In 610 C.E., Muhammad ibn Abdallah, a businessman from Mecca, received what he believed to be a divine vision while praying in a cave in Mount Hira. A Quraysh tribesman, Muhammad was growing increasingly concerned that his tribe’s recent success in trading was leading them to abandon the mutually supportive value system of nomadic life. In his vision, Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who presented him with a holy text that would eventually be recorded as the Quran. Armstrong argues that although Muhammad’s visions included imagery from the Judeo-Christian traditions, he did not view his religion as a meaningful departure from the pagan religion of the Arabian peninsula that had been practiced there for centuries.

When Muhammad eventually began reciting verses of the Quran in public, he quickly gained a following among people who were overwhelmed by the beauty of his words. Eventually, the sect began calling itself Islam (“surrender”). Muhammad preached an egalitarianism that drew upon the collectivist traditions of his ancestors; Muslims were required to give regularly to the poor and to prostrate themselves before God daily. Armstrong writes:

Social justice was, therefore, the crucial virtue of Islam. Muslims were commanded as their first duty to build a community (ummah) characterized by practical compassion, in which there was a fair distribution of wealth. This was far more important than any doctrinal teaching about God. In fact the Quran has a negative view of theological speculation, which it calls zannah, self-indulgent whimsy about ineffable matters that nobody can ascertain one way or the other (38).

As Muhammad gained a following, merchants in Mecca became threatened by him and enacted policies that prohibited Meccans from trading with the Muslims. The ummah began to starve, and Muhammad’s beloved wife, Khadijah died. Muhammad made a pact with the Jewish community of Yathrib, who provided his followers with shelter and food. In Yathrib, Muhammad formed the first iteration of the ummah, a super-tribal group unconcerned with ethnic differences. In need of more resources, the ummah began raiding neighboring communities. In 630, after years of violent struggle, Muhammad and his followers entered and claimed control of Mecca. By 632, the Muslims had united the peoples of Arabia under a single, Islamic government.

After Muhammad’s death, his heirs were faced with new political challenges that stemmed from the expansion of Islam. The central question they faced was how to balance the political and spiritual duties of the Caliph, especially in situations where those two responsibilities were at odds with one another. The first four Caliphs following Muhammad are collectively referred to as the Rashidun (“rightly guided”). In the first, there was a theological disagreement about who should succeed Muhammad; some believed that his successor should be his descendant, but others believed that there should be a merit-based method for determining the new Caliph. Eventually, Abu Bakr (r. 632-634), Muhammad’s father-in-law, was named the first Caliph.

Abu Bakr spent his reign suppressing attempts to defect from the ummah by groups who had been more interested in the political stability Muhammad offered than in his religious teachings. These military efforts were called the Wars of Riddah. Following his victories, Abu Bakr’s successor, Umar ibn al-Kattab (r. 634-644), continued this military legacy by increasing the ummah’s raiding practices and thereby conquering more territory. Under his leadership, Islam spread to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Persia. In order to maintain the peace in his newly conquered territories, Umar implemented policies that prevented his soldiers from entering the towns inhabited by conquered peoples. Non-Muslims, called dhimmis, were afforded protected status.

In 644, Umar was murdered. He was succeeded by Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644-656), a member of the Umayyad family. Although the early years of his reign were peaceful, soldiers were growing increasingly discontented with policies that restricted them, and when Uthman began appointing family members to government positions, he was accused of violating the egalitarian teachings of Muhammad. In 656, Uthman was assassinated by mutineers, who subsequently named Muhammad’s son-in-law, Ali, the new Caliph.

Upon being named Caliph, Ali was faced with criticism from Muhammad’s wife Aisha and her supporters (who called themselves the Uthmaniyya) for not avenging Uthman’s murder. This conflict culminated in the Battle of the Camel (656), in which Ali defeated the Uthmaniyya. Meanwhile, in Syria, Uthman’s kinsman Mu’Awiya, a prominent member of the Umayyad family, launched a military campaign against Ali to avenge Uthman’s death. Attempts between the two sides to negotiate a resolution failed, and Mu’Awiya deposed Ali. Ali’s supporters were disappointed by his failure to stand up to Mu’Awiya, and some of them formed an extremist sect called the kharajis, who now treated Ali as an illegitimate ruler alongside the previous Caliphs. A Khajarite eventually murdered Ali in 661, allowing the Umayyads to claim the Caliphate uncontested. This civil war was later dubbed the First Fitnah, and was a source of great spiritual upset for Muslims who viewed the violence and infighting that had occurred as a violation of Muhammad’s teachings.