For the first caliphs the most obvious evidence of their existence, to wit coins, is lacking. This is part of the wider picture brought to the attention by the so-called dissident islamologists, that first two, formative centuries of islam are historically speaking a black hole. The Arabic khalifa means a representative or successor, and in the Koran it is linked to the idea of just government - Adam, and then David and Solomon, are each said to be Gods khalifa on earth. And when the Prophet Mohammed died in 632 the title was bestowed on his successor as the leader of the Muslim community, the first of the Rashidun, the four so-called Rightly Guided Caliphs who ruled for the first three decades of the new Islamic era.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 12:29:15 +0000
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