his death. Thus for one year Uthman maintained the pattern of political administration as it stood under Umar, however latter he made some amendments. Uthman made Egypt one province and created a new province comprising North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, previously divided into two provinces, also become a single division.
During Uthman’s reign the empire was divided into twelve provinces. These were:
- MedinaMedinaMedina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
- MeccaMeccaMecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
- YemenYemenThe Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
- KufaKufaKufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
- BasraBasraBasra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
- Jazira
- Fars
- AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
- Khorasan
- SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
- EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
- North AfricaNorth AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
, during his reign, with the exception of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
(which was under Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...
's control) and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(that he lost during late years of his caliphate to the rebel troops of Amr ibn Al-A'as
'Amr ibn al-'As
`Amr ibn al-`As was an Arab military commander who is most noted for leading the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640. A contemporary of Muhammad, and one of the Sahaba , who rose quickly through the Muslim hierarchy following his conversion to Islam in the year 8 AH...
), ruled the remaining ten provinces, which kept their administrative organization as under Caliph Uthman.
The provinces were further divided into district
District
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
s. The over 100 districts of the empire, along with the main cities, were administered by a Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
or Wāli
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
. Other officers at the provincial level were:
- Katib, the Chief SecretaryChief SecretaryThe Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
. - Katib-ud-Diwan, the MilitaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
SecretarySecretaryA secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
. - Sahib-ul-Kharaj, the RevenueRevenueIn business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
Collector. - Sahib-ul-Ahdath, the Police chief.
- Sahib-ul-Bait-ul-Mal, the TreasuryTreasuryA treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
Officer. - Qadi, the Chief JudgeChief judgeChief Judge is a title that can refer to the highest-ranking judge of a court that has more than one judge. The meaning and usage of the term vary from one court system to another...
.
In some districts there were separate military officers, though the Governor (Wali) was in most cases the Commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the army quartered in the province.
The officers were appointed by the Caliph. Every appointment was made in writing. At the time of appointment an instrument of instructions was issued with a view to regulating the conduct of Governors. On assuming office, the Governor was required to assemble the people in the main mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, and read the instrument of instructions before them.
Umar's general instructions to his officers were:
- That he would not ride a TurkicTurkish peopleTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
(which was a symbol of pride). - That he would not wear fine clothes.
- That he would not eat sifted flour.
- That he would not keep a porter at his door.
- That he would always keep his door open to the public.
Caliph Umar himself followed the above postulates strictly. During the reign of Uthman the state become more economically prosperous than ever before; the allowance of the citizens was increased by 25% and the economical condition of the ordinary person was more stable, which lead Caliph Uthman to revoke the 2nd and 3rd postulates of the oath.
At the time of appointment a complete inventory of all the possessions of the person concerned was prepared and kept in record. If there was an unusual increase in the possessions of the office holder, he was immediately called to account, and the unlawful property was confiscated by the State. The principal officers were required to come to Mecca on the occasion of the Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, during which people were free to present any complaint against them. In order to minimize the chances of corruption, Umar made it a point to pay high salaries to the staff. Provincial governors received as much as five to seven thousand dirham
Dirham
Dirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
´s annually besides their share of the spoils of war (if they were also the commander in chief of the army of their sector).
Judicial Administration
As most of the administrative structure of the Rashidun Empire was setup by UmarUmar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
, the judicial administration was also established by him and the other Caliphs followed the same system without any type of basic amendment in it. In order to provide adequate and speedy justice for the people, an effective system of judicial administration was set up, hereunder justice was administered according to the principles of Islam.
Qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
s (Judges) were appointed at all administrative levels for the administration of justice. Umar was the first ruler in history to separate judiciary from the executive. The Qadis were chosen for their integrity and learning in Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. High salaries were fixed for the Qadis so that there was no temptation to bribery. Wealthy men and men of high social status were appointed as Qadis so that they might not have the temptation to take bribes, or be influenced by the social position of any body. The Qadis were not allowed to engage in trade. Judges were appointed in sufficient number, and there was no district which did not have a Qadi.
Electing or appointing a Caliph
Fred DonnerFred Donner
Fred McGraw Donner is an Islamic scholar and Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.-Early life:Donner was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended public schools...
, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests (1981), argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early Caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader's death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this shura
Shura
Shura is an Arabic word for "consultation". The Quran and Muhammad encourage Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with those who will be affected by that decision....
, or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader, but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunni view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.
This argument is advanced by Sunni Muslims that Muhammad's companion Abu Bakr was elected by the community, and this was the proper procedure. They further argue that a caliph is ideally chosen by election or community consensus. The caliphate became a hereditary office or the prize of the strongest general after the Rashidun caliphate. However, Sunni Muslims believe this was after the 'rightly guided' caliphate ended (Rashidun caliphate).
Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani
Al-Baqillani
Abu Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ṭayyib al-Bāqillānī was an Ashari Islamic scholar and Maliki lawyer, influential in popularising SunniAsharism.Born in Basra c. 950, he spent most of his life in Baghdad, and studied under disciples of al-Ash'ari. He held the office of chief Qadi outside the capital of the...
has said that the leader of the Muslims simply should be from the majority. Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man
Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man
Nuʿmān ibn Thābit ibn Zūṭā ibn Marzubān , better known as Imām Abū Ḥanīfah, was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of fiqh ....
also wrote that the leader must come from the majority.
Sunni belief
Following the death of Muhammad, a meeting took place at SaqifahSaqifah
The Saqīfah , also known as Saqīfah banī Sāˤidat , was a roofed building used by the tribe called the banū Sāˤidat of the faction of the banū Khazraj tribe of the city of Medina in the Hejaz, northwestern Arabia.- Significance of Saqifah :...
. At that meeting, Abu Bakr was elected caliph by the Muslim community. Sunni Muslims developed the belief that the caliph is a temporal political ruler, appointed to rule within the bounds of Islamic law (Sharia). The job of adjudicating orthodoxy and Islamic law was left to Islamic lawyers
Ijtihad
Ijtihad is the making of a decision in Islamic law by personal effort , independently of any school of jurisprudence . as opposed to taqlid, copying or obeying without question....
, judiciary, or specialists individually termed as Mujtahids and collectively named the Ulema
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
. The first four caliphs are called the Rashidun
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
, meaning the Rightly Guided Caliphs, because they are believed to have followed the Qur'an and the sunnah
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
(example) of Muhammad in all things.
Majlis al-Shura: Parliament
Traditional Sunni Islamic lawyers agree that shura, loosely translated as “consultation of the people”, is a function of the caliphate. The Majlis al-Shura advise the caliph. The importance of this is premised by the following verses of the Qur'an:The majlis is also the means to elect a new caliph. Al-Mawardi has written that members of the majlis should satisfy three conditions: they must be just, they must have enough knowledge to distinguish a good caliph from a bad one, and must have sufficient wisdom and judgment to select the best caliph. Al-Mawardi also said in emergencies when there is no caliphate and no majlis, the people themselves should create a majlis, select a list of candidates for caliph, then the majlis should select from the list of candidates.
Some modern interpretations of the role of the Majlis al-Shura include those by Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
and by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani was the founder of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir.He died aged 68 in 1977.- Philosophy and Theology :Nabhani in his books 'Thought' and 'System of Islam' placed...
, the founder of a transnational political movement devoted to the revival of the Caliphate. In an analysis of the shura chapter of the Qur'an, Qutb argued Islam requires only that the ruler consult with at least some of the ruled (usually the elite), within the general context of God-made laws that the ruler must execute. Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
Taqiuddin al-Nabhani was the founder of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir.He died aged 68 in 1977.- Philosophy and Theology :Nabhani in his books 'Thought' and 'System of Islam' placed...
, writes that Shura is important and part of "the ruling structure" of the Islamic caliphate, "but not one of its pillars," and may be neglected without the Caliphate's rule becoming unislamic. Non-Muslims may serve in the majlis, though they may not vote or serve as an official.
Accountability of rulers
Sunni Islamic lawyers have commented on when it is permissible to disobey, impeachImpeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
or remove rulers in the Caliphate. This is usually when the rulers are not meeting public responsibilities obliged upon them under Islam.
Al-Mawardi said that if the rulers meet their Islamic responsibilities to the public, the people must obey their laws, but if they become either unjust or severely ineffective then the Caliph or ruler must be impeached via the Majlis al-Shura. Similarly Al-Baghdadi believed that if the rulers do not uphold justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
, the ummah via the majlis should give warning to them, and if unheeded then the Caliph can be impeached. Al-Juwayni
Al-Juwayni
Imam al-Haramayn Dhia' ul-Din Abd al-Malik ibn Yusuf al-Juwayni al-Shafi'i was a Sunni Shafi'i hadith and Kalam scholar...
argued that Islam is the goal of the ummah, so any ruler that deviates from this goal must be impeached. Al-Ghazali believed that oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
by a caliph is enough for impeachment. Rather than just relying on impeachment, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Al-Haafidh Shihabuddin Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, better known as Ibn Hajar due to the fame of his forefathers, al-Asqalani due to his family origin , was a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of the Sunni world in the field of Hadith...
obliged rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
upon the people if the caliph began to act with no regard for Islamic law. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said that to ignore such a situation is haraam
Haraam
Haraam is an Arabic term meaning "forbidden", or "sacred". In Islam it is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the word of Allah in the Qur'an or the Hadith Qudsi. Haraam is the highest status of prohibition given to anything that would result in sin when a Muslim commits it...
, and those who cannot revolt inside the caliphate should launch a struggle from outside. Al-Asqalani used two ayah
Ayah
Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...
s from the Qur'an to justify this:
Islamic lawyers commented that when the rulers refuse to step down via successful impeachment through the Majlis, becoming dictators through the support of a corrupt army, if the majority agree they have the option to launch a revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
against them. Many noted that this option is only exercised after factoring in the potential cost of life.
Rule of Law
The following hadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
establishes the principle of rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
in relation to nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
and accountability
Various Islamic lawyers do however place multiple conditions, and stipulations e.g. the poor cannot be penalised for stealing out of poverty, before executing such a law, making it very difficult to reach such a stage. It is well known during a time of drought in the Rashidun caliphate
Rashidun Empire
The Rashidun Caliphate , comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded after Muhammad's death in 632, Year 10 A.H.. At its height, the Caliphate extended from the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia...
period, capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
s were suspended until the effects of the drought passed.
Islamic jurists
Ulema
Ulama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
later formulated the concept of the rule of law, the equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land, where no person is above the law and where official
Official
An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
s and private citizens are under a duty
Duty
Duty is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition...
to obey the same law. A Qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
(Islamic judge) was also not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, colour
Human skin color
Human skin color is primarily due to the presence of melanin in the skin. Skin color ranges from almost black to white with a pinkish tinge due to blood vessels underneath. Variation in natural skin color is mainly due to genetics, although the evolutionary causes are not completely certain...
, kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
or prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
. There were also a number of cases where Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
s had to appear before judges as they prepared to take their verdict.
According to Noah Feldman, a law professor at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, the legal scholars and jurists who once upheld the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
were replaced by a law governed by the state due to the codification of Sharia by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the early 19th century:
Economy
During the Rashidun Caliphate there was an economical boom in the lives of the ordinary people due to the revolutionary economic policies developed by Caliph UmarUmar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
and his successor Caliph Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
. At first it was Umar who introduced these reforms on strong bases, his successor Uthman who himself was an intelligent businessman, had further reformed it. During Uthman's reign the people of the empire enjoyed a prosperous life.
Bait-ul-Maal
Bait-ul-Maal, (literally, The house of money) was the department that dealt with the revenues and all other economical matters of the state. In the time of MuhammadMuhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
there was no permanent Bait-ul-Mal or public treasury. Whatever revenues or other amounts were received were distributed immediately. There were no salaries to be paid, and there was no state expenditure. Hence the need for the treasury at public level was not felt.
In the time of Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
as well there was not treasury. Abu Bakr earmarked a house where all money was kept on receipt. As all money was distributed immediately the treasury generally remained locked up. At the time of the death of Abu Bakr there was only one dirham
Dirham
Dirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
in the public treasury.
