PersonAD 573 – AD 634
Abu Bakr
First caliph (632–634), Muhammad’s close companion and father-in-law, chosen to lead the community after Muhammad’s death (the Shia hold that Ali should have succeeded); he reunited Arabia
Where they went
2 related events
- 1
After a long struggle, Muhammad and the Muslims of Medina entered Mecca with little resistance and cleared the idols from the Kaaba, which became the sanctuary of Islam.
- 2
After Muhammad’s death four caliphs, from Abu Bakr to Ali, led the Muslim world. In this period the Arabs conquered Byzantine Syria and Egypt and Sasanian Persia.
People who appear alongside
- UmarAD 584 – AD 644
Second caliph (634–644), whose armies conquered Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Persia, and who fixed the Islamic calendar from the year of the Hijra
- AliAD 600 – AD 661
Fourth caliph (656–661), Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, whom the Shia revere — with his descendants — as the only rightful successors (imams); assassinated at Kufa
- MuhammadAD 570 – AD 632
Prophet of Islam, who began preaching in Mecca around 610 after what he proclaimed were revelations from the one God, Allah; moving to Medina, he built a community of believers and united Arabia
- UthmanAD 576 – AD 656
Third caliph (644–656), of the Umayyad clan, who had the standard text of the Qur’an compiled; resented for favouring his kin, he was killed by rebels in Medina
- Muawiya IAD 602 – AD 680
Founder of the Umayyad caliphate (661–680); as governor of Syria he opposed Ali, made Damascus his capital and named his son as heir, making the caliphate hereditary
Themes this person appears in
- The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055
From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea