Sunnī Islam

The Question of Leadership

The foundations of Sunnī Islam were laid after the death of Prophet Muhammad, though something discernable as Sunnī Islam proper would not fully mature until several centuries later and after much development. According to Islamic sources, on the Prophet's death, disagreements surrounding the succession to Muhammad split the early Islamic community into those who supported the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (d. 13 AH/634 CE), a prominent early companion of the Prophet and member of the Prophet's tribe of Quraysh, and those who regarded Alī's familial relation to Prophet Muhammad as giving him exclusive rights to rule the Islamic community. Those who supported Alī and later looked to his family for leadership of the Islamic community became the Shi'i. After Abū Bakr, ‘Umar b. al-Khattāb (r. 13–23 AH/634–644 CE) and ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affan (r. 24–35 AH/644–656 CE), both Qurayshīs, successively led the Islamic community as caliphs before a mutiny resulted in ‘Uthmān's killing and prompted [Page 1235]sections of the Islamic community to call on Alī to assume leadership. When he did assume leadership, however, Alī faced significant resistance to his rule. During this period, known as the first Islamic civil war or fitna, Alī faced resistance from ‘Ā'isha, Abu Bakr's daughter and wife of Prophet Muhammad, who along with her supporters lost to Alī's army at the Battle of the Camel in 35 AH/656 CE. Alī then faced ‘Uthman's kinsman, Mu'āwiya b. Abī Sufyān, the governor of Damascus, who claimed that Alī had not punished the killers of ‘Uthmān and who refused to recognize Alī as caliph. Mu'āwiya and his army escaped defeat at the Battle of Ṣiffīn in 36 AH/657 CE by enticing Alī to accept arbitration of the battle, an event that shortly thereafter caused a significant portion of Alī's army to desert him. These secessionists became the Kharijites, who rejected both ‘Uthmān and Alī and elected one of their own, ‘Abd Allāh b. Wahb al-Rāsib?, a non-Quraysh?, to lead them as their imam. After a Kharijite murdered Alī, Mu'āwiya assumed leadership of the Islamic community, ushering in the Umayyad Caliphate.

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