Caliph

Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. It is an Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah ({{Audio|Ar-khalifa.ogg|listen}}) which means "successor", that is, successor to the prophet Muhammad. Some Orientalists wrote the title as Khalîf. The Caliph has often been referred to as Ameer al-Mumineen (أمير المؤمنين), or "Prince of the Faithful," where "Prince" is used in the context of "commander." The title has been defunct since the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate in 1924. Historically selected by committee, the holder of this title claims temporal and spiritual authority over all Muslims, but is not regarded as a possessor of a prophetic mission, as Muhammad is regarded in Islam as the final prophet.

Contemporary Muslim Attitudes toward the Caliphate

Once the subject of intense conflict and rivalry amongst Muslim rulers, the Caliphate has lain dormant and largely unclaimed for much of the past 81 years. The reasons for this are varied and complex. After World War I, most Muslim lands fell under foreign occupation. The Muslim World was subsequently reshaped along secular nationalist lines and heavily influenced by Western or socialist political philosophies. The role of mosques and the religious establishment was substantially reduced in most Muslim countries, leading to the emergence of political and military elites that viewed Islam as a personal matter and not a basis for political unity or a viable foundation for a modern state. Furthermore, the prevalence of old grudges and nationalist rivalries (particularly in the Arab world) have prevented large-scale interstate cooperation amongst Muslim states from taking place.

Related Topics:
Socialist - Mosques - Arab

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Though Islam is still a dominant influence in most Muslim societies and many Muslims remain in favor of a Caliphate, tight restrictions on political activity in many Muslim countries coupled with the tremendous practical obstacles to uniting over fifty disparate nation-states under a single institution have prevented efforts to revive the Caliphate from garnering much active support, even amongst devout Muslims. Popular apolitical Islamic movements such as the Tablighi Jamaat identify a lack of spirituality and decline in religious observance as the root cause of the Muslim World's problems, and claim that the Caliphate cannot be successfully revived until these deficiencies are addressed. No attempts at rebuilding a power structure based on Islam were successful anywhere in the Muslim World until the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which was based on Shia principles and did not deal with the issue of a global Caliphate.

Related Topics:
Nation-states - Tablighi Jamaat - Iranian Revolution - Shia

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Sunni & Wahabi Islamist movements have gained momentum in recent years, calling for a restoration of the Caliphate. However many such movements have as yet been unable to agree on a roadmap or a coherent model of Islamic governance, and dialog on this issue amongst Muslim intellectuals has been characterized by uncertainty and confusion amidst a broad range of viewpoints on what a modern Islamic state should look like. Many Islamic institutions in Muslim countries today have generally not made the restoration of the Caliphate a top priority and have instead focused on other issues. Most regimes have actually been hostile to such a call. The party most known to call for the restoration of a Caliphate are the transnational vanguard Hizb_ut-Tahrir, who have detailed a draft constitution for a future Caliphate or Khilafah, written books related to its funds, economic system, political system, and a method to go about its restoration.http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org

Related Topics:
Sunni - Wahabi - Islamist - Transnational - Vanguard - Hizb_ut-Tahrir

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