Establishment of Bait-ul-Maal
In the time of UmarUmar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
things changed. With the extension in conquests money came in larger quantities, Umar also allowed salaries to men fighting in the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
. Abu Huraira who was the Governor of Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
sent a revenue of five hundred thousand dirham
Dirham
Dirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s. Umar summoned a meeting of his Consultative Assembly and sought the opinion of the Companions about the disposal of the money. Uthman ibn Affan advised that the amount should be kept for future needs. Walid bin Hisham suggested that like the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s separate departments of Treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
and Accounts should be set up.
After consulting the Companions Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
decided to establish the Central Treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
at Madinah. Abdullah bin Arqam was appointed as the Treasury Officer. He was assisted by Abdur Rahman bin Awf and Muiqib. A separate Accounts Department was also set up and it was required to maintain record of all that was spent.
Later provincial treasuries were set up in the provinces. After meeting the local expenditure the provincial treasuries were required to remit the surplus amount to the central treasury at Madinah. According to Yaqubi the salaries and stipends charged to the central treasury amounted to over 30 million dirham
Dirham
Dirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s.
In most of the historical accounts it states that among the Rashidun
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
s Uthman ibn Affan was first to struck the coins, some accounts however states that Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
was first to do so. When Persia was conquered three types of coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s were current in the conquered territories, namely Baghli of 8 dang; Tabari of 4 dang; and Maghribi of 3 dang. Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
( according to some accounts Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
) made an innovation and struck an Islamic dirham of 6 dang.
The concepts of welfare and pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
were introduced in early Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
as forms of Zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
(charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam
Five Pillars of Islam
The Pillars of Islam are basic concepts and duties for accepting the religion for the Muslims.The Shi'i and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shi'a do not refer to them by the same name .-Pillars of Shia:According to Shia Islam, the...
, since the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
in the 7th century. The tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es (including Zakat and Jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
) collected in the treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
of an Islamic government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
were used to provide income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
for the needy
Needy
Needy may refer to:* Poverty* Codependent, a tendency to behave in overly passive or excessively caretaking ways that negatively impact one's relationships and quality of life...
, including the poor
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, elderly
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
, orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
s, widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
s, and the disabled
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
(Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster
Disaster
A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard that has come to fruition, resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment...
or famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
occurred. The Caliphate was thus one of the earliest welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
s.
Economic resources of the State
The economic resources of the State were:- Zakat
- Ushr
- Jazya
- Fay
- Khums
- Kharaj
- Zakat
Zakāt is the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic concept of luxury tax. It was taken from the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s in the amount of 2.5% of their dormant wealth (over a certain amount unused for a year) for use in only specified categories. Only persons whose annual wealth exceeded a minimum level (nisab
Nisab
In Sharia niṣāb is the amount, which savings or capital or product must exceed in order for the Muslim owner to be obliged to give zakat. Several hadith have formulas for calculating niṣāb. One of the most well known states that No Zakāt is due on wealth until one year passes...
) were collected from. The Nisab does not include primary residence, primary transportation, moderate amount of woven jewelry, etc. Zakāt is one of the Five Pillars of Islam
Five Pillars of Islam
The Pillars of Islam are basic concepts and duties for accepting the religion for the Muslims.The Shi'i and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shi'a do not refer to them by the same name .-Pillars of Shia:According to Shia Islam, the...
and it is obligation on all Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s who qualify as wealthy enough.
- Jizya
jizya or jizyah ' onMouseout='HidePop("39493")' href="/topics/Ottoman_Turkish_language">Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish language
The Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
: cizye). It was a per capita
Per capita
Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...
tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
imposed on able bodied non-Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
men of military age since non-Muslims did not have to pay Zakat. The tax was not supposed to be levied on slaves, women, children, monks, the old, the sick, hermits and the poor,. It is important to note that not only were some non-Muslims exempt (such as sick, old), they were also given stipends by the state when they were in need.
- Fay
Fay was the income from State land, whether an agricultural land or a meadow, or a land with any natural mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
reserves.
- Khums
Ghanimah or Khums
Khums
Khums is the Arabic word for One Fifth . According to Shia Islamic legal terminology, it means "one-fifth of certain items which a person acquires as wealth, and which must be paid as an Islamic tax"....
was the booty captured on the occasion of war with the enemy. Four-fifth of the booty was distributed among the soldiers taking part in the war while one-fifth was credited to the State fund.
