Rashidun, (Arabic: “Rightly Guided,” or “Perfect”), the first fourcaliphs of theIslamiccommunity, known in Muslim history as the orthodox or patriarchal caliphs:Abū Bakr (reigned 632–634),ʿUmar (reigned 634–644),ʿUthmān (reigned 644–656), andʿAlī (reigned 656–661).

The 29-year rule of the Rashidun wasIslam’s first experience without the leadership of the ProphetMuhammad. His example, however, in both private and public life, came to be regarded as the norm (Sunnah) for his successors, and a large and influential body ofanṣār (companions of the Prophet) kept close watch on the caliphs to ensure their strictadherence to divine revelation (theQurʾān) and the Sunnah. The Rashidun thus assumed all of Muhammad’s duties except the prophetic: asimams, they led the congregation in prayer at the mosque; askhaṭībs, they delivered the Friday sermons; and asumarāʾ al-muʾminīn (“commanders of the faithful”), they commanded the army.

Thecaliphate of the Rashidun, in which virtually all actions had religious import, began with the wars of theriddah (“apostasy”; 632–633), tribal uprisings in Arabia, and ended with the first Muslim civil war (fitnah; 656–661). It effected the expansion of the Islamic state beyond Arabia intoIraq,Syria, Palestine,Egypt,Iran, andArmenia and, with it, the development of an elite class of Arab soldiers. The Rashidun were also responsible for the adoption of anIslamic calendar, dating from Muhammad’s emigration (Hijrah) fromMecca toMedina (622), and the establishment of anauthoritative reading of theQurʾān, which strengthened the Muslim community and encouraged religious scholarship. It was also a controversy over ʿAlī’ssuccession that split Islam into two sects, theSunni (who consider themselves traditionalists) and theShiʿah (shīʿat ʿAlī, “party of ʿAlī”), which have survived to modern times.

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The religious and very traditionalist strictures on the Rashidun were somewhat relaxed as Muhammad’s contemporaries, especially theanṣār, began to die off and the conquered territories became too vast to rule along theocratic lines; thus, theUmayyads, who followed the Rashidun as caliphs, were able to secularize the operations of the state.