The Rashidun Caliphate (Arabic: ٱلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) consisted of the first four successive caliphs (lit. 'successors') who led the Muslim community following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 – Abu Bakr (r. 632–634), Umar (r. 634–644), Uthman (r. 644–656), and Ali (r. 656–661). It ended with the death of Ali and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 by Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan (r. 661–680). During the Caliphate's existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in West Asia and Northeast Africa. In Sunni Islam, the caliphate is considered to have been 'rightly guided' (the meaning of al-Rāshidūn; الراشدون), meaning that it constitutes a model (sunna) to be followed and emulated from a religious point of view. The caliphs are also known in Muslim history as the "orthodox" or "patriarchal" caliphs.
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