7th grade -

This is a summary of what we are covering in class 2/12 and 2/13

After the death of Muhammad

*Died suddenly in 632

*Didn't name a successor

*Abu Bakr - one of Muhammad's advisers became the first caliph...what is the definition of a caliph?

*Died after only two years

*Umar was appointed

*There was tolerance as long as they were "people of the book"

*In Islam, the People of the Book are non-Muslim peoples who, according to the Qur'an, received scriptures which were revealed to them by God before the time of Muhammad, most notably Christians and Jews.

*644 Umar named a council...what is the definition of a council?

*Uthman expanded the empire/murdered in Egypt

*Conflict between Ali and Muawiya

Ali
*cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, and fourth of the “rightly guided” caliphs, as the first four successors of Muhammad are called. Reigning from 656 to 661, he was the first imam (leader) of Shīʿism in all its forms. The question of his right to the caliphate (the political-religious structure comprising the community of Muslims and its territories that emerged after the death of Muhammad) resulted in the only major split in Islam, into the Sunni and Shīʿite branches.

Muawiya
*early Islāmic leader and founder of the great Umayyad dynasty of caliphs. He fought against the fourth caliph, ʿAlī (Muḥammad’s son-in-law), seized Egypt, and assumed the caliphate after ʿAlī’s assassination in 661. He restored unity to the Muslim empire and made Damascus its capital. He reigned from 661 to 680.

*661 Muawiya became caliph

For the differences between Shiites and Sunnis, make sure you make a neat Venn Diagram!

-Mr. O