Caliphate

A caliphate is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph ( ), a person considered the political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the leader of the Muslim world (ummah). Historically, the caliphates were polities based on Islam which developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires. During the medieval period, three major caliphates succeeded each other: the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517). In the fourth major caliphate, the Ottoman Caliphate, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire claimed caliphal authority from 1517 until the Ottoman Caliphate was formally abolished as part of the 1924 secularisation of Turkey. The Sharif of Mecca then claimed the title, but this caliphate fell quickly after its conquest by the Sultanate of Nejd (the predecessor of modern-day Saudi Arabia), leaving the claim in dormancy. Throughout the history of Islam, a few other Muslim states, almost all of which were hereditary monarchies, have claimed to be caliphates. Not all Muslim states have had caliphates. The Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Shi'a Muslims believe a caliph should be an imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt (the 'Household of the Prophet').…

A caliphate is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph ( ), a person considered the political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the leader of the Muslim world (ummah). Historically, the caliphates were polities based on Islam which developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires. During the medieval period, three major caliphates succeeded each other: the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517). In the fourth major caliphate, the Ottoman Caliphate, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire claimed caliphal authority from 1517 until the Ottoman Caliphate was formally abolished as part of the 1924 secularisation of Turkey. The Sharif of Mecca then claimed the title, but this caliphate fell quickly after its conquest by the Sultanate of Nejd (the predecessor of modern-day Saudi Arabia), leaving the claim in dormancy. Throughout the history of Islam, a few other Muslim states, almost all of which were hereditary monarchies, have claimed to be caliphates. Not all Muslim states have had caliphates. The Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Shi'a Muslims believe a caliph should be an imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt (the 'Household of the Prophet'). The Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171) was established by Shi'as. From the late 20th century towards the early 21st century, in the wake of the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR, the war on terror and the Arab Spring, various Islamist groups have claimed the caliphate, although these claims have usually been widely rejected among Muslims. The Crisis of the Early Caliphate By Richard Stephen Humphreys, Stephen (EDT) Humphreys from The History of al-Tabari The Reunification of the Abbasid Caliphate By Clifford Edmund (TRN) Bosworth, from The History of al-Tabari Return of the Caliphate to Baghdad By Franz Rosenthal from The History of al-Tabari Pan-Islamism: Indian Muslims, the Ottomans and Britain (1877–1924) By Azmi Özcan Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate from Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources By Guy Le Strange The Fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba: Berbers and Andalusis in conflict By Peter C. Scales The abolition of the Caliphate, from The Economist, 8 March 1924 Hüseyin Yılmaz. Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought. Princeton University Press, 2018. . Laurence, Jonathan. Coping with Defeat: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, and the Modern State. Princeton University Press, 2021.

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