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Caliphate
Caliphate:
1a. The rank, dignity, or office of caliph;
1b. The reign or term of office of a caliph.
2. The dominion of a caliph.
Caliph:
The title given in Muslim countries to the chief civil and religious ruler, as successor of the Prophet Muhammad.
Term Variants: Khilafah
How this term should be used
Recommendations on Usage
It is our recommendation that journalists avoid using the word “Caliphate” uncritically when referring to Daesh. At the very least, it should be made clear that this status is illegitimate and self-given.
In the history of Islam, the term “Caliphate” is one of particular importance. The Caliph (Khalifah in Arabic) is understood to be the political and religious successor to the Prophet Muhammad.
In recent times, terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and more notably, Daesh have appointed themselves as Caliphate Revivalists. These claims, however, have been widely rejected by Muslims and hold little currency outside of terrorist circles.
The Rashidun Caliphate
In Sunni Islam, The Rashidun (Rightly Guided) Caliphs, were the first four Caliphs who governed Muslims after the death of the Prophet Muhamad in 632 CE. In order of succession, the Rashidun Caliphs were:
- Abu Bakr (632-634 CE)
- Umar ibn al-Khattab (634-644 CE)
- Uthman ibn Affan (644-656 CE)
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (656-661 CE)
Crucially, however, the Shi’a view maintains that the first Caliph after the death of Muhammad (PBUH) should have been Ali ibn Abi Talib.
The Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyad Dynasty, which marked the first sectarian split in the history of Islam, came after Uthman’s assassination, when Muawiyah I seized control of the Caliphate. It lasted until 750 CE when it was overthrown by the followers of the Abbasid family in the Battle of the Great Zab.
The Abbasids, who were descendants of an uncle of Muhammad, were able to overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate by appealing to various disgruntled groups and owed the success of their revolt “in particular to the aid of the Shi’ah, who held that the Caliphate belonged by right to the descendants of Ali. That the Abbasids disappointed the expectations of the Shi’ah by taking the Caliphate for themselves left the Shi’ah to evolve into a sect, permanently hostile to the Sunni majority…”2
The Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate ruled the Muslim World from 750 to 1258, with the early period of 750-945 arguably marking the golden age of the concept of the Caliphate.3 According to the historian Hugh Kennedy, the legacy and memory of the Abbasids persists to the present day: “To give just one example the choice of the colour black as a symbol by the present ISIS caliphate…is a clear and direct reference to the Abbasids, who adopted black as the official colour for court dress.”4
The Ottoman Empire
With the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th Century, Ottoman sultans “began to stress their claim to leadership of the Islamic community”5 in order to bolster their legitimacy over their imperial subjects. This notional caliphate came to an end with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War 1.