Early elective Islamic succession failed bloodily and became dynastic rule

Evidence

The first four caliphs after the death of the Prophet were indeed elected in the sense that none of them had a hereditary claim to the succession. If one asks the pragmatic question—did the elective system work?—the answer must surely be that it did not. Of the four elective caliphs three were murdered—the last two by fellow Muslims—and the whole system collapsed in a bloody civil war. The emergence of the dynastic caliphates and sultanates was the result. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 539

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with Western origin narratives of legitimate elective succession in Islam; could feed the Said-adjacent cluster on how republicanism and legitimacy got mapped onto the region.