Caliphate
Islamic form of government
A caliphate is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the entire Muslim world (ummah). Historically, the caliphates were polities based on Islam which developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires.
During the medieval period, three major caliphates succeeded each other: the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1517). In the fourth major caliphate, the Ottoman Caliphate, the rulers of the Ottoman Empire claimed caliphal authority from 1517 until the Ottoman Caliphate was formally abolished as part of the 1924 secularisation of Turkey. The Sharif of Mecca then claimed the title, but this caliphate fell quickly after its conquest by the Sultanate of Nejd (the predecessor of modern-day Saudi Arabia), leaving the claim in dormancy. Throughout the history of Islam, a few other Muslim states, almost all of which were hereditary monarchies, have claimed to be caliphates.
Not all Muslim states have had caliphates. The Sunni branch of Islam stipulates that, as a head of state, a caliph should be elected by Muslims or their representatives. Shia Muslims believe a caliph should be an imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt (the 'Household of the Prophet'). Some caliphates in history have been led by Shia Muslims, like the Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171).
“Caliphate” enters the record as islamic form of government. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Caliphate, Islamic and form can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Caliphate” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Caliphate, Islamic and form provides the most credible route into that argument.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q131401. VIAF identifies the subject as 257263881. The Library of Congress control number is sh85018926. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1517, 1924 and 1171.
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This entry incorporates text from “Caliphate” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.