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Tomb of Abu Bakr
Life: 573 - 634
Reign: 632 - 634
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| Abu
Bakr |
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- Elected as Caliph
- Crushed the Arab rebellion, known as the Ridda Wars
- Launched campaign against the Persian (Sassanid) Empire
- Launched campaign against the Byzantine (Roman Empire)
- Then the first Caliph Abu Bakr entrusted the
collection of the whole Qur'an in one volume to the Prophet's
scribe, Zaid ibn Thabit. This volume was with Abu Bakr till his
death. Then it was with the second Caliph Umar and after him it came
to Hafsa, the Prophet's wife. It was from this original copy that
the third Caliph Uthman prepared several other copies and sent them
to different Muslim territories. (from pamphlet "What Do They Say
About the Qur'an"
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- Wiki
- Both Abu Bakr and Uthman ibn Affan had relinquished drinking wine even in
the time before Islam
- He was the only Caliph in the history of Islam who refunded to the state
treasury at the time of his death the entire amount of the allowance that he had drawn
during the period of his caliphate
- Died from illness
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Life: 581 - 644
Reign: 634 - 644 |
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| Umar |
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- Took Mesopotamia
- Completed the dismantling of the Persian (Sassanid) Empire
- Took Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa, and Armenia from the Byzantine
(Roman Empire)
- Burned the Library of Alexandria
- Decided the lands in conquered territories were not to be distributed
among the combatants, but were to remain the property of the previous owners.
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- Wiki
- Built the al-Aqsa Mosque on site of the Second Jewish Temple
- Assassinated by Persian soldier, with a dagger
- Umar, on his death bed formed a committee of six people to choose the next
Caliph from amongst themselves.
- When the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in the
year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious
communities in the city. He insisted on entering entering the city
with only a small number of his companions. Proclaiming to the
inhabitants that their lives and property were safe, and that their
places of worship would never be taken from them, he asked the
Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany him on a visit to all
the holy places. The Patriarch invited him to pray in the Church of
the Sepulchre,[ but he preferred to pray outside its gates, saying
that if he accepted, later generations of Muslims might use his
action as an excuse to turn it into a mosque. There is a mosque
built on the spot where Omar did pray, called today the Mosque of
Omar.
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One of the oldest Qur'ans, from the days of Uthman
Life: 579 - 656
Reign: 644 - 656
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| Uthman |
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- Elected Caliph, following assassination of Umar
- Abdur Rahman bin Awf
consulted many women before he recommended Uthman Ibn Affan to be
the Caliph.
- Both Abu Bakr and Uthman ibn Affan had relinquished drinking wine even in
the time before Islam
- Established a Navy for the Caliphate
- Sent the first envoy to China in 650, launching Islam in China
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- Wiki
- Upheld Umar's directive to let the previous owners of conquered lands keep
possession of their land
- Permitted loans from the public treasury
- Construction of about 5,000 mosques
- Compiled the Qur'an in its written form
- Rebellion ensued, in which Uthman was bludgeoned to death
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Painting of Ali
Life: 598 - 661
Reign: 656 - 661
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| Ali
(first cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet) |
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- Elected Caliph after assassination of Uthman
- A'isha, Talhah, Al-Zubayr and Umayyad especially Muawiyah I wanted to take
revenge for Uthman's death and punish the rioters who had killed him. They attacked Ali
for not punishing the rebels and murderers of Uthman.
- On the 19th of Ramadan, while Ali was praying in the mosque of Kufa,
Abd-al-Rahman ibn Muljam, a Kharijite, assassinated him with a stroke of his poison-coated
sword. Ali, wounded by the poisonous sword, lived for two days before dying in Kufa on the
21st of Ramadan in 661.
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