Muhammad dies in Medina after a short illness, months after the Farewell Sermon; he leaves no agreed successor named in a form all accept, and the question of who leads the community divides it from this day forward.
Tagged: Ibadi Islam Muslim Sunni Islam Twelver Shia Islam
The Event
- Date
- 632 (exact)
- Era
- Prophetic; Standard periodization of Islamic history
- Location
- Medina; today Medina, Saudi Arabia
- Traditions
- Islam
- Streams
- Sunni Islam, Twelver Shia Islam, Ibadi Islam
- Key figures
- Muhammad, Aisha
- Key texts
- The Farewell Sermon
How the Tradition Tells It
The succession is the founding divide: Sunni Islam holds the community rightly chose Abu Bakr at the Saqifa, while Shia Islam holds that Muhammad designated Ali at Ghadir Khumm and that the choice at the Saqifa set his right aside. Ibadi Islam holds the imamate belongs to the most qualified believer, by election, whatever his lineage.
Primary Sources
- Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Secondary Sources
- Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (Routledge, 3rd ed. 2016)
- Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800 (Cambridge, 2003)
Provenance: HIST-0206; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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