THE FOUR WELL-GUIDED CALIPHS AFTER THE DEMISE OF PROPHET MUHAMMED (PBUH) BY BABA ALI MUSTAPHA

ABU BAKAR (11-13 A.H, 632-634 A.D)

                The task before Abu Bakar, the first caliph, was not an easy one, for there was too much to expect that the people would agree to become one nation in a short time. Many nations fall apart when a strong ruler or leader dies, and this was what happened in Arabia. A number of tribes shook off the overlordship of Medina and refused to pay the zakat to the new caliph, or to accept his orders. Some of them even denied Islam. This was a serious situation.

                Abu Bakar was a man who could make a quick decision. The rebels must be subdued. Fortunately, for Islam, he had a great general with him, the gifted Khalid Ibn Al-Walid, he sent him with a strong army against the worst rebels, Musailimah, who come to be called the (Kadh-dhab, the liar), because he claimed to be a prophet. He belonged to the tribe of Banu Hanifa and he had raised his banner of revolt in Yamamah, the central part of Arabia. Musailimah had a large following and had been joined by a woman leader, Sajah, who belonged to the neighboring tribe at Bani Tamin. These two now married and joined forces. But Khalid was a general whose like the world has seldom seem. He came upon the combined force of the two and defeated them at the battle of Arqabah. Moreover, he taught such a lesson to the rebels that many minor rebellions died dawn of themselves. Khalid put down one or two other risings, and soon all Arabia was united under the banner of the Caliph of Islam.

                Abu Bakar has reigned for two years only, but they had been vital years. He had done three great things, he had won back Arabia and reaffirmed the faith, he had launched the campaigns in Iraq and Syria and made the compilation of the Qur’an.

                The collection of the Qur’an in a volume was needed after the death of the Prophet. The time came when a great number of the reciters of the Qur’an had been slain in the battle of Yamama. Zaid Ibn Thabit was chosen for the task. The manuscripts of different chapters and verses were collected and arranged in one place. Such re-arrangement has not changed the arrangement done by the Prophet according to divine inspiration.

                The copy made from the transcripts was agreed by the reciters, the scribes and Abu Bakar. It remained in the possession of Abu Bakar and after his death in that of Umar.

UMAR IBN EL-KHATTAB (13-23 A.H, 634-644 AD)

                Umar was a man of great power, of iron will, of stern justice, of passionate loyalty, and one who had a remarkable gift for administration.

                Iraq and Syria were already campaigned in the time of Abu Bakar, who died before the task was completed. Umar took stock of the situation and gave order that the campaigns in Syria and Iraq be carried on. It was during his reign that the famous battle of Yarmuk against the Byzantines was fought and won. Damascus has fallen in 635 A.D.

                Umar gave orders that the property of the conquered people would be safe, and they would be left to follow their own religion. In the Qur’an, “there is no compulsion in religion”. (Sura 2:256).

                In the time of Umar also Persian were defeated in many battles; Madayan, the capital of Persia, was attacked and captured. The muslims entered the town of the mighty chosroes.

                It was not long before the Persians rallied and gave battle of Jalula but they were again defeated. There were other small battles but Persians again were defeated.

                Also, during the time of Umar, Palestine and Egypt were campaigned by the Muslims and opened to Islam. Umar gave many new things to the nascent Islamic state. He organized the public treasury, he settled pensions on the companions of the prophet and other noted Medinites, he made sure that the Arabs followed a straight forward code of manners and conduct, he was very democratic and tried to root out superstitions. The vast Muslim land were organized so capable that his name come to be held in the highest respect even in non-muslim countries.

                After nine years of reign, Umar was struck down in the mosque of the prophet by a freed slave who thought that the caliph did not give him a fair deal against his taskmaster. He was fatally wounded but even on his death bed he called a council of the six most prominent Medinites who asked them to elect somebody as his successor.

                Their choice fell on Usman Ibn Affan, the seventy year old companion of the prophet, who had the honour of being the prophet’s son in law twice. Umar died, and with his death began a train of events which ended in disaster a generation later.

USMAN IBN AFFAN (23-35 A.H, 644-656 A.D.)

