Caliph is he title given to followers of Muhammadwho once he died, exercised double civil and religious power until 1922. The caliphs had to be Arabs and be part of the family of the prophet Muhammad.
The word caliph, also known as khalifa, is of Arabic origin “خليفة“which means “representative.” The caliphs were seen as the highest authority of Islam in the spiritual, earthly and judicial fields. Also, the caliph was seen as the highest authority of the Islamic empire.
The main function of a caliph It is to exercise authority in the umma or Muslim community according to the precedents and teachings created by Muhammad, this was so to the point that the caliphs could not prescribe any dogma since it was considered that divine revelation was completed, declared and put into practice. manifested through Muhammad.
In the year 632 Muhammad died and his successor was Muhammad’s best companion Abu Bakr, with the title “halifa rasul Allah“, refers to the successor sent by God (Muhammad), this was characterized by his human quality and his faith among the Islamic community, the second caliph was “Amir al-Muslimin” indicates “the one who exercises authority among the practitioners”, they were only in charge of lead the muslim community and, not all of them were completely recognized by the community, which gave rise to the existence of various caliphs in order to direct each community that sympathized with him.
Islam was divided into 3 branches; Shiism, Sunism and Kharijism, this is because each group established its own succession. In the case of the Shiites, they maintained that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law, wife of his daughter Fatima, Ali Abi Talib, as successor before he died. Jariyies established that the Caliph had to be elected by all the participants of the Muslim community and, this It caused a civil war that divided the umma as previously indicated.
As a consequence of what was said above, from the year 632 to the year 1924, There were 6 caliphates: Four Orthodox Caliphs (recognized by both Shiites, Sunnis and Kharijites), Umayyad Caliphate (Suni), Abbasid Caliphate (Suni), Fatimid Caliphate (Shiite), Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (Suni) and Ottoman Caliphate (Sunni).
For its part, it can be deduced that the title Caliph presents similarity or similarities with other institutions, as is the case of the figure of the pope in the Catholic Church or the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism.
See also: Islam, Islamism and the Koran.