Caliphates

-Caliphs were initially military and religious leaders but they are not prophets

-lead the umma

-Caliphs comes from the Arabic word khalifia which means successor.

-refers to the Islamic leaders that followed after Muhammad's death.

-first applied to the first four successors to Muhammad. They were Abu Bakr, father-in-law of Muhammad; Umar I; Uthman ibn Affan; and Ali, son-in-law of Muhammad

-were known as the "rightly guided caliphs" because of their high moral codes