The word · History
الخُلَفَاءُ الرَّاشِدُون
Khulafa Rashidun
The four caliphs after the Prophet: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.
Also written · Khulafa ar-Rashidun · Khulafa e Rashideen · Khulafaur Rashidin · Rashidun · Rightly Guided Caliphs · Four Caliphs · Khulafa Rashideen · Khulafa-e-Rashidun · Rashidun caliphate · Khalifa Rashida · Rightly guided successors
The meaning
What Khulafa Rashidun means in Islam
Rashid means guided along a straight road. Their rule ran from the Prophet's death in the eleventh year of the Hijrah to the killing of Ali in the fortieth, close to thirty years. The Prophet told his community to hold to his sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after him, which is why their practice carries a weight no later ruler's has. The title is Sunni usage; Shia hold that the succession belonged to Ali from the start. Some scholars add the six months of Hasan ibn Ali to complete the thirty years.
Evidence · Sunnah · Established in the authentic Sunnah
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- Abu BakrThe Prophet's closest friend, his companion in the cave, and the first caliph.أَبُو بَكْرٍ الصِّدِّيق
- Umar ibn al-KhattabThe second caliph, called al-Faruq, under whom the Muslim state expanded enormously.عُمَرُ بْنُ الخَطَّاب
- Uthman ibn AffanThe third caliph, called Dhun-Nurayn, who fixed the Qur'an in one agreed written text.عُثْمَانُ بْنُ عَفَّان
- Ali ibn Abi TalibThe Prophet's cousin and son in law, raised by him, and the fourth caliph.عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِب
- KhilafahSuccession to the Prophet in governing the community, not in prophethood, which ended with him.الخِلَافَة
More from History
- Abu HurayrahThe Companion who narrated more hadith than any other, from about four years in the Prophet's company.أَبُو هُرَيْرَة
- Bay'at al-AqabahTwo secret pledges by men of Madinah that opened the way for the Hijrah.بَيْعَةُ العَقَبَة
- HijrahThe Prophet's migration from Makkah to Madinah in 622, the start of the Muslim calendar.الهِجْرَة
- Imam MalikThe imam of Madinah, who taught in the Prophet's mosque and wrote the Muwatta.مَالِكُ بْنُ أَنَس
- Khutbat al-WadaThe sermon given at Arafah during the Farewell Pilgrimage, months before the Prophet died.خُطْبَةُ الوَدَاع
- SahabahThe Companions: anyone who met the Prophet as a believer and died still believing.الصَّحَابَة