Rashidun Caliphate

first caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (632–661)

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The Rashidun Caliphate was the first Islamic state, ruled by Muhammad's successors from 632 to 661 CE, and it rapidly expanded Islamic territory across the Middle East and North Africa. It matters historically because it established the early political and religious foundations of Islam and set patterns for Islamic governance that influenced Muslim societies for centuries afterward.

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The Rashidun Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الرّاشدة, romanized: al-Khilāfat ar-Rāshidah) was the early Islamic polity led by the first four successive caliphs (lit. "successors"): Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, collectively known as the Rashidun, or "Rightly Guided" caliphs. These early caliphs led the Muslim community (Ummah) from the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 CE to the establishment of the succeeding Umayyad Caliphate in 661 CE.

The title Rashidun stems from the doctrine in Sunni Islam that the caliphs were "rightly guided". Endowed with superior piety and wisdom, their era is regarded in Sunni Islam as a "golden age", second only to the lifetime of Muhammad in sanctity and in providing moral and religious guidance. Sunni Muslims consider the "rightly guided" reign of the first four caliphs as a model to be followed and emulated from a religious point of view. The term Rashidun is not used by Shia Muslims, who make up 10–15% of the global Muslim population, as they only consider Ali to have been a legitimate caliph and reject the first three caliphs as usurpers; while Ibadi Muslims only regard the first two caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, as rightly-guided caliphs.