Rashidun Caliphate

Derived from the Arabic word rushd, rāshid (راشد) means "one who has attained the right path or maturity". Al-Khulafāʾ ar-Rāšidūn (الْخُلَفاءُ الرّاشِدُونَ) is an honorific title meaning "successors or representatives who have been guided to the right path". [11] This also implies that they were endowed with superior piety and wisdom and supports the deeply held belief that their era was a "golden age" following Muhammad in holiness, moral and religious guidance. [12] [13] [14] It was in the 9th century, during the Abbasid era, that these first caliphs were first qualified as rāshidūn. [15]

In addition, a Sunni hadith, attributed to Muhammad, predicted that the prophetic succession would last for thirty years [16], which has been interpreted by some Sunni scholars as evidence that Hasan's six-month caliphate was "rightly guided" also. These caliphs were the "orthodox" or "patriarchal" caliphs accepted by the majority in Islamic history. [17] However, in Islam, the material and spiritual heritage of Muhammad, including governance power, was represented by the Imams, who were his descendants [18], the numbers of which varied according to the Shiite subgroups, and just like the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, the Rashidun caliphs, except for Ali and Hasan, were the individuals who usurped this right. Ibadism does not see the caliphate as an institution that includes all believers and must be obeyed; it also sees the two caliphs after Muhammad as being on the right path and the others as having strayed into injustice. [19]