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Rightly Guided Caliphate (al-Khilafah al-Rashidah)

الخلافة الراشدة

11-40 AH / 632-661 CE

The thirty-year rule of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali after the Prophet ﷺ, regarded by Sunnis as the model Islamic government. It saw the Quran compiled, vast expansion, and finally civil war.

Biography

The Prophet ﷺ said 'Hold to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me' (Sunan Abi Dawud; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, graded authentic) and, in a narration of Safinah, that the caliphate would last thirty years and then become kingship (Sunan Abi Dawud; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, graded authentic by many). Sunni scholars count the thirty years as the four caliphs plus al-Hasan's months.

Abu Bakr (11-13 AH) secured Arabia in the Riddah wars and compiled the Quran; Umar (13-23 AH) expanded into Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Persia and built institutions; Uthman (23-35 AH) standardised the Quran and was killed by rebels; Ali (35-40 AH) faced the First Fitnah and the Khawarij. Shia Muslims hold that Ali was the designated successor from the outset; this node presents the Sunni historical sequence while noting that difference.

Sources & explanation

۞ Qur'an

24:55 3:159 42:38

Links open quran.com.

📜 Hadith verified on sunnah.com

  • Sunan Abi Dawud 4646 Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani)

    Safinah: 'The caliphate of prophethood will last thirty years; then Allah will give kingship to whom He wills.'

  • Sunan Abi Dawud 4607 Sahih (Al-Albani)

    'Hold to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly-guided caliphs; beware of newly invented matters.'

💬 Explanation Mirza view verified

Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's perspective

Methodological note (not a direct quote): Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's widely known approach is to build narratives primarily on the Quran and Sahih Hadith, to set aside Israiliyat (Judeo-Christian lore absorbed into later tafsir) and weak or fabricated narrations, and to avoid sectarian framing. Applied to this node: The four caliphs are presented in the Sunni order with respect for all, consistent with a non-sectarian reading based on Sahih hadith.

Narrow point verified from the auto-transcript of IGzUWj1OwDk: Mirza says Ali appointed no successor, just as the Prophet ﷺ did not, and al-Hasan was chosen after Ali's death; he rejects fitting Yazid into the 'twelve caliphs' hadith and cites the thirty-year caliphate. Nothing else in this node is marked verified.

Related videos Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza

Empires in their lifetime

  • Makuria c. 450 CE – c. 1490 CE
    The Baqt treaty followed the Rashidun-era campaigns of 642 and 652.
  • Rashidun Caliphate 632 CE – 661 CE
    Topic node for the same caliphate.

Further references

  • Sunan Abi Dawud (hadith of the rightly guided caliphs)
  • Jami' al-Tirmidhi (Safinah: caliphate thirty years)
  • Quran 24:55

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