- Kharaj
kharaj was a tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
on agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
land.
Initially, after the first Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
in the 7th century, kharaj usually denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the conquered provinces and collected by the officials of the former Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and Sassanid empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
or, more broadly, any kind of tax levied by Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
conquerors on their non-Muslim subjects, dhimmi
Dhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
s. At that time, kharaj was synonymous with jizyah, which later emerged as a poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
paid by dhimmis. Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s landowners, on the other hand, paid only ushr, a religious tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
, which carried a much lower rate of taxation.
- Ushr
Ushr was a reciprocal ten per cent levy on agricultural land as well as merchandise imported from states that taxed the Muslims on their products. Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
was the first Muslim ruler to levy Ushr. Ushr as the name implies was an import duty levied at ten per cent on the value of goods imported.
When the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
traders went to foreign lands for the purposes of trade they had to pay a ten per cent tax to the foreign states. Ushr was levied on reciprocal basis on the goods of the traders of other countries who chose to trade in the Muslim dominions.
Umar issued instructions that Ushr should be levied in such a way so as to avoid hardship, that it will not effect the trade activities in the Islamic empire. The tax was levied on merchandise meant for sale. Goods imported for consumption or personal use but not for sale were not taxed. The merchandise valued at two hundred dirhams or less was not taxed. When the citizens of the State imported goods for the purposes of trade, they had to pay the customs duty or import tax at lower rates. In the case of the Dhimmis the rate was five per cent and in the case of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s 2.5 per cent. In the case of the Muslims the rate was the same as that of Zakat
Zakat
Zakāt , one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the giving of a fixed portion of one's wealth to charity, generally to the poor and needy.-History:Zakat, a practice initiated by Muhammed himself, has played an important role throughout Islamic history...
. The levy was thus regarded as a part of Zakat and was not considered a separate tax.
Beginning of Allowance
After the Battle of YarmoukBattle of Yarmouk
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...
and Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was fought in 636; it was the decisive engagement between the Arab muslim army and the Sassanid Persian army during the first period of Muslim expansion. It resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia, and was key to the conquest of Iraq...
the Muslims won heavy spoils. The coffers at Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
became full to the brim and the problem before Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
was as to what should be done with this money. Some one suggested that money should be kept in the treasury for the purposes of public expenditure only. This view was not acceptable to the general body of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. Consensus was reached on the point that whatever was received during a year should be distributed.
The next question that arose for consideration was as to what system should be adopted for distribution. One suggestion was that it should be distributed on ad hoc basis and whatever was received should be equally distributed. Against this view it was felt that as the spoils were considerable that would make the people very rich. It was therefore decided that instead of ad hoc division the amount of the allowance to the stipend should be determined before hand and this allowance should be paid to the person concerned regardless of the amount of the spoils. This was agreed to.
About the fixation of the allowance
Allowance (money)
An allowance is an amount of money set aside for a designated purpose.Allowing another person to have some money is often referred to as an allowance.-Construction contracting:...
there were two opinions. There were some who held that the amount of the allowance for all Muslims should be the same. Umar did not agree with this view. He held that the allowance should be graded according to one's merit with reference to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
Then the question arose as to what basis should be used for placing some above others. Suggested that a start should be made with the Caliph and he should get the highest allowance. Umar rejected the proposal and decided to start with the clan of the Muhammad.
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
set up a Committee
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
to compile a list of persons in nearness to Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. The Committee produced the list clan wise. Bani Hashim appeared as the first clan. Then the clan of Abu Bakr was put and in the third place the clan of Umar was put. Umar accepted the first two placements but delegated his clan lower down in the scale with reference to nearness in relationship to Muhammad.
In the final scale of allowance that was approved by Umar the main provisions were:
- The widows of Mohammad received 12,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each; - `Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib`Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib was a paternal uncle and Sahabi of Muhammad, just a few years older than his nephew. A wealthy merchant, during the early years of Islam he protected Muhammad while he was in Mecca, but only became a convert after the Battle of Badr in 624 CE...
