Abu Bakr,, was the father-in-law of Mohammed and was the first converts to Islam. After the demise of Mohammed, Abu Bakar's main objective was to maintain the heritage of the prophet. However, distance tribes refused to recognize Abu Bakr's authority as their treaty relation was with the late Mohammed only. Thus after learning about the death of Mohammed, their nomadic instincts recoiled at the prospect of being subordinate to the men at Medina. These tribes refused allegience to Abu Bakr, Mohammed's successor as they felt that they had no part in electing him. This *repudiation is known as The Ridda or Apostasy. In fact, many of the tribes involved had never formally adopted Islam and thus they reverted to paganism soon after the death of Mohammed. In order to reassert control over Medina, Abu Bakr sent Khalid, one of the pagan Korayish military leaders Mohammed converted on entering Mecca, to reconvert these tribes. He succeeded and the Arabs members, who were now convinced of the power of the Medina, expanded his Moslem army. Khalid also launched a surprise invasion eas

Caliph Omar also organised Syria and Mesopotamia into a single province, while Egypt was to exist as another. Governors appointed to rule the respective regions were Ummayads. In 640, Omar appointed Muawiya as the governor of Syria-Mesopotamia and in 642, he appointed his foster brother to administer Egypt. Although these governors owed their loyalty to Caliph Omar but in reality, they had absolute powers therefore they soon overtook Medina in importance.

In 639, a Bedouin General named Amr was sent to the frontier of Egypt with 4000 men and plundered across Eastern Egypt to the Nile Valley. Thus in 642, Amr captured the Byzantine Capital at Alexandria, but there was a brief recapture by the Byzantines in 645 but a Moslem counterattack drove the Byzantines out of Egypt by 646.

tward across the Euphrates and surrounded the provincial capital of Hira. Being a Ummayad, Abu Bakr had political and military powers to complement his religious authority and at the start of Abu Bakr's reign, the Arabs were able to conquer the whole of the Middle East. In less than a century, the mobile Moslems were able to successfully defeat the Byzantine and in the entire fertile cresent.

At about 634, when Khalid was marching into Damascus, Omar another Ummayad, succeeded Abu Bakr as the next Caliph. Omar being more worldly and ambitious, asserted control over the raiding armies and gain control over the independent and far flung army commanders who were left to make their own decisions during Abu Bakr's reign.

In 644, a member of the small but growing "Shites" sect murdered Omar.

Caliph Ali reigned

Some common words found in the essay are:
Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr's, Caliph Omar, AD Othman, Mohammed Ali's, Syria Mesopotamia, Ali Aisha, Central Iraq, Governor Syria, Ali Mohammed's, abu bakr, caliph omar, abu bakr's, abu bakr's reign, bakr's reign, caliph othman, moslem army, civil war, tribes refused, death mohammed, muawiya governor,
Approximate Word count = 1078
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)