List of caliphs

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The caliph ( Arabic خليفة Chalifa ,DMG ḫalīfa  'successor') is, according to theIslamicfaith, the successor of theProphet Mohammed, who is entrusted with the religious and political leadership of the Islamic community, the Ummah . More details can be found in the article on thecaliphate.

The caliphs listed below are initially those who - in their continuous, traditional succession from 632 to 1924 - were recognized by the vast majority of Sunnis . This is followed by a selection of important dynasties, whose rulers rose to become “counter-caliphs” in the course of history and in different parts of the Islamic world and thus challenged the established caliphate quite successfully, even though their recognition was of course always regionally limited. The Shiites have different ranks of imam caliphs depending on their direction , some of which still “rule” today. Some of the few remaining Kharijites have imams who also have the role of caliphs.

Historiogram on the succession of caliphs up to 1300

The four "rightly guided caliphs" (al-chulafa ar-rasidun)

Caliphate dynasties

Sunni majority caliphs

The Umayyads of Damascus

Under the Umayyads , who ruled a world empire from Damascus , the office of caliph became hereditary.

The Abbasids

After the bloody overthrow of the Umayyads of Damascus, the Abbasids founded the Second Caliph dynasty.

Abbasids of Baghdad

The capital of the Abbasid Caliphate was initially the flourishing Tigris metropolis of Baghdad for a long time .

Abbasids of Cairo

After the conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols , the Egyptian Mamluk sultans restored the Abbasid caliphate in Cairo .

The Ottomans

The Peace of Küçük Kaynarca “reminded” Abdülhamid I in 1774 that his ancestor Selim I had assumed the title of caliph since the conquest of Cairo in 1517. As a result, the Ottoman sultans could formally remain the religious head of the Muslims in Crimea , while Russia became the protective power of the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Other caliphate dynasties

The Fatimids

Probably the most successful of all the counter-caliphates was that of the Ismaili Fatimids . It was temporarily recognized from Morocco to Mesopotamia and also controlled the two holy sites of Mecca and Medina .

The Umayyads of Cordoba

Shortly after the Shiite Fatimids, the Umayyads of Cordoba, overthrown by the Abbasids, founded a counter-caliphate, which was only recognized in al-Andalus and parts of the Maghreb .

The Almohads

The Sunni caliphate of the Berber Almohads was recognized in the Maghreb.

The Hafsiden

The caliphs of Sokoto

The caliphs of Omdurman

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Josef Matuz: The Ottoman Empire . 7th, 4th unchanged edition. Scientific Book Society, WBG, Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-86312-812-8 , p. 202 f . (First edition: 1985).