, the uncle of the Mohammad received an annual allowance of 7,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s; - The grandsons of the MuhammadMuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, Hasan ibn AliHasan ibn AliAl-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib is an important figure in Islam, the son of Fatimah the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and of the fourth Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Hasan is a member of the Ahl al-Bayt and Ahl al-Kisa...
and Hussain ibn Ali got 5,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each; - The veterans of Battle of BadrBattle of BadrThe Battle of Badr , fought Saturday, March 13, 624 AD in the Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca...
got an allowance of 6,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each; - Those who had become MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s by the time of the Treaty of HudaybiyyahTreaty of HudaybiyyahThe Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is the treaty that took place between the state of Medina and the Quraishi tribe of Mecca in March 628CE .-Background:...
got 4,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each; - Those who became Muslims at the time of the Conquest of MeccaConquest of MeccaMecca was conquered by the Muslims in January 630 AD .-Background:In 628 the Meccan tribe of Quraysh and the Muslim community in Medina signed a 10 year truce called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah....
got 3,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each; - The veterans of the Apostasy warsRidda warsThe Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
got 3,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each. - The veterans of Battle of YarmoukBattle of YarmoukThe Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...
and Battle of al-QadisiyyahBattle of al-QadisiyyahThe Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was fought in 636; it was the decisive engagement between the Arab muslim army and the Sassanid Persian army during the first period of Muslim expansion. It resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia, and was key to the conquest of Iraq...
got 2,000 dirhamDirhamDirham or dirhem is a unit of currency in several Arab or Berber nations, and formerly the related unit of mass in the Ottoman Empire and Persian states...
s each.
In this award Umar's son Abdullah ibn Umar got an allowance of 3,000 dirhams. On the other hand Usama ibn Zaid got 4,000.
The ordinary Muslim citizens got the allowance between 2,500 - 2000. The regular annual allowance was given only to the urban population, because they formed the backbone of the state's economic resources . The Bedouin living in the desert, cut off from the states affairs having no contributions in the developments were given stipends often. On assuming office, Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Uthman ibn Affan increased these stipends by 25 per cent.
Evaluation
That was an economic measure which contributed to the prosperity of the people at lot. The citizens of the Islamic empire became increasingly prosperous as trade activities increased. In turn, they contributed to the department of bait al maal and more and more revenues were collected.Welfare works
The mosques were not mere places for offering prayers; these were community centers as well where the faithful gathered to discuss problems of social and cultural importance. During the caliphate of Umar as many as four thousand mosques were constructed extending from Persia in the east to Egypt in the west. The Masjid-e-Nabawi and al-Masjid al-Haram were enlarged first during the reign of Umar and then during the reign of Uthman ibn Affan who not only extended to many thousand square meters but also beautified them on a large scale.During the caliphate of Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
many new cities were founded. These included Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
, Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, and Fustat. These cities were laid in according with the principles of town planning. All streets in these cities led to the Friday mosque
Friday Mosque
Friday Mosque is the English translation of the Arabic term masjid al-jumʿa or Jama Masjid . This term is applied as a proper name to many mosques worldwide...
which was sited in the center of the city. Market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
s were established at convenient points, which were under the control of market officers who was supposed to check the affairs of market and quality of goods. The cities were divided into quarters, and each quarter was reserved for particular tribes. During the reign of Caliph Umar, there were restrictions on the building of palatial buildings by the rich and elites, this was symbolic of the egalitarian society of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, where under all were equal, although the restrictions was latter revoked by Caliph Uthman, because of the financial prosperity of ordinary men, and the construction of double story building was permitted, as a result many palatial buildings were constructed though out the empire, Uthman himself built a huge palace for himself in Madinah which was famous by the name Al-Zawar, he constructed it from his personal resources.
Many buildings were built for administrative purposes. In the quarters called Dar-ul-Amarat Government offices and houses for the residence of officers were provided. Buildings known as Diwans were constructed for the keeping of official records. Buildings known as Bait-ul-Mal were constructed to house royal treasuries. For the lodging of persons suffering sentences as punishment, Jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
s were constructed for the first time in Muslim history
Muslim history
Muslim history is the history of Muslim people. In the history of Islam the followers of the religion of Islam have impacted political history, economic history, and military history...
. In important cities Guest Houses were constructed to serve as rest houses for traders and merchants coming from far away places. Roads and bridges were constructed for public use. On the road from Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
, shelters, wells, and meal houses were constructed at every stage for the ease of the people who came for hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
.
Military cantonments were constructed at strategic points. Special stables were provided for cavalry. These stables could accommodate as many as 4,000 horses. Special pasture grounds were provided and maintained for Bait-ul-Mal animals.
Canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s were dug to irrigate fields as well as provide drinking water for the people. Abu Musa canal (after the name of governor of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
Abu-Musa al-Asha'ari
Abu-Musa al-Asha'ari
Abu-Musa Abd-Allah ibn Qays al-Ash'ari, better known as Abu Musa al-Ashari was a companion of the prophet Muhammad and important figure in early Islamic history...
) it was a nine mile (14 km) long, canal which brought water from the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
to Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
. Another canal known as Maqal canal was also dug from the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
. A canal known as the Amir al-Mu'minin canal ( after the title Amir al-Mu'minin that was assumed by Caliph Umar) was dug to join the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
. During the famine of 639 food grains were brought from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to Arabia through this canal from the sea which saved the lives of millions of inhabitants of Arabia. Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas canal (After the name of governor of Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas
Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas
Saad ibn Abī Waqqās was an early convert to Islam in 610-11 and one of the important companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Sa'd was the seventeenth person to embrace Islam at the age of seventeen...
) dug from the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
brought water to . 'Amr ibn al-'As
'Amr ibn al-'As
`Amr ibn al-`As was an Arab military commander who is most noted for leading the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640. A contemporary of Muhammad, and one of the Sahaba , who rose quickly through the Muslim hierarchy following his conversion to Islam in the year 8 AH...
the Governor of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, during the reign of Caliph Umar, even proposed the digging of a canal to join the Mediterranean to Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
. The proposal, however, did not materialize due to unknown reasons, and it was 1200 years later that such a canal was dug in the shape of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
. Shuaibia was the port for Makkah. It was inconvenient. Caliph Uthman selected Jeddah
Jeddah
Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...
as the site of the new seaport, and a new port was built there. Uthman also reformed the department of Police in cities.
Army
The Rashidun Army was the primary military body of the IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic armed forces of the 7th century
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
. The Rashidun Army maintained a very high level of discipline, strategic prowess, organization along with motivation and self initiative of the officer corps. For much of its history this army was one of the most powerful and effective military forces in all of the region. At the height of the Rashidun Caliphate
Rashidun
The Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
the maximum size of the army was around 100,000 troops. The Rashidun army was divided into the two basic categories of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
and light cavalry
Light cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
. Reconstructing the military equipment of early Muslim armies is problematic. Compared with Roman armies or later medieval Muslim armies, the range of visual representation is very small, often imprecise and difficult to date. Physically very little material evidence has survived and again, much of it is difficult to date. The soldiers used to wear Iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
segmented helmet
Helmet
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
that comes from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and was of central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
n type. The standard form of protective body armor was chain mail
Chain Mail
"Chain Mail" is a single by Mancunian band James, released in March 1986 by Sire Records, the first after the band defected from Factory Records. The record was released in two different versions, as 7" single and 12" EP, with different artworks by John Carroll and, confusingly, under different...
. There are also references to the practice of wearing two coats of mail (dir’ayn), the one under the main one being shorter or even made of fabric or leather. Hauberk
Hauberk
A hauberk is a shirt of chainmail. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon generally refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably.- History :The word hauberk is derived from the...
s and large wooden or wickerwork shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
s were used as a protection in combat. The soldiers were usually equipped with Sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s that were hanged in baldric
Baldric
A baldric is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon or other implement such as a bugle or drum...