                Usman was the third caliph. He came from the Umayyuah, his election showed that the Muslims made no distinction between near relations of the prophets and the relations of the faction which had opposed the prophet only twenty years before. Usman was a man of substance, having been successfully engaged in business most of his life. He was a generous, warm-hearted man, gentle in manner and very understanding a truly venerable person whom everybody respected. He began well. The conquest which started in the time of Abu Bakar and quickened in the years of Umar, continued for some years. Muslim armies conquered Tripolitania to the west of Egypt. The muslim engaged the Byzantine fleet near Cyprus and defeated it and Cyprus was captured. A few minor additions were made on the northern borders of Syria and Iraq and the north eastern flanks of Persia.

                When Usman removed Amr bin al-As from his post as the governor of Egypt and appointed his own foster brother instead, and also appointed Marwan bin el-hakam as his secretary, groups of opponents began to talk against the caliphs.

                Things became worse especially when Marwan ibn el-hakam started to issue order in the name of the caliph. The situation became so dangerous that a group of rioters broke into Usman’s house from the back. He was reading the Holy Qur’an that time, but they struck him down to death. Usman had already completed the compilation of the Qur’an, made official copies which were distributed throughout the muslim countries and suppressed the other copies which might have been cribbed individually. The official copies he ordered to be scribed were copied carefully from the original one compiled already by Abu Bakar.

ALI IBN TALIB (35-40 A.H, 656-661 A.D.)

                The murder of Usman shocked everyone, even those who were hostile to him. Things could not however, he left in the state of confusion or there might have been disorder in the muslim world. There was no difference of opinion on who was now to be the most suitable man in the caliphate to take up the burden of this large state. Ali, son of Abu Talib, was unanimously elected. Ali was a very forth right man who knew no political tricks. He considered the caliphate as a trust, he was not only responsible to God for his actions, he was also responsible for the entire muslim world. Ali viewed that there could be trouble from three sources:

(a)    The Umayyads, a prominent member of whose clan had been assassinated. Their leader was Muawiuyah, who had been governor of Syria and Palestine for over fifteen years.

(b)   The prominent Medinites such as Talha and Zubair, leaders of considerable reputation, wise and old men, who had protested loudly against the alleged favouritism of Usman.

(c)    The extremists, a body of Puritans who disliked political intrigues and wanted to live according to a literal interpretation of the word of God. 

                In fact, all the three factions became dangerous. Nobody was more unlucky than Ali, the great fighter, the wise counselor and the man of God, who had been so near to the prophet, there was nothing but war and disaster in the short period of his caliphate. The trouble started as a result of Ali’s decision to move his capital to a more central place, the Kufa. Although the decision was wise, its ultimate effects were very bad. When he moved to Kufa, the new Arab town in Iraq, he left the discontented elements behind him in Medina. Under his eyes they might have kept quite, in his absence their discontent grew. Ali’s next action aroused them further. He removed the unsuitable officials raised to high office by Usman. The prominent Medinites such as Talha and Zubair did not forgive Ali for the fact that he did not select them nor their partisants to any high office, so they decided to do something about it.

                They wondered if they could blame Usman’s murder on him although he had nothing to do with it. They persuaded Aisha,  the mother of the Muslims (widow of the prophet), to avenge the blood of Usman. They told her that Ali would never avenge Usman’s death and she must do something about it. She did not like the idea but felt it was her duty to do it.

BATTLE OF THE CAMEL

                The result was that Talha and Zubair assembled an army and taking Aisha with them, left for Kufa. Ali soon learnt of their intentions. He wanted no bloodshed between muslims, if Medinites wanted trouble, they must be stopped. He met the advancing army near Basra in December 656. He tried to persuade Aisha to stop this senseless war, but her counselors would not agree. The only thing left was to fight. Aisha rode a white dromedary, Ali ordered that she must be captured because that was the only way to end bloodshed. The Medinites fought round the camel fanatically and the battle is known as “the battle of camels”. It is said that seventy people died before her brother, Muhammad Ibn Abu Bakar, reached her Mabmil (litter) and tried to lift her out. The battle ended in a victory for Ali. Talha and Zubair lost their lives on the battlefield, but Ali treated Aisha with great honour. She was so impressed by Ali’s nobility of conduct what she renounced politics. She was sent with an escort to Medina with all honours.

