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Written by: Beth Davies-Stofka

The period immediately following Muhammad's death until the death of his cousin and son-in-law Ali in 661 is remembered as a kind of golden age by some Muslims. It was the Age of the Rashidun, or "rightly-guided ones," when Muhammad's close companions led the community of Muslims.

Muhammad died unexpectedly of illness in 632, depriving the Muslim community of its founder and leader. With little preparation for this loss, the community was divided over the question of succession. Some believed that Muhammad had named his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib and his descendants to succeed him. Others thought that Muhammad had died without naming a successor, and that the community elders were therefore responsible for naming a successor. This dispute over time divided the community into two major groups, the partisans (singular, Shi'a) of Ali, and the Sunni.

The majority of Muhammad's followers chose to follow Abu Bakr, a close companion of the Prophet's who was chosen by the elders of the community. Abu Bakr thus became the first religious and political leader, called caliph (Arabic, khalifah or successor). Islamic tradition remembers Abu Bakr as a humble and moral man who ruled with great fidelity to the teachings of the Quran. During the two years that he ruled as caliph before his death in 634, Abu Bakr consolidated Muslim rule in Arabia and sent armies into Syria and Iraq on short and successful raids.