. They also possessed spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
s and dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
s. Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
was the first Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
ruler to organize the army as a State Department. This reform was introduced in 637. A beginning was made with the Quraish and the Ansar
Ansar (Islam)
Ansar is an Islamic term that literally means "helpers" and denotes the Medinan citizens that helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun on the arrival to the city after the migration to Medina...
and the system was gradually extended to the whole of Arabia and to Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s of conquered lands. The basic strategy of early Muslim armies sent out to conquer foreign lands was to exploit every possible weakness of the enemy army in order to achieve victory. Their key strength was mobility. The cavalry had both horses and camels. The camels were used as both transport and food for long marches through the desert (Khalid bin Walid’s extraordinary march from the Persian border to Damascus utilized camels as both food and transport). The cavalry was the army’s main striking force and also served as a strategic mobile reserve. The common tactic used was to use the infantry and archers to engage and maintain contact with the enemy forces while the cavalry was held back till the enemy was fully engaged. Once fully engaged the enemy reserves were absorbed by the infantry and archers the Muslim cavalry was used as pincers (like modern tank and mechanized divisions) to attack the enemy from the sides or to attack enemy base camps. The Rashidun army
Rashidun army
The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
was quality-wise and strength-wise bellow standard versus the Sassanid Persian army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
and the Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
. Khalid ibn Walid was the first general of the Rashidun Caliphate to conquer foreign lands and to trigger the whole scale deposition of the two most powerful empires. During his campaign against the Sassanid Persian Empire(Iraq 633 - 634) and the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(Syria 634 - 638) Khalid developed brilliant tactics, that he used effectively against both the Sassanid army
Sassanid army
The birth of the Sassanid army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I , the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military by forming a standing army which was under his personal command and whose...
and the Byzantine army
Byzantine army
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization...
. The Caliph Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
's way was to give his generals their mission, the geographical area in which that mission would be carried out, and the resources that, could be made available for that purpose. He would then leave it to his generals to accomplish their mission in whatever manner they chose. On the other hand Caliph Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
in the latter part of his Caliphate use to direct his generals as to where they would stay and when to move to the next target and who will be commanding the left and right wing of the army in the particular battle. This made the phase of conquest comparatively slower but provided well organized campaigns. Caliph Uthman
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
used the same method as Abu Bakr: he would give missions to his generals and then leave it to them how they should accomplish it. Caliph Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
also followed the same method.
Religion
The state religion was IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. The non-Muslim people were nominally allowed to practice whichever religion they wanted to follow. The Sharia Law
Islamic law
Islamic law can refer to:*Sharia: The code of conduct enjoined upon Muslims in the Quran*Fiqh: Muslim jurisprudence...
was exercised by the state, and nominally extended only to Muslims, but in reality had jurisdiction over non-Muslims who had commit offenses against the Muslim community.
Christians and Jews were - and are - considered People of the Book
People of the Book
People of the Book is a term used to designate non-Muslim adherents to faiths which have a revealed scripture called, in Arabic, Al-Kitab . The three types of adherents to faiths that the Qur'an mentions as people of the book are the Jews, Sabians and Christians.In Islam, the Muslim scripture, the...
(Arabic: أهل الكتاب 'Ahl al-Kitāb), an Islamic term and legal status afforded to adherents of the other Abrahamic religions.
See also
- Rashidun CaliphsRashidunThe Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
- Rashidun armyRashidun armyThe Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Caliphate's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy...
- Abu BakrAbu BakrAbu Bakr was a senior companion and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He ruled over the Rashidun Caliphate from 632-634 CE when he became the first Muslim Caliph following Muhammad's death...
- UmarUmar`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
- UthmanUthmanUthman ibn Affan was one of the companions of Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He played a major role in early Islamic history as the third Sunni Rashidun or Rightly Guided Caliph....
- AliAli' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
- Ridda warsRidda warsThe Ridda wars , also known as the Wars of Apostasy, were a series of military campaigns against the rebellion of several Arabian tribes launched by the Caliph Abu Bakr during 632 and 633 AD, after prophet Muhammad died....
- First FitnaFirst FitnaThe First Islamic Civil War , also called the First Fitna , was the first major civil war within the Islamic Caliphate. It arose as a struggle over who had the legitimate right to become the ruling Caliph...
- The Four CompanionsThe Four CompanionsThe Four Companions, also called the Four Pillars of the Sahaba is a Shi'a term that refers to the four Sahaba Shi'a believe stayed most loyal to ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib after the death of Muḥammad:*Miqdadu bni Aswādi l-Kindiyy*Abū Dharri l-Ghifāriyy...
- The Ten Promised Paradise