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Caliphate

The Successor of the Prophet or Khalīfa, Caliph in its most common English spelling, was the title taken by Abu Bakr, the father-in-law of Muhammad, when he succeeded him as leader of the Ummah or community of Islam in 632. The title has the implication of ruler of all the Islamic world, although this was a rather dubious claim in the case of some later rulers who were sometimes styled "Caliph", such as the Ottoman Emperors who are more accurately called Sultans. Caliphs also used the title emir al mumenin, "Commander of the Faithful".

The word came through French , which got it from Latin (calīpha), and originates in the Arabic verb khalafa, meaning "to succeed" or "to be behind". Some Orientalist wrote it as Khalîf. Some movements in modern Islamic philosophy justify religious leadership via khalifa, meaning roughly "to steward" or "to protect the same things as God", and propose this to renew the Caliphate.

Famous caliphs

the four "wellguided" caliphs:

Dynasties

the first four caliphs were followed by the

Other regional dynasties set themselves up as Caliphs:

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump