The Rightly Guided Caliphs

الخلفاء الراشدون

The four Companions who led the Muslim community in turn after the Prophet ﷺ died.

After the Prophet ﷺ died in Madinah, leadership of the community passed to four of his closest Companions, one after another: Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman, then Ali. Together they are usually called the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Learning them in order gives you a frame for roughly the first thirty years after the Hijrah, and most other names from that period hang off this frame.