Caliph
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Template:Islam Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. It is an Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah (Template:Audio) which means "successor", that is, successor to the prophet Muhammad. Some Orientalists wrote the title as Khalîf. The Caliph has often been referred to as Ameer al-Mumineen (أمير المؤمنين), or "Commander of the Faithful". The title has been defunct since 1924. Historically selected by committee, the holder of this title claims temporal and spiritual authority over all Muslims, but is not regarded as a possessor of a prophetic mission, as Muhammad is regarded in Islam as the final prophet.
Modern understandings of the title of Caliph are varied. Some movements in modern Islamic philosophy have emphasized a protective dimension of Islamic leadership and social policy from an understanding of khalifa that equates roughly to "render stewardship" or "protect the same things as God". Many Islamist movements have argued for the necessity of re-establishing the institution of a single office whose occupant, as successor to Muhammad, would possess clear political, military, and legal standing as the global leader of the Muslims. Such an initiative has yet to gather much in the way of practical support in the Muslim world.
The Sunnis identify the first four Caliphs, all close associates of Muhammad, as the '"rightly guided" caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib. It is important to understand, however, that the Sunnis and Shi'as differ profoundly on the critical question of who the first Caliph of Islam should have been, and the subsequent legitimacy all later office holders.
According to Sunni thought, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, Muhammad's closest friend and father-in-law, either the first or second male convert, was the legitimate succesor, inasmuch as he was elected into the office of the Caliphate in 632. The Shi'a, on the other hand, believe that legitimate authority belonged to Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali Ibn Abi Talib on the basis of his blood relation to the Prophet himself, and on the belief that he was designated by Muhammad as his successor.
Following the conflict between the Fatimids and the Abbasids, other Muslim rulers began to claim the title of caliph. With the defeat of these peripheral caliphates, the caliphate of the Ottomans began increasingly to be considered the undisputed primary caliphate. Thus, by the eve of the First World War, the Ottoman caliphate represented the largest and most powerful independent Islamic political entity.
The rulers of the Ottoman state, however, only rarely used title of khalifa for political purposes. It is known that Mehmed II and his grandson Selim used it to justify their conquest of Islamic countries. At a later date, one of the last Sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abdulhamid II, used it as a tool against the European colonisation and occupation of countries with large Muslim populations.
The last Ottoman (Uthmani) Khilafah title and powers were transferred from the Ottoman family line to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (parliament) on 3rd March 1924, meaning no individual could thereafter possess the title. The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (the Diyanet (http://www.diyanet.gov.tr)) still fulfills the duties of the khalifa within Turkey.
In the 1920s the Khilafat Movement, a movement to restore the Turkish Caliphate, spread throughout the British colonial territories in Asia. It was particularily strong in India, where it was a rallying point for Muslim communities.
The absence of a single Muslim head of state is considered by some to be a violation of the Islamic legal code, the Shariah. Others insist that after the four rightful caliphs the office ceased to exist, meaning that those who claimed after that to be "khalifa" were actually "melik" (king).
Muslims believe that the Caliphate is the application of Messengership of Prophets (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, until Jesus and Muhammad) as the institution to protect and order the Muslims according the Law of God (in the Qur'an and the Universe), with the structure imitating the structure of Heaven (Mulkiyah/Government) and Earth (Ummah/People). Some parallels have been drawn between the offices of the caliphate and the papacy, but the relevancy of these comparisons are disputed.
Note on the overlap of Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates: After the massacre of the Umayyad clan by the Abbassids, one lone prince escaped and fled to North Africa, which remained loyal to the Umayyads. This was Abd-ar-rahman I. From there, he proceeded to Spain, where he overthrew and united the provinces conquered by previous Umayyad Caliphs (in 712 and 712). From 756 to 929, this Umayyad domain in Spain was an independent emirate, until Abd-ar-rahman III reclaimed the title of Caliph for his dynasty. The Umayyad Emirs of Spain are not listed in the summary below because they did not claim the caliphate until 929. For a full listing of all the Umayyad rulers in Spain see the Umayyad article.
See Also: History of Islam
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How the Caliphate Came to an End
See the article Demise of the Ottoman Caliphate.
