Evolution of Islam Muslims can be found in every continent but they are predominately found in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. After Muhammad’s death, there was no leader that could guide the Muslim community or expanded it. Consequently, many changes were made within the Muslim community under the Rashidun Caliphate. These changes influenced the development and expansion of the Islamic religion across the word. The Rashidun Caliphate (632 - 661), means "Rightly Guided" in Arabic. And it is the term for the first four caliphs after Muhammad. Muhammad had never succeeded in uniting all of Arabia, either politically or religiously. Despite this, Arab tribes near and far began to reassess the close associations that they had maintained with Medina under Muhammad’s leadership. This development came to be called the ridda. Abu Bakr, Umar and Abu Ubayda took it upon themselves to select Abu Bakr as the first Khalifa, “deputy” of the prophet. These unions brought up economic and cultural developments. One of these developments was the migration of communities into the new lands as administrators, military garrisons and settlers expanding the religion to new horizons.
In an age-respecting society such as Arabia, the leadership usually fell to the older and presumably wiser members of the clan or tribe. Therefore, Umar became the next caliph; he had in fact been making crucial decisions during Abu Bakr’s reign and later became one of the greatest military leaders and forgers of World Empire in the history of humankind. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syria became prestigious and powerful under Umar’s reign. Muslim governments were fairly tolerant with other religions, but granted dhimmi “protected” status to the People of the Book (Christians, Jewish or Zoroastrian). These dhimmis came in time to be restricted by a law known as the “Covenant of Umar”. Polytheists were offered either conversion to Islam or death. Undoubtedly, this move executed by the Muslim government expanded the Islamic religion by making people reconsider their faith and join Muhammad’s religion since none of them wanted to die.
The third caliph chosen was ‘Uthman, a member of the Qurayshi aristocracy of Banu Umayya. He achieved one thing that somewhat mitigated his otherwise unfavorable record as caliph: he had the Qur’an collected and put into an authorized recession, thus preserving intact the precious message and averting serious dissensions among Muslim groups that were already beginning to quarrel over variant readings of the text. ‘Uthman decision was remarkable for Islam’s development since it made the sacred text an official and trustworthy element of the Muslim community.
Ali was the fourth and the last caliph of the Rashidun. He moved the capital from Medina to Kufa because he had strong support there. Moreover, the Islamic movement was rapidly spreading to the north and east, and Kufa was in a good location for centralizing the administration, being also within convenient and unobstructed reach of Hejaz, across the desert routes. This change knit together a basically unified coalition of peoples in Iraq.
All the changes and modifications stated above support the development and expansion of the Islamic religion under the reign of the Rashidun Caliphate. Furthermore, their goal was to follow Muhammad’s steps and convert everyone to the Islam faith. The fourth caliphs’ helped with the evolution of Islam in a way or the other, thanks to them, Islam religion has spread worldwide. Denny. Page 75. Frederick Mathewson Denny, An Introduction to Islam Fourth Edition (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011), page 74. Denny, Page 79. Denny, page 76-77. Denny, page 79. Denny, page 80.