The term caliph means the ‘successor of the Messenger of God’. After the death of Muhammad, there was no clear successor that would be chosen to replace him from his immediate family members. Eventually, Muhammad’s father in law was elected to become the next caliph and was given the title ‘khalifat rasul-Allah’. Abu Bakr, the first caliph died two years later after being elected as the successor to Muhammad. Within this short period of time the Islamic army had already started their expansion and they had already covered Arabia as a whole and reached as far north as Palestine.
Omar, who was another father-in-law to Muhammad, succeeded Abu Bakr in 634. By 638, he had managed to capture Jerusalem, but was later on he was killed in a mosque due to personal reasons. Omar was succeeded by Othman who enabled the Islamic army conquer as far afield as North Africa, Turkey and Afghanistan. Omar was later on assassinated by rebellious Muslims. They end up choosing another son-in-law to Muhammad who ends up splitting the Muslim religion and starts fights amongst themselves.
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Ali, the new caliph had not been elected as the caliphates before him, hence he was opposed by a group of Muslims that were headed by Aisha who was the daughter to Abu Bakr. He was later on opposed by the Muawiyah, the governor of Syria who proclaimed himself caliph and founded the Umayyad Dynasty with Damascus as its head-quarters. The Jihad wars were among the tools that the early Muslims used to expand their territories. It did not hold any attribute of fighting against non-Muslims as it is being expressed in the present day.
As the number of Muslims increased, the level of discretion among themselves also increased. Those who were not Arabs were ill-treated and did not get equal treatment as Arabs. This led to the growth of the Shia movement that was against the ruling group. The majority of Muslims who still followed the doctrines of the Koran and what Muhammad stood for are called the Sunni. Their superiority in number has increased up to date thus leading to the current state in the Islamic religion.
