What is caliphate?

Do you know what a caliphate is? A caliphate is a state governed by a caliph, considered a direct heir to the prophet Muhammad by Sunni Muslims, who account for around 90% of Muslims. The first caliphate was built shortly after Muhammad's death, when his father-in-law, Abu Bakr, was elected caliph and continued the process of expansion of Islam started by Muhammad. Over time, hereditary criteria began to be used to appoint a new caliph. From that moment on, several dynasties began to exercise this type of government. The last dynasty of caliphs was the Ottoman, which existed between the beginning of the 16th century and 1924, when the Republic of Turkey abolished it. Currently, some Islamic terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State, are calling for the creation of a new caliphate.

Read too: What are the main differences between Arabs and Muslims?

Topics in this article

• 1 - Summary about caliphate
• 2 - Who are the caliphs?
  • → List of caliphs
• 3 - Origin and history of the caliphate
• 4 - Abolition of the caliphate
• 5 - How does the caliphate work?
• 6 - Importance of the caliphate
• 7 - Differences between emirate and caliphate
• 8 - Islamic State and the caliphate

Summary about caliphate

• Caliphate is a state ruled by a caliph, considered by Sunni Muslims to be a direct heir of the Prophet Muhammad.
• The word caliph means something close to “successor”. The caliph, head of the caliphate, was considered a descendant of Muhammad.
• Some of the main caliphs are: Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Moáuia I, Umar II, Hisham, Al Mansur, Selim I and Abdul Mejide II.
• With the death of Muhammad in 632 AD. W. there was a meeting at which his father-in-law Abu Bakr was elected the first caliph.
• A group of Muslims did not accept Abu's choice, claiming that Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the prophet's true successor.
• Ali's supporters became the Shiites, a minority group within Islam.
• The caliphate expanded rapidly in the first century, conquering regions of Asia, Africa and Europe.
• In 1453 the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, today the capital of Turkey, Istanbul, and made it the capital of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire.
• In 1924, after the proclamation of a Republic in Turkey, the caliphate was definitively abolished.
• In a caliphate, the caliph occupied the top of the social pyramid, with the leader having a political, religious and military role.
• The caliphate was important for the expansion of the Islamic faith and cultural exchange.
• Emirate and caliphate are terms that should not be confused. An emirate was an administrative territory of a caliphate.
• The Islamic State is an Islamic terrorist group that was founded in 2003 as a caliphate.

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Who are the caliphs?

Caliphate is an Islamic state ruled by a caliph. The word “caliph” means “successor”, this is because the caliphs were considered by Sunni Muslims to be the direct successors of Muhammad, prophet of islamic religion.

In a caliphate, the caliphs played the role of heads of state, government and, sometimes, religious. During the Turkish-Ottoman Empire the caliph was also called sultan.

→ List of caliphs

16th century painting depicting Selim I, one of the main caliphs, sitting on his throne.

In the more than a thousand years of the caliphate, hundreds of caliphs held the position. Below is a list of the main caliphs in history.

• Abu Bakr: He was a wealthy merchant from the region of modern-day Saudi Arabia and father-in-law of Muhammad. He was one of the people closest to Muhammad and financed his wars using his fortune. After the prophet's death, Abu Bakr was elected the first caliph.
• Umar ibn al-Khattab: He was the successor of Abu Bakr, during his government the caliphate conquered the region of Mesopotamia, Egypt, part of Persia (current Iran) and the city of Jerusalem.
• Moáuia I: He was the first caliph to institute the dynastic caliphate, naming his son as his successor. He was the first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty.
• Umar II: He is considered one of the main caliphs, holding office between 717 and 720. During his short caliphate he carried out major reforms, including the establishment of equality between Arab and non-Arab Muslims, a measure that considerably increased the military strength of the caliphate. Umar II is considered by Muslims to be a true caliph, as he is considered peaceful, just and pious.
• Hisham: Considered a wise caliph. During his government, education was encouraged throughout the caliphate and many schools were built. He also sponsored several artists and translators who transcribed ancient texts from different civilizations.
• Al Mansur: He was caliph of the Abbasid dynasty between 754 and 775. During his caliphate he founded the city of Baghdad, Iraq. This became the capital of the caliphate.
• Saddle I: He was caliph of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire between 1512 and 1520. During his government, the caliphate expanded across North Africa, growing by around 70%.
• Abdul Mejide II: His caliphate lasted from 1922 until 1924, and he is considered the last de facto caliph. During his caliphate, a large secular movement in Turkey, influenced by ideas considered Western, won a revolution and, in 1924, the caliphate was abolished.

