Caliph was the person acting in Muhammad's
place after his death, i.e. the leader of Islam
(sunni). When Muhammad
died in 632, the Muslim community faced
a problem on how their community should be governed, and how leaders should
be appointed. There were conflicting stories on what Muhammad
had said, and the tensions that came already with the first appointment
of a leader, a person acting in the place of the Messenger, a khalifatu
r-rasuul, few months after Muhammad's
death. Khalifa can be translated as "successor, vicegerent", but is a term that
is seldom used for anything else than the leader of the entire Muslim
community, and when other forms of usage appears the use of "Caliph" (khalifa),
is very conscient regarding the main meaning of the term.
Through history, we have seen parallel Caliphs, but none had as much symbolic power and influence as the one that followed the line of Caliphs from Abu Bakr, which was the first. This line of Caliphs had a steady residence in Damascus from 661 to 750, and Baghdad and Samarra up until 1258. After 1258, and until 1924 there have been several Caliphs, but all of these have had only limited influence, they have represented no continuation of the Caliphs of Baghdad, and in more than one case, these caliphhoods have been motivated by political motives, and few or none religious. The Muslim world have never agreed upon uniting behind anyone of these.
The Caliph carried other titles, that were less modest, as they were not relative to Muhammad, but to the Muslim community. As amiiru l-mu'miniin he was responsible for the Muslim armies. As imam he was the head of public worship, and gave khutbas (hutbe). The last Caliph was removed by the Mongols when they conquered Bagdad. After this there has been several rulers putting up their own Caliph, but the Caliphate never gained any of its former power or importance.
There are four periods of the Caliphate of Islam:
1. The Rashiduns (632-661): Rashidun is the name used for the first four Caliphs, from 632 to 661, and indicate that these were the just and admirable leaders of the Muslim community. This period was marked by a long line of conquests by the Arabs, as well as endeavors to turn the leaflets of the revelations that had been given to Muhammad into a book, the Holy Koran. Inside the Muslim realms peace prevailed until the death of Uthman in 656. As this was a murder, the Muslim could not agree upon quite who was responsible. This time, the caliphate of Ali, came with the two schismas that has impregnated Islam ever since, when first there was a break between the majority and a group now known as Kharijis, and later between the group now known as Shi'is and the Sunnis.
2. The Ummawiyys (661-750): The Ummawiyyas got their power through military actions, a fact that influenced their religious legitimacy strongly through the 90 years they had the power. Most Muslim regard the Ummawiyyas as less admirable than both the Rashiduns and the later Abbasids. Even if the Shi'is did not accept the rule of the Ummawiyy Caliphs, this group was at the time to weak to represent much of a threat to the ruling group.
3. The Abbasids (750-1258): The Abbasids was to a large extent Shi'is (the division lines of today was not as clear in those early days), and the defeating of the Ummawiyys was strongly motivated by Ali's claim on the leading position in the Muslim world. The Abbasid Caliph involved himself strongly in the religious life of the community. The distance between ruler and people became longer, the court of the Caliph was one of increasing splendor.
The 9th century was the start of the decline of the real influence of the Caliph on first politics, and soon also religious matters. The symbolic importance was, however, increased. All effective power was lost in 946. The Buyyids became the new ruling dynasty, but in secular terms. Some cases of outward importance of the Caliph was seen in some cases in the following centuries, but this was mainly instances where the secular ruler got the blessings of the Caliph, but without giving the Caliph any form of influence. The blessings, in the shape of a diploma of investiture and robes of honor was given to strong leaders as Saladin.
In 928 Abdu r-Rahman III of Spain, a desendant of the Ummawiyys, took the title caliph, a title his descendants also carried. The Fatimids of Egypt had also taken this title, as far as back to 909, but they put less emphasis on this than what the Ummawiyys of Spain did.
4. The period after 1258: When al-Musta'sim was killed in 1258 by the Mongols, he did not leave any heir. The uncle of al-Musta'sim was however installed in the position as Caliph in 1261 in Cairo, but this Caliph disappeared in the desert when bringing an army up north in order to try to sack the Mongols. A new Caliph was installed in 1262, once again in Cairo, this also a relative of al-Musta'sim. A mere symbol, without the permission to move freely around, this new line of Caliphs stayed in their position for about 250 years. Except from installing the Sultan in great ceremonies, this Caliph had no importance. The Abbasid Caliph of Cairo was also ignored by the rest of the Muslim world.
In several places Caliphs popped up, in Maghreb, with the Seljuks, the Timurids, the Turcomans, the Uzbeks and the Ottomans. When the Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517, the remaining Caliph was transported to Istanbul, the Ottoman Sultan Selim called himself Caliph. Later sources claims that the Abbasid caliph transferred his dignity to Selim. In the 18th century the importance of being Caliph had grown stronger for the Ottoman Sultan, and started to call himself the protector of the Muslim religion. Some influence did the Ottoman Caliph and Sultan have. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan held on to his title of Caliph for two more years, until his office was abolished in March 1924 by Atatürk.
A congress in Cairo in 1926, that tried to reestablish the Caliphate, did not manage to succeed. Important Muslim countries did not participate, and the resolutions agreed upon did not result in real actions, even if they expressed to be in favor of a Caliphate. Since then nothing has been done, much due to nationalism in the different countries. There are no more Caliphs around the world today.
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