With the death of Muhammad the nascent religious community faces its first major upheaval. In this podcast we explore how the community of believers fractured and how the question of leadership was dealt with. We take an in depth look at the Ridda Wars or the Wars of Apostasy and the caliphate of Abu Bakr and 'Umar with special attention paid to their legacy and how they shaped the caliphate. We put the events the first caliphs into historical context and explore the crisis of early Islam up to the Muslim conquests.