caliph

caliph, in Islamic history the ruler of the Muslim community. Although khalīfah and its plural khulafāʾ occur several times in the Qurʾān, referring to humans as God’s stewards or vice-regents on earth, the term did not denote a distinct political or religious institution during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad. It began to acquire its later meaning and to take shape as an institution after Muhammad’s death (June 8, 632 ce), when Abū Bakr, a companion of the Prophet and an early convert to Islam, was elected by a majority of Muslims as the leader of the Muslim community and assumed the title khalīfat rasūl Allāh, “successor of the messenger of God.” Abū Bakr’s successor, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, is said to have first assumed the title khalīfat Abī Bakr (“successor to Abū Bakr”), because the title khalīfat khalīfat rasūl Allāh (“the successor to the successor of the messenger of God”) would have been cumbersome. ʿUmar also designated himself amīr al-muʾminīn, “the commander of the faithful,” which became an additional customary title for succeeding rulers.

Abū Bakr and his three immediate successors are known as the “perfect” caliphs or the “rightly guided caliphs” (al-khulafāʾ al-rāshidun), whose combined rule is idealized by the majority of Muslims for having been based on the concepts of shūrā (consultation), ijmāʿ (consensus) of Muslims, and bayʿah (allegiance). In contrast, subsequent rulers of the Muslim polity instituted dynastic rule, which violated the concept of shūrā and, therefore, was largely regarded as illegitimate, although it was often grudgingly accepted in a pragmatic vein.

Nevertheless, the title of caliph was borne by the 14 Umayyad rulers of Damascus and subsequently by the 38 ʿAbbāsid caliphs of Baghdad, whose dynasty fell before the Mongols in 1258. There were titular caliphs of ʿAbbāsid descent in Cairo under the Mamlūks from 1258 until 1517, when the last caliph was captured by the Ottoman sultan Selim I. The Ottoman sultans then claimed the title and used it until it was abolished by the Turkish Republic on March 3, 1924.

After the fall of the Umayyad dynasty at Damascus (750), the title of caliph was also assumed by the Andalusian branch of the family who ruled in Spain at Córdoba (755–1031; see also Caliphate of Córdoba), and it was also assumed by the Fāṭimid rulers of Egypt (909–1171), who claimed to descend from Fāṭimah (a daughter of Muhammad) and her husband, ʿAli.

According to the Shiʿahs, who call the supreme office the “imamate,” or leadership, no caliph is legitimate unless he is a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Later, Sunni scholars insisted that the office belonged to the tribe of Quraysh, to which Muhammad himself belonged, but this condition would have vitiated the claim of the Ottoman sultans, who held the office after the last ʿAbbāsid caliph of Cairo transferred it to Selim I.

This table provides a list of the primary caliphs.