Rather, their election and leadership were based upon merit.

As a caliph, Abu Bakr was not a monarch and never claimed such a title nor did any of his three successors. First he would have to subdue the Arabian tribes which had claimed that although they pledged allegiance to Muhammad and accepted Islam, they owed nothing to Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr thus became the first KhalД«faб№«u RasЕ«li l-LДЃh ( Ш®ЩЋЩЂЩ„ЩђЩЂЩЉЩ’ЩЂЩЃЩЋЩЂШ©ЩЏ Ш±ЩЋШіЩЏЩЂЩ€Щ’Щ„Щђ Ш§Щ„Щ„Щ‡Щђ, 'Successor of the Messenger of God'), or Caliph, and embarked on campaigns to propagate Islam. Umar and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah pledged their loyalty to Abu Bakr, with the Ansar and the Quraysh soon following suit. Rashidun Caliphate at greatest extent ( orthographic projection)ДЄfter Muhammad's death in 632 CE, his Medinan companions debated which of them should succeed him in running the affairs of the Muslims while Muhammad's household was busy with his burial.

2.7.2.5 Conquest of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea.

2.7.2.4.1 Campaign against Nubia (Sudan).

2.7.2 Wars against the Byzantine Empire.

The war led to the end of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 under Muawiyah. Additionally, a third faction in the war believed both Ali and Muawiyah should be deposed and a new caliph elected by shura this faction supported the governor of Egypt Amr ibn al-As. The civil war permanently consolidated the divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, with Shia Muslims believing Ali to be the first rightful caliph and Imam after Muhammad, favouring his bloodline connection to Muhammad. The war was primarily between those who believed Uthman was unlawfully killed, supporting his cousin and governor of the Levant Muawiyah, and those who believed his killing was deserved, supporting the caliph Ali. Uthman was assassinated by Egyptian rebels in 656 and succeeded by Ali, a member of Muhammad's Banu Hashim clan, who presided over the civil war known as the First Fitna (656вЂ“661). Under Uthman, the conquest of Armenia, Fars and Khorasan began. Umar was assassinated in 644 by a Persian slave and was succeeded by Uthman, a member of the Banu Umayya clan, who was elected by a six-person committee arranged by Umar. Abu Bakr was succeeded by Umar, his appointed successor from the Banu Adi clan, who continued the conquest of Persia, eventually leading to the fall of the Sasanian Empire in 651. Abu Bakr, a close companion of Muhammad from the Banu Taym clan, was elected the first Rashidun leader and began the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula. The caliphate arose out of the death of Muhammad in 632 CE and the subsequent debate over the succession to his leadership. The four Rashidun caliphs were chosen by a small electoral body consisting of prominent members of the Quraysh tribal confederation called shЕ«rДЃ ( Arabic: ШґЩЏЩЂЩ€Щ’Ш±ЩЋЩ‰вЂЋ, lit. By the 650s, in addition to the Arabian Peninsula, the caliphate had subjugated the Levant to the Transcaucasus in the north North Africa from Egypt to present-day Tunisia in the west and the Iranian Plateau to parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the east. The Rashidun Army numbered more than 100,000 men at its peak.

The Rashidun Caliphate is characterized by a twenty-five-year period of rapid military expansion followed by a five-year period of internal strife. This term is not used in Shia Islam, as Shia Muslims do not consider the rule of the first three caliphs legitimate.

These caliphs are collectively known in Sunni Islam as the Rashidun, or 'Rightly Guided' caliphs ( Ш§ЩЋЩ„Щ’Ш®ЩЏЩ„ЩЋЩЃЩЋШ§ШЎЩЏ Щ±Щ„Ш±ЩЋЩ‘Ш§ШґЩђШЇЩЏЩ€Щ†ЩЋ, al-KhulafДЃКѕ ar-RДЃЕЎidЕ«n). It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs (successors) of Muhammad after his death in 632 CE ( AH 11). The Rashidun Caliphate ( Arabic: Ш§ЩЋЩ„Щ’Ш®ЩђЩ„ЩЋШ§ЩЃЩЋШ©ЩЏ Щ±Щ„Ш±ЩЋЩ‘Ш§ШґЩђШЇЩЋШ©ЩЏвЂЋ, romanized: al-KhilДЃfah ar-RДЃЕЎidah) was the first of the four major caliphates established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

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