caliph is a title given to the religious leader of the Islamic community, considered by Muslims as one of the successors of the prophet Mohammed.
The caliph is the top boss of a caliphate, which consists of a kind of system of government for Muslims based on Islamic laws (sharia).
Caliphs represent the greatest legal, political, military, social and religious authority within their caliphates. Comparatively, a caliph can be considered a type of emperor from the perspective of the Western world.
The word "caliph" is derived from khalifa, abbreviated version of khalifatu rasulil-lah, expression that means “Successor of the Messenger of God”, in the Arabic translation.
Learn more about the meaning of Sharia.
According to the history of Islam, the first caliph would have been Abu Bakr, the father-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, who assumed the leadership of the Islamic community in 632 d. Ç.
After several dynasties of caliphates that ruled the Islamic world, the title of caliph was officially abolished when the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by the Republic of Turkey in 1924.
However, in 2014, a group of jihadists Sunnis announced the creation of a caliphate in the region that became known as Islamic state (between Syria and Iraq) under the command of Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
See also: the meaning of Islamic state It's from Islam.
