fully representative of successorship to the Prophet, and it is for this reason that I have included in the history of the Caliphate an account of the lives of the four Caliphs whose reigns constitute the Early Caliphate, viz., Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali.
I would draw attention to two salient points about which there prevails great misconception. The first is the general impression among Muslims as well as non-Muslims that, though the battles which the Holy Prophet had to fight were defensive and not aggressive, yet the wars of the Early Caliphate were undertaken with no other object than the expansion of Islam and the territorial extension of its kingdom. In this short history I have shown that this is quite an erroneous view, and that Muslims never sallied forth to impose their religion or even their rule on the neighbouring empires; or to offer what has frequently been represented as the alternatives to Islam or Jizyah. This question has been fully dealt with in the lives of Abu Bakr and ‘Umar. The second point to which I wish to draw special attention relates to the equally great misconception as to internal dissensions of the times of ‘Uthman and ‘Ali. The example of greatness set by Abu Bakr and ‘Umar are not wanting in ‘Uthman and ‘Ali; only they are revealed in a different sphere.
The book was written originally in Urdu in the form of a simple history. The element of the lives of the Caliphs was added in a second edition, and it is now that second edition that is being presented in English garb. The translation has been done by my able and esteemed friend Maulana Muhammad Ya‘qub Khan, Editor of Light, to whom my sincerest thanks are due for his labour of love. I must also thank him for the help he has given me in reading the proofs.
Muhammad ‘Ali
President
Ahmadiyyah Anjuman Ish‘at Islam,
Ahmadiyyah Buildings,
Lahore, 12-9-32.
E-book Publisher’s Note
“And when the books are spread” (81:10)
It gives us great pleasure to present Maulana Muhammad The Early Caliphate in this e-book format. With the increasing popularity of e-readers, e-books have, by many accounts, become a preferred means to read literature.
This e-book of The Early Caliphate by Maulana Muhammad Ali is a result of this new venture. Additional titles converted to e-book format include, English Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran, Teachings of Islam, Muhammad the Prophet, The Religion of Islam, The Manual of Hadith, History of the Prophets, Living Thoughts of Prophet Muhammad, and others.
We would like to thank our proofreaders within the USA and abroad for their meticulous checking of the proofs of this e-book. May Almighty Allah bless and reward all who have contributed and sacrificed in this cause.
Samina Malik,
Vice-President and Director of Translation and Publication,
Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Society USA
June 2011, Dublin, Ohio
Transliteration of Arabic Words
The transliteration system adapted for the e-book format from the standard transliteration system is given below. Due to the limitations of the e-book format in producing some of the diacritical signs, alternative diacritical signs have been used. These changes are indicated by red type.
Consonants
Arabic Letter — Sound — Represented by
hamzah — (sounds like h in hour — a sort of catch in the voice) — ’
ba — (same as b) — b
ta — (the Italian dental, softer than t) — t
tha — (between th in thing and s) — th
jim — (like g in gem) — j
ha — (very sharp but smooth guttural aspirate) — h
kha — (like ch in the Scotch word loch) — kh
dal — (Italian dental, softer than d) — d
dhal — (sounds between z and th in that) — dh
ra — (same as r) — r
za — (same as z) — z
sin — (same as s) — s
shin — (same as sh in she) — sh
sad — (strongly articulated s, like ss in hiss) — s
dad — (aspirated d, between d and z) — dz
ta — (strongly articulated palatal t) — t
za — (strongly articulated palatal z) — z
‘ain — (somewhat like a strong guttural hamzah, not a mere vowel) — ‘
ghain — (guttural g, but soft) — gh
fa — (same as f) — f
qaf — (strongly articulated guttural k) — q
kaf — (same as k) — k
lam — (same as l) — l
mim — (same as m) — m
nun — (same as n) — n
ha — (same as h) — h
waw — (same as w) — w
ya — (same as y) — y
Vowels
The vowels are represented as follows:
Short vowels:
— ’ — fathah, as u in tub — a
— ’ — kasrah, as i in pin — i
Long vowels:
— — long fathah, as a in father — a
— — long kasrah, as ee in deep — i
— ‘ — long dammah, as oo in moot — u
— — fathah before waw — au
— — fathah before ya — ai
Tanwin ’’ ’’ ‘’ is represented by an, in, un, respectively. The short and long vowels at the end of a word are shown as parts of the words, as qala where the final a stands for the fathah on lam, but the tanwin is shown as a separate syllable, as Muhammad-in.
Proper Names
Biblical proper names are not transliterated, but their Biblical form is adopted; other names are transliterated according to the rules of transliteration. Hence the reader will notice a change in such names
