Muhammad’s sudden death from illness in 632 CE left the early Muslim community in an uncertain state, with no public plan for after his leadership, scripture not yet written down, and many Arab tribes ready to rebel. Desiring to find someone pleasing both to the community in Medina and the elites of Mecca, a group of elders (a shura) met and proclaimed Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad’s Companions from the Quraysh tribe and father of Muhammad’s wife Aisha, caliph or “Successor” to Muhammad. Aslan, while acknowledging that lack of contemporary evidence has led to debate, argues that Abu Bakr interpreted this position as a mainly secular role with religious questions referred to scholars who would grow into the Ulama (the community of “learned ones”)—with the caveat that the secular-religious distinction is a modern one with limited applicability. Many wanted a successor from Muhammad’s own Banu Hasim clan, however, and believed Muhammad had designated his son-in-law Ali as successor. Aslan argues that this is plausible. This planted the seeds of the first of many divisions that have continued to mark the Diversity of Islamic Thought and Practice.

Abu Bakr was the first of four “Rightly Guided” caliphs who turned the Ummah into an empire. In the Riddah Wars, Abu Bakr managed to subdue the Arab tribes who had defected or chosen to follow other “false prophets.” Although these were political rather than religious wars, they somehow began the confusion of religious apostasy (renouncing one’s religion) with political treason toward the caliph, and therefore both crimes became worthy of the same punishment: death. Abu Bakr also systematically worked to reduce Ali’s powerbase. He appointed Umar as his successor and the new caliph conquered both Persia and the rich Byzantine provinces of Syria and Egypt. Umar also worked to incorporate non-Arab converts into the Ummah, although they still had to be adopted into an Arab clan. The next caliph, Uthman of the Quraysh tribe, however, acted selfishly to enrich himself and his relatives, alienating many and leading to his assassination. His one major accomplishment is that he (probably) oversaw the collection of traditions into a single authoritative book of Muhammad’s Revelations: the Quran.

Ali reluctantly became the new caliph under the title of Amir al-Mu’manin (“Commander of the Faithful”). Aisha, however, accused Ali of orchestrating Uthman’s murder and rallied the Meccans behind two other old Companions as candidates. Her army met Ali’s force at the Battle of the Camel, the first major Muslim civil war (fitnah). Ali won, only to face an additional insurrection from members of Uthman’s clan led by Mu’awiyah. When he defeated and pardoned these enemies, a faction of his supporters called the Kharijites turned on Ali. He defeated them too on the battlefield, but one of them murdered him in retaliation in 661 CE. Mu’awiyah seized power and founded a new kind of caliphate ruled by a hereditary dynasty: the Umayyads. The Abbasid dynasty overthrew them in 750 CE but gradually lost any real authority over the fragmenting Muslim world. The Ottoman Turks would later revive the title for their massive empire until its end in 1924. The caliphate is now ended, but its history continues to influence debates about how Islam fits into the modern nation state.

This political history of early Islam highlights the multitude of personal animosities and competing visions of the Ummah and caliphate that shook the early community. Abu Bakr and Aisha feared uniting the prophetic and caliphal offices in the same clan. The early version of Shi’a Muslims (the “supporters of Ali”) saw the caliph as continuing Muhammad’s religious role, though Aslan argues Ali himself did not. The Kharijites strove for moral purity and demanded a caliph free from sin. They are the “first Muslim extremists” (133), obsessed with cutting off impure kafirs (unbelievers) from the community. Others believed that human nature and the vast empire made compromise inevitable. As Islam expanded, Muslims had to grapple with the question of choosing between the models of a traditional empire, a neo-tribal system, or a simple and pure desert community unified by faith.