BATTLE OF SIFFIN

                Seeing that the Medinites could not depose Ali, Muawiyah, who was now a powerful man in Syria,  who has strong army of his own and was a head of the house of Umayyad, decided to try his luck against Ali. He now claimed to be the avenger of Usman’s death. Muawiyah showed the blood stained shirt of the martyred Usman to the people seeking their support and soon felt himself was strong enough position to fight. Muawiyah army moved east. Ali moved north with his troops. The two armies met at Siffin which lay in north-eastern Syria. Muawiyah had a strong army, but Ali was the better general. Soon Muawiyah found that he could not win, so he thought of ruse. He ordered his soldiers to tie their Qur’an to their lances and raise them in the air, which they did. Ali saw through this and told his army that it was a trick but the soldiers could not cut down men who held the Qur’an. The fighting ceased.

                Muawiyah now proposed an arbitration, he and Ali should each choose a nominee and leave the matter to them. Ali agreed because he did not want any more bloodshed, but a number of people in his own camp were not pleased. They said that since Ali was in the right he should not leave such a matter of arbitration of man. They also declared that Ali was making a big mistake and would lose their support. After this, they decided to withdraw from Ali’s side. Other said that by accepting arbitration Ali had lost all prestige, because he thus accepted Muawiyah as his equal, although Muawiyah was his subordinate and a rebel, as he had risen against the Caliph.

                Ali made a wrong choice, Muawiyah selected a friend of his, the astute Amr Ibn el-as as his nominee, Ali nominated a neutral Musa al-ash’ari. Now, Musa, though a famous companion of the prophet, was at heart not a great friend of Ali, so he did not advocate Ali cause as strongly as he could have done. The result was that the arbitrators made curious decision, they announced that both Muawiyah and Ali should resign. This was really a condemnation of Ali, because Muawiyah was a subordinate who had already rebelled against the caliph and could not continue in his office. So the verdict was against Ali and he did not accept it. For that matter, neither did Muawiyah. Both armies retreated, and the some state of affairs continued. Ali’s loss however was doubled.

                The radical puritans now openly left Ali’s side and set up as a separate party calling themselves the (Khawarij) which means secessionists or those who have withdrawn. Ali went against them and defeated them at Nahrawin.

ALI’S ASSASINATION

                Seeing that the caliphate was divided in this manner, the Khawariji who had gone underground after their defeat at Nahrawan, now worked out an internal plot. They decided that Islam was divided because Ali and Muawiyah, they also considered Amr Ibn al-As to be an evil force. So they decided to kill all three of them. It was planned that all the three should be struck down at the same time. The tragedy was that Muawiyah escaped with a scratch, Amr was unhurt, but Ali was fatally wounded. Abdul-Rahman Ibn Muljam, a fanatic, stroked him with a poisoned sword when he was on his way to the mosque. Thus died last of the great caliphs and with him died the true concept of a muslim ruler, one who combined the functions of the head of state and of religion.

CONCLUSION

                The four caliphs contributed enormously to the growth of Islam. Abu Bakar, who came first, won back Arabia for Islam. He started the Holy wars and campaigns which led the muslims to world empire. Umar the great was a man of iron, a great personality, a great law giver, and a great administrator, under whose wise rule Muslim armies triumphed everywhere, and Islam conquered Persia, Iraq, Syria and Egypt then came Usman, a great humane, and generous man, whose great claim to fame is that he had the verses of the Qur’an collected, checked and clarified. The conquest of Tripolitan extended to Khorasan, and the defeat of Byzantine and Cyprus were all during his time. Then came Ali, the champion of Islam, who never lost even a battle throughout the four years of his caliphate and who established impartial rule; who was an enemy of intrique of crooked thinking and wrong doing and who lost his life because he could not compromise with evil. The work of these caliphs lived after them and the land conquered during their time remained Islamic. May Allah be pleased with them. 

                Baba Ali Mustapha is of Ngrannam ward, Near 7up junction, Bolori II, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.

Reference:

                For further knowledge, consult the following books:

(1)    ISLAMIC HISTORY by A. RAHIM published by Islamic Publication Bureau, 136A Isolo road, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria.

(2)    HADITH by M. Bashir Sambo and Mohammed Higab, published by Islamic Publication Bureau,  136A Isolo road, Mushin, Lagos, Nigeria.