Research output
Complete citation
Poljarević, Emin. “Muhammeds efterträdare: de rättledda kaliferna.” In Islam: en religionsvetenskaplig introduktion, edited by Susanne Olsson and Simon Sorgenfrei, 43–59. Stockholm: Liber, 2015.
Status
Published (2015)
Publication type
Scholarly book chapter
Overview
This Swedish-language chapter introduces the period of the four rightly guided caliphs and the formative political developments that followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad. It explains the succession of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī while situating their rule within questions of authority, communal unity, territorial expansion, administration, and emerging conflict. The chapter treats the period as both historical experience and a subsequently constructed normative memory within Islamic traditions. Attention is given to institutional developments, including military organisation, public finance, governance of conquered territories, and practices such as the religious endowment. The contribution is a concise religious-studies account that connects early Islamic political history with the later significance of the caliphs as models, contested symbols, and reference points in Sunni and Shiʿi understandings of legitimate authority.
Research question or central concern
How did the first four caliphs shape the political and institutional development of the early Muslim community, and why did their rule acquire enduring normative significance?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The chapter combines historical narrative with analysis of religious memory. It argues that the period should be understood both through concrete developments in governance and expansion and through later Sunni and Shiʿi interpretations of legitimate authority. Its contribution is an accessible account linking events, institutions, and contested memory.
Keywords
rightly guided caliphs; early Islam; succession; caliphate; Islamic history; authority; Sunni and Shiʿi traditions
Emin Poljarević 