The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns undertaken by the Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr against rebel Arabian tribes from 632 to 633 AD. The tribes - which had once sworn fealty to Muhammad - refused to swear allegiance to his successor Abu Bakr and instead sided with the false prophets Tulayha, Musaylima, and Sajah, who rebelled against the new Rashidun Caliphate. Ultimately, the Rashiduns suppressed the Arab rebellions, and the stabilized caliphate would proceed to embark on decades of limitless expansion out of the Arabian Peninsula.
Background[]
The Islamic prophet Muhammad succeeded in subjugating the various pagan, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula before his death in 632 AD, upon which the new leader of the Islamic community, Abu Bakr, assumed the title of "Caliph" and organized Muhammad's conquests into the new Rashidun Caliphate. On the first day of his caliphate in June 632, Abu Bakr sent a portion of his army under Usama ibn Zayd to raid the Ghassanids and check if the Byzantine frontier was well-defended.
War[]
The death of Muhammad and the departure of his army made a large number of conquered Arab territories think that the caliphate was fragile, causing all of the peninsula but Hejaz to rise in rebellion, as Usama had forewarned Abu Bakr before his departure. Most of these tribes apostatized, as they followed self-declared prophets such as Tulayha, Musaylima, and Sajah. The situation was most dire around Medina, as the rebels threatened the second-most important city of the new realm in late July, but Abu Bakr defeated the rebels in early August, and Usama's army returned from its victory against the Ghassanids at Mu'tah. Abu Bakr divided his army into smaller groups and sent them to attack his enemies around the peninsula; by March of 633, the Caliph's rule over the entire region was restored. The generals and troops gained invaluable experience in the Ridda Wars, and they would make use of it as the Rashidun Caliphate began to expand into the Persian and Byzantine empires.