Origin and history of the caliphate

Muhammad created the State of Medina, where he played the role of political and religious leader. Muhammad died in 632 AD. W. leaving no heirs old enough to rule. Muhammad also did not name an heir and left no instructions for choosing the new leader of Islam. Like this, With the death of Muhammad, a dispute began to decide who would be his successor:

• A group of leaders met in the city of Saqifah and there chose Muhammad's father-in-law, Abu Bakr, as the first caliph. This group argued that caliphs should be elected whenever a caliph died.
• Another group of Mohammedans argued that Muhammad, in his speeches and writings, had chosen his first-son-in-law as his successor, Ali. They also argued that the caliphs should be from Muhammad's family and that they should not be elected.

Map showing countries with a predominance of Sunnis (green), Shiites (red) and predominantly Ibadis (blue). ^[2]

The division into groups and conflicts were the hallmarks of the beginning of the caliphate. Otomão, the third caliph, was elected and continued the expansion of Islam, completing the conquest of Persia and conquering the island of Cyprus.

Two groups began to oppose Otomão, one group was led by Ali, Muhammad's cousin, and the other was led by Aixa, Muhammad's third wife and, for many, his favorite wife. It is worth remembering that Islam continued the practice of polygamy, common among the people of the Arabian Peninsula.

Otomão was murdered in 656, when he was at home. After the death of the third caliph, the First Islamic Civil War, also known as the First Fitna, began. Fitna was a process in which slag was removed from molten metals, in the religious sense; a fitna was something like a war to remove the impurities of Islam.

The First Fitna ended with an agreement that chose Ali ibn Abi Talibe as the caliph of all Muslims. It is worth remembering that Ali was already Muhammad's successor for the Shiites, as he was the prophet's cousin and married to his daughter, Fátima. The word Shia itself derives from “Shi at Ali”, or “supporters of Ali”.

There he lived for many years in the same house as Muhammad, participated with him in several battles and accompanied him on the Hegira, the flight from Mecca to Medina. After a brief caliphate, marked by wars, Ali was assassinated by a poisoned sword while praying in a mosque.

He had two sons, Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein; the first ended up being murdered by poison and the second was killed in battle. New succession dispute befell the caliphate after Ali's assassination. With the death of Al-Hussein, Shiites did not consider the next caliphs legitimate.

These disputes in the choice of caliphs occurred until the caliphate of Moáuia I, who established the heredity as a criterion for choosing the new caliph. This measure reduced conflicts between different Muslim groups.

Also access: What are the main differences between Shiites and Sunnis?

Abolition of the caliphate

The Turkish Empire, commanded by the Ottoman dynasty, was one of the largest and longest-lasting in history. But from the 19th century onwards it went into crisis and disintegrated after the Turkish defeat in the First World War.

On October 29, 1923, the Turkish Grand National Assembly proclaimed a secular republic in Turkey. On March 3, 1924, the Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the caliphate, and the caliph and his entire family had to leave the country. Abdul Mejide II was the last caliph who had real political power and was internationally recognized.

How does the caliphate work?

After the Umayyads, the caliphate became a hereditary absolute monarchy. In it, The caliph occupied the top of the social pyramid, being the political, religious and military leader.

