First Fitna
Rashidun-era Muslim civil war (656 to 661)
The First Fitna (Arabic: الفتنة الكبرى) was the first civil war in the Islamic community. It led to the end of the Rashidun Caliphate and the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate. The civil war involved three main factions: the supporters of Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph; the Uthmaniyya (partisans of the slain caliph Uthman, comprising Aisha's faction in Basra and Mu'awiya's Umayyad partisans in Syria); and, from 657 onward, the Kharijites, who seceded from Ali's camp following the arbitration at Siffin.
The roots of the first civil war can be traced back to the assassination of the second Rashidun caliph, Umar. Before he died from his wounds, Umar formed a six-member council which elected Uthman as the next caliph. During the final years of Uthman's caliphate, he was accused of nepotism and killed by rebels in 656. After Uthman's assassination, Ali was elected the fourth caliph, though his accession was immediately clouded by the unresolved murder of his predecessor. Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr represented the initial opposition to Ali's rule. They argued that Ali had failed to prioritize the prosecution of Uthman's killers and revolted to demand a new elective council. The two parties fought the Battle of the Camel in December 656, from which Ali emerged victorious.
The public source identifies “First Fitna” as rashidun-era Muslim civil war (656 to 661). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around First, Fitna and Rashidun-era.
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This entry incorporates text from “First Fitna” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.