![]() ![]() ![]() Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and Ali, the close companions of the prophet, founded an empire. The prophet Muhammad succeeded in founding a new religious community and a fledgling state. We come to know the “righteously guided” caliphs with a kind of intimacy that belies the passing of time. Most Muslims, myself included, grow up with at least pieces of this history. In the appropriately titled “Caliphate: The History of an Idea,” British historian Hugh Kennedy takes it upon himself to recover the caliphate’s meaning, and he succeeds with welcome doses of erudition, accuracy and, when necessary, empathy. Even before the Islamic State dominated our headlines, the specter of a caliphate had become an easy stand-in for anti-Muslim posturing on the American and European far right.
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