There was also the Majlis ash-Shura, a type of advisory council composed of nobles, military and religious leaders. This council assisted the caliph in his political, economic and military decisions. He was also responsible for the transition between one caliphate and another, after the death of the caliph.

Sharia was the main legal system adopted during the caliphates. Sharia has provisions for various aspects of everyday life, such as family, criminal, business and financial law. The way in which Sharia was applied varied according to the region and the dynasty in power, but it was often applied in the most radical way, in which theft was punished with amputation of the hand or adultery with the death penalty, for example.

The Muslim Agricultural Revolution began in the 8th century, when new technologies and new cultivated species drastically increased production, leading to the Golden Age of Islam. During this period, which lasted until the 13th century, land ownership began to be permitted for any Muslim, regardless of gender, ethnic origin or date of conversion to Islam.

For some economists, mercantile capitalism actually emerged in the Umayyad caliphate., when a kind of free market occurred and the dinar was the currency used across a wide territory.

During the centuries of caliphate Several dynasties of caliphs ruled, often conflicting with each other for power. Among the main dynasties of caliphs we have:

• the Umayyad (661-750), which ruled from Damascus, in modern-day Lebanon;
• the Abbasid (750-1258), whose capital was Baghdad, in present-day Iraq;
• the Umayyad (929-1031), of the Caliphate of Córdoba, in Spain;
• the Ottoman (1453-1924), which ruled from present-day Türkiye.

Important: At times there was more than one caliphate, as in the period of the Abbasid and Umayyad caliphates, each with its own territory.

Importance of the caliphate

The first great importance of the caliphate was the expansion of the Islamic faith. The caliphate brought together military and economic power, which allowed the Islamic faith to quickly expand across several continents. The caliphate also maintained the political unity of Islam and, to some extent, religious unity.

Caliphates were also important for cultural exchange. As the caliphates were generally a multi-ethnic empire, diverse cultures were shared, as well as diverse knowledge and technologies. This exchange, together with economic prosperity, allowed the development of algebra, chemistry (alchemy), astronomy, medicine, among many other areas.

Differences between emirate and caliphate

An emir is a military and political leader of a province or, currently, a country. During the caliphate, the caliph was the maximum ruler and, in the provinces, power was exercised by the “amir al-umara”, a type of governor who obeyed only the caliph himself. That way an emirate was an administrative territory of a caliphate, similar to a federation unit of current Brazil.

Today some countries in the Middle East call themselves emirates, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait It is Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates, for example, is a confederation made up of seven emirates, each of which has its own ruler, the emir.

Islamic State and the caliphate

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was founded in 2003 as a caliphate. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was appointed by members of the Islamic State as caliph of all Muslims.

At its peak, it dominated a region between Syria and Iraq about the size of the United Kingdom. In these regions controlled by IS, Sharia was applied in a radical way, murdering non-Islamic groups, homosexuals, among many others.

Map representing the caliphate proposed by the Islamic State. ^[3]

In the view of the Islamic State All Muslim peoples should submit to the authority of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the new caliph. Regions such as Portugal, Spain and Greece should be conquered and integrated into the caliphate because they are, in the Islamic State's view, historically Muslim.

In October 2019, the US government announced the death of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in an operation by United States forces. Upon finding himself surrounded by troops, Baghdadi allegedly exploded an explosive belt he was carrying, also killing his two children, who were still infants.

Other caliphs were appointed by the Islamic State, and all of them were quickly killed by US troops. Find out more details about the Islamic State by clicking here.

Image credits

^[1]Gabagool/Bassem/Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)

^[2]Baba66/NordNordWest/Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)

^[3]Bettyreategui / Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)

Sources

GORDON, Matthew. Knowing Islam: origins, beliefs, practices, sacred texts, sacred places. Editora Vozes, São Paulo, 2009.

ROGERSON, Barnaby. The prophet Muhammad. Editora Record, Rio de Janeiro, 2008.

QUATAERT, Donald. Ottoman Empire: from the origins to the 21st century. Editions 70, São Paulo, 2008.