Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Ahmad Birashk, A Comparative Calen-

dar of the Iranian, Muslim Lunar, and Christian Eras for 

Three Thousand Years: 1260 BH–2000 AH; 639 BC–2621 

c

.

e

. (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1993); 

David A. King, Astronomy in the Service of Islam (Alder-

shot, U.K. and Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum, 1993); Ahmad 

Hussein Sakr, Feast, Festivities and Holidays (Lombard, 

Ill.: Foundation for Islamic Knowledge, 1999).

caliph

 

(Arabic: 

khalifa, deputy, vicegerent)

Caliph is the title of the ruler of the Islamic com-

munity after the 

death

 of m

Uhammad

 in 632 and 

was claimed by many pretenders to that leader-

ship. Another title given the caliph was “com-

mander of the faithful” (amir al-muminin).

As a prophet, Muhammad had been a unique 

leader exercising absolute religious and political 

aUthority

. The caliphs were not prophets and 

therefore could not exercise this dual authority 

in the same way, and yet the community was 

accustomed to leadership that was both political 

and religious. The first four caliphs, known as 

the Rashidun, or rightly guided, exercised some 

religious authority as c

ompanions

 

oF

 

the

 p

rophet

,

but over time, the position came increasingly to 

be a political one.

The majority Sunni view among Muslims is 

that Muhammad did not appoint a successor, 

and so his companions and leaders within the 

community agreed upon a

bU

 b

akr

 (r. 632–634). 

There was no consensus, however, on whether 

a caliph should be appointed or elected and by 

whom, on what basis the selection should be 

made, nor on the precise duties and responsi-

bilities of the caliph. These questions would con-

tinue to plague Islamic 

government

 throughout 

the period of the 

caliphate

. Abu Bakr appointed 

U

mar

 

ibn

 

al

-k

hattab

 (r. 634—644) as his succes-

sor, and it was during his caliphate that many of 

the early Arab Muslim conquests took place. Due 

in part to the legacy of the conquests, but even 

more to Umar’s ability to combine egalitarian 

leadership and religious piety, he came to symbol-

ize the ideal caliph. His status was heightened by 

the fact that the reigns of U

thman

 

ibn

 

al

-a

FFan

(r. 644–656) and a

li

 

ibn

  a

bi

  t

alib

 (r. 656–661) 

that followed him were marked by internal strife 

and civil war. These events led to the permanent 

division of the Muslim community into Shii and 

Sunni Islam and brought about the end of the 

Rashidun caliphate. Subsequently, few caliphs 

could be held up as ideal Islamic rulers. Rather, 

they inherited and exercised their power in a 

way similar to that of the kings and emperors in 

neighboring non-Islamic lands.

After the 10th century, the caliph’s power 

was overshadowed in the political realm by the 

sUltan

s, and in the area of religion by the 

Ulama

.

The caliph’s strength and significance was based 

primarily on his role as the symbolic head of the 

Islamic community. It was for this reason that the 

Ottoman sultan Selim (r. 1512–1520), upon con-

quering the Islamic heartlands in the early 16th 

century, adopted the title of caliph in order to 

strengthen his religious legitimacy and authority.

As Ottoman power waned in relation to that 

of European rulers from the 18th century onward, 

Ottoman sultans sought to retain some authority 

by claiming to be the spiritual leaders of the Mus-

lims and defenders of Islam. The Ottoman defeat 

in World War I, which led to the rise of the new 

Turkish Republic, meant the end of the caliphate. 

The founder of the new secular state of t

Urkey

, 

m

UstaFa

 k

emal

 a

tatUrk

, formally abolished it in 

1924.