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The first four caliphs are particularly significant to modern intra-Islamic debates: for Sunni Muslims, they are models of righteous rule; for Shia Muslims, the first three of the four were usurpers. Accepted traditions of both Sunni and Shia Muslims detail disagreements and tensions between the four rightly guided caliphs.
The caliphate ended in a five-year period of internal strife. The title Rashidun comes from the belief in Sunni Islam that the caliphs were 'rightly guided' (the meaning of al-Rāshidūn; الراشدون), and therefore constituted a religious model to be followed and emulated. [3]
The first caliphate, the Rashidun Caliphate, was ruled by the four Rashidun caliphs (Arabic: الخلفاء الراشدون, lit. ' Rightly Guided Caliphs ' ), Abu Bakr , Umar , Uthman and Ali , who are considered by Sunni Muslims to have been the most virtuous and pure caliphs.
A caliphate (Arabic: خِلَافَةْ, romanized: khilāfah) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph [1] [2] [3] (/ ˈ k æ l ɪ f, ˈ k eɪ-/; خَلِيفَةْ khalīfa [xæ'liːfæh], pronunciation ⓘ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the entire Muslim ...
The throne then passed to al-Mansur's chosen successor, his son al-Mahdi. According to Marozzi, "[it] was, by the standards of the future, blood-soaked successions of the Abbasid caliphate, a model of order and decorum." [6] Al-Mahdi, whose nickname means "Rightly-guided" or "Redeemer", was proclaimed caliph when his father was on his deathbed.
They say that the first four caliphs, or rulers of Islam, whom they call the Four Rightly-guided Caliphs, were chosen by shura. (See Succession to Muhammad, Umar ibn al-Khattab, The election of Uthman, and Ali Ibn Abi Talib.)
Harūrīs were an early Muslim sect from the period of the Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs (632–661 CE), named for their first leader, Habīb ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī. Azariqa, Najdat, and Adjarites were minor sub-sects.
Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs (Abu Bakr, `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abu Talib) as "al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs". After the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary right and the caliph's role was limited to being a political symbol of Muslim strength and unity.