Khulafāʾ al-Rāshidūn

ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Quḥāfah, known as Abū Bakr, was the closest friend of the Prophet ﷺ, the first free man to accept Islam, and his companion in the Cave of Thawr during the Hijrah. He earned the title aṣ-Ṣiddīq ("the ever-truthful") for instantly affirming the Israʾ and Miʿraj. When the Prophet ﷺ passed away he steadied the shaken community with his famous words: "Whoever worshipped Muḥammad, Muḥammad has died; whoever worshipped Allah, Allah is Living and never dies." As Caliph he united the Arabs after the apostasy (Riddah) wars, dispatched the armies that opened the way into Iraq and Syria, and — on the counsel of ʿUmar and Zayd ibn Thābit — ordered the first collection of the Qurʾān into a single muṣḥaf. He ruled with humility, taking only a modest wage, and died in Madīnah after a brief illness, asking to be buried beside the Prophet ﷺ.

ʿUmar, called al-Fārūq ("the one who distinguishes truth from falsehood"), embraced Islam in its early Makkan years and his conversion brought open strength to the believers. As the second Caliph he presided over the greatest expansion of the early Islamic state — the openings of Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Persia — yet is remembered above all for his justice and administration: he established the Hijrī calendar, the dīwān (state registry and stipends), organised the judiciary and provinces, founded garrison-cities, and walked the streets of Madīnah at night caring for the poor. He famously said he feared he would be questioned if a mule stumbled in Iraq for lack of a levelled road. He was martyred while leading the Fajr prayer, stabbed by a Persian captive, and was buried beside the Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr ؓ.

ʿUthmān, of the noble Banū Umayyah, was an early believer renowned for his modesty, generosity and recitation of the Qurʾān through the night. He was called Dhū'n-Nūrayn ("possessor of the two lights") because he married two daughters of the Prophet ﷺ in succession, Ruqayyah then Umm Kulthūm. His wealth served Islam: he bought the Well of Rūmah to give the Muslims free water, and equipped the difficult army of Tabūk (Jaysh al-ʿUsrah). As Caliph he continued the conquests and, most enduringly, gathered the ummah upon a single authoritative text of the Qurʾān — the ʿUthmānī muṣḥaf that Muslims recite to this day. His later years saw unrest stirred by agitators; he was besieged in his house and martyred while reciting the Qurʾān, refusing to shed Muslim blood in his own defence — a trial the Sunnis remember with grief and restraint.

ʿAlī, cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, raised in his household, was the first child to accept Islam and slept in the Prophet's bed on the night of the Hijrah. He married the Prophet's daughter Fāṭimah ؓ and was father of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn. A peerless warrior — the standard-bearer at Khaybar — he was also among the most learned of the Companions in Qurʾān, fiqh and judgement, so that ʿUmar would seek his counsel. As the fourth Caliph he inherited the unrest that followed ʿUthmān's martyrdom, and his caliphate was burdened by the civil strife (fitna) at the Camel and Ṣiffīn, and the emergence of the Khawārij, whom he confronted. Ahl as-Sunnah hold that ʿAlī was upon the truth in these disputes while affirming the sincerity of the other Companions involved; the matter is left to Allah. He was martyred in Kūfah by a Khārijī while going to the Fajr prayer.

After the martyrdom of ʿAlī ؓ, the people of Iraq pledged allegiance to his son al-Ḥasan ؓ, the beloved grandson of the Prophet ﷺ. Faced with the prospect of renewed bloodshed between Muslims, al-Ḥasan chose peace over power: in the Year of Unity (ʿĀm al-Jamāʿah, 41 AH) he relinquished the caliphate to Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān ؓ to spare Muslim blood and reunite the ummah. His brief caliphate completes the thirty years of prophetic-style rule of which the Prophet ﷺ foretold, "The caliphate after me will last thirty years; then there will be kingship." Ahl as-Sunnah honour both al-Ḥasan and Muʿāwiyah ؓ for this reconciliation, seeing in it a fulfilment of prophecy and a model of placing the unity of the believers above worldly rule.