The Rashidun Caliphate (8 June 632-28 July 661) was the first Islamic state, founded by Abu Bakr after the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632. The empire was the largest land empire in history up to that point, with 3,629,360 square miles of territory. The country's capital was Medina until 656, when it was moved to the Iraqi city of Kufa. Its currency was the dinar, and the languages were Arabic, Aramaic/Syriac, Armenian, Berber, Coptic, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Middle Persian, and Kurdish.
History[]
The Rashidun Caliphate in 654
The Rashidun Caliphate, literally meaning rightly guided caliphate in Arabic, was the first Islamic caliphate. Following the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, he chose Abu Bakr as his successor as the representative of Allah on Earth. Abu Bakr created the title of Caliph, meaning the leader of all Islam on Earth, and ruled over all of Muhammad's lands in present-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Abu Bakr's death in 634 left Umar ibn al-Khattab as the second Caliph, and under Umar, the Muslims united all of the Arab tribes. From 634 to 644, under Umar's reign, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine Empire at the 636 Battle of Yarmuk, took Jerusalem in 638, conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt by 641, and also defeated the Sassanid Empire. The Rashiduns were too small in size to conquer the whole Sassanid Empire, but with several converts, they were able to expand their support base. The region of Iran was converted to Islam, and the Rashidun Caliphate later went on to take over eastern Uzbekistan, western Afghanistan, and southwestern Pakistan from the Sassanids and their vassal states. They also conquered southeastern Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the Middle East from the Byzantine Empire, and also annexed Egypt, northern Libya, and southeastern Tunisia in North Africa from the Byzantines.
The Rashidun Caliphate was torn apart in the First Fitna, in which Abu Bakr's daughter and Muhammad's former child wife Aisha and her supporter Muawiya I rebelled from 656 to 661 and assassinated Caliph Ali ibn Ali Talib, before declaring the Umayyad Caliphate.
