Caliphs and Caliphates

Question: What was the name of the Ismāʿīlī Shīʿite dynasty that rejected the authority of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs and instead declared its own caliphate in North Africa?

Answer: The Fāṭimids founded Cairo in the 10th century to rival the ʿAbbāsid capital, Baghdad.

Question: The word caliph, from the Arabic khalīfah, means:

Answer: The caliph was considered the successor to Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community.

Question: The first four Caliphs are traditionally referred to as “rightly guided,” which in Arabic means:

Answer: Rāshidūn comes from the Arabic root r-sh-d, which denotes integrity and following the correct moral path

Question: Which caliph’s murder touched off the first Muslim civil war (656-661)?

Answer: ʿUthmān was murdered in 656 by rebels from Egypt whose grievances included what they considered to be the unfair distribution of tax revenue and war spoils.

Question: Which city was the capital of the caliphate during the Umayyad period (661-750)?

Answer: The Umayyad dynasty relied heavily on the Syrian army as the base of its power.

Question: How was Abū Bakr chosen as the first caliph?

Answer: After negotiations senior members of the community of swore allegiance to Abū Bakr, although some groups had initially resisted his appointment.

Question: In what city were ʿAbbāsid caliphs maintained as powerless figureheads following the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258?

Answer: The caliphate continued as a symbol of Islamic legitimacy in Cairo, and members of ʿAbbāsid dynasty continued to hold the title of caliph. But all meaningful power was wielded by the ruling Mamlūk sultans.

Question: In the decades following the death of Muhammad, Muslim armies conquered large amounts of territory that had previously belonged to which two empires?

Answer: By the beginning of the 8th century the Byzantine Empire was limited to Anatolia and pockets of territory in Europe, while the Sasanian Empire had collapsed completely.

Question: Which caliph is credited with ordering the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?

Answer: The oldest extant Islamic monument, the Dome of the Rock was completed in 691-692.

Question: Where did the last surviving member of the Umayyad house set up a new dynasty after the Umayyads overthrown by the ʿAbbāsids?

Answer: The Umayyad dynasty in Iberia ruled from Cordoba until 1031.