Description

The Rashidun Caliphate is a title given for the reigns of the first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and controversially Hasan collectively — believed to represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the Muslim community and polity from the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. The reign of these four caliphs is considered in Sunni Islam to have been "rightly-guided", meaning that it constitutes a model to be followed and emulated from a religious point of view. This term is not used by Shia Muslims, who reject the rule of the first three caliphs as illegitimate.