The Talibid Caliphate was the first series of Caliphs of Islam. The first Caliph, or successor, chosen by the Prophet Muhammad on his deathbed and elected by popular acclaim, was Muhammad's cousin Ali ibn Abu Talib - who initially was reluctant to put forward his name before finishing the burial rites, but was encouraged to do so by the Emperor Heraclius, who was in Mecca at the time. The other main contender, one Abu Bakr, gladly withdrew to avoid strife in the fledgling Ummah and was instead appointed the leader of a religious mission to Syria.