632–661 CE
Rashidun Period
The Rashidun ("Rightly Guided") period covers the rule of Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib. Islamic historiography places the compilation of the Qur'an under Abu Bakr and its standardization under Uthman in this period; material evidence — the Sana'a palimpsest's lower text and the Dome of the Rock inscriptions of 72 AH — corroborates a text close to the later standard recension within about a century of the traditional compilation date, though the exact administrative and ritual detail of the period is far less securely attested than its broad outline.
Content from this period
- Research Paper
Islam: History, Authority and the Development of Islamic Tradition
A historical-critical review of the Qur'an and Hadith as sources of religious authority in Islam, distinguishing established fact, scholarly consensus, majority and minority opinion, disputed claims, and theological interpretation at every step.
- Research Paper
Women in Mainstream Islam: Protection, Restriction, and the Historical Development of Religious Practice
A historical-critical review testing whether practices commonly described as Islamic requirements for women — segregation, face-veiling, travel guardianship, exclusion from mosques and public office — rest on the Qur'an itself or on later hadith, jurisprudence, dynastic custom, and regional practice.
- Article
Islam: A Reader's Guide to the Qur'an, Hadith and Early Islamic History
A plain-language companion to Revert Way's academic review of the Qur'an and Hadith: the same evidence, sources, and arguments, with every technical term and historical figure introduced on first use.