The last Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on March 3, 1924, and the title has since been inactive. Scattered attempts to revive the Caliphate elsewhere in the Muslim World were made in the years immediately following its abandonment by Turkey, but none were successful. Sharif Hussein, a former Ottoman governor of the Hejaz who had conspired with the British during World War I and revolted against Istanbul, declared himself Caliph at Mecca two days after Turkey relinquished the title. But no one took his claim seriously, and he was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate. The last Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI made a similar attempt to re-establish himself as Caliph in the Hejaz after leaving Turkey, but he was also unsuccessful. A summit was convened in Cairo in 1926 to discuss the revival of the Caliphate, but most Muslim countries did not participate and no action was taken to implement the summit’s resolutions. Though the title Ameer al-Mumineen was adopted by the King of Morocco and Mullah Mohammed Omar, former head of the now-defunct Taliban regime of Afghanistan, neither claimed any legal standing or authority over Muslims outside the borders of their respective countries. The closest thing to a Caliphate in existence today is the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), an international organization founded in 1969 consisting of the governments of most Muslim-majority countries. But the OIC has limited influence; many Muslims are not aware that the organization exists, and its resolutions are often ignored even by member nations.
Contemporary Muslim Attitudes toward the Caliphate
Once the subject of intense conflict and rivalry amongst Muslim rulers, the Caliphate has lain dormant and largely unclaimed for much of the past 80 years. The reasons for this are varied and complex. After World War I, most Muslim lands fell under foreign occupation. The Muslim World was subsequently reshaped along secular nationalist lines and heavily influenced by Western or socialist political philosophies. The role of mosques and the religious establishment was substantially reduced in most Muslim countries, leading to the emergence of political and military elites that viewed Islam as a personal matter and not a basis for political unity or a viable foundation for a modern state. Furthermore, the prevalence of old grudges and nationalist rivalries (particularly in the Arab world) have prevented large-scale interstate cooperation amongst Muslim states from taking place. Though Islam is still a dominant influence in most Muslim societies and many Muslims remain in favor of a Caliphate, tight restrictions on political activity in many Muslim countries coupled with the tremendous practical obstacles to uniting over fifty disparate nation-states under a single institution have prevented efforts to revive the Caliphate from garnering much active support, even amongst devout Muslims. Popular apolitical Islamic movements such as the Tablighi Jamaat identify a lack of spirituality and decline in religious observance as the root cause of the Muslim World's problems, and claim that the Caliphate cannot be successfully revived until these deficiencies are addressed. No attempts at rebuilding a power structure based on Islam were successful anywhere in the Muslim World until the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which was based on Shia principles and did not deal with the issue of a global Caliphate. Though Islamist movements have gained momentum in recent years, most are locally oriented and do not outwardly call for a restoration of the Caliphate. Furthermore, such movements have as yet been unable to agree on a roadmap or a coherent model of Islamic governance, and dialog on this issue amongst Muslim intellectuals has been characterized by uncertainty and confusion amidst a broad range of viewpoints on what a modern Islamic state should look like. Mainstream Islamic institutions in Muslim countries today have generally not made the restoration of the Caliphate a top priority and have instead focused on other issues.
Famous caliphs
- Abu Bakr - First rightly guided caliph of the Sunnis. Subdued rebel tribes in the Ridda Wars.
- Umar ibn al-Khattab - Second rightly guided caliph. During his reign, the Islamic empire expanded to include Egypt, Jerusalem, and Persia.
- Uthman ibn Affan - Third rightly guided caliph. The Qur'an was compiled under his direction. Killed by rebels.
- Ali ibn Abi Talib - Fourth and last rightly guided caliph, and considered the first imam by Shi'a Muslims. His reign was fraught with internal conflict.
- Muawiya I - First Umayyad caliph. Muawiya instituted dynastic rule by appointing his son Yazid as his successor, a trend that would continue through all subsequent caliphates.
- Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz - Umayyad caliph considered by some (mainly Sunnis) to be a fifth rightly guided caliph.
- Haroon al-Rasheed - Abbasid caliph during whose reign Baghdad became the world's preeminent center of trade, learning, and culture. Haroon is the subject of many stories in the famous work 1001 Arabian Nights.
- Suleiman the Magnificent - Early Ottoman Sultan during whose reign the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith.
Dynasties
The more important dynasties include:
- The Umayyad dynasty in Damascus (661-750), followed by:
- The Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad (750-1258), and later in Cairo (under Mameluke control) (1260-1517)
- The Shi'ite Fatimid dynasty in North Africa and Egypt (not universally accepted; 909-1171)
- The Umayyad Emirs of Córdoba, Spain, declared themselves Caliphs (known as the Caliphs of Cordoba; not universally accepted; 929-1031)
- The Almohad dynasty in North Africa and Spain (not universally accepted; 1145-1269)
- The Ottomans (1453-1924)
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