Some points on the Caliphate Past and Present | Contemporary religion in historical perspective

For non-Muslims the word caliph might bring to mind Harun al-Rashid, a caliph who features in a number of the fantastical tales of The Thousand and One Nights, as well as in for instance poems by Alfred Tennyson (‘Recollections of the Arabian Nights’) and W.B. Yeats (‘The Gift of Harun al-Rashid’), and in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The office of caliph and the institution of the caliphate have a complex and fascinating history. The recent proclamation by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), of a caliphate in Syria, prompted me to say a bit about this and comment on its current significance.

The first caliph (from the Arabic khalifat rasul Allah, the deputy or successor of the Prophet of God) was Abu Bakr, chosen as the leader of the new Muslim community that had been created by the Prophet Muhammad after the latter’s death in 632 CE. At least in theory the caliph’s authority was political as well as religious, and it was universal – the caliph was the ruler of all Muslims. The first four caliphs were chosen by the Muslim elite, and the period of their rule is usually regarded by Sunni Muslims as having been a kind of golden age. After them, in practice if not in theory, the office of caliph became hereditary in a single family, first the Umayyads and then the Abbasids. Caliph Harun al-Rashid (ruled 786-809 CE) was one of the great Abbasid caliphs. During the campaigns he led against the Christian Byzantine Empire he based himself in the city of Raqqa, in north-eastern Syria (now the ISIS headquarters).

Over time the Muslim empire gradually disintegrated into different political units, and in the Middle East the caliph’s political power passed to a separate institution instituted by the Seljuq Turks, the sultanate (the word sultan meaning authority or rule), and the caliph’s authority became largely symbolic. In 1258 CE Mongol invaders conquered Iraq and executed Al-Musta‘sim, the last Abbasid caliph of Baghdad, although a line of ‘shadow-caliphs’ (as the historian Bernard Lewis refers to them) from the Abbasid family continued in Egypt. In 1516-1517 CE the Ottomans conquered Egypt; the Abbasid caliphal line ended, and caliph became one of the many titles by which the Ottoman sultans were known. During the 18^th century CE as the Ottoman Empire began to lose territory to European rivals the sultans began to make more of their caliphal claim. They argued that as caliphs their authority was not limited to Muslims living in their empire, and appealed to all Muslims to support them against the encroaching European empires.

They enjoyed some success with this. For instance at the beginning of WWI the Ottoman sultan ordered Muslims living under European rule to rise against their rulers, and some revolts did follow, for example in Libya and Darfur; after the war some Indian Muslims became involved in the anti-British Khilafat movement because of the part Britain was playing in dismembering the defeated Ottoman Empire. In 1922 the Turkish war hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Ottoman sultanate, but allowed a member of the sultan’s family to retain the title of caliph; in 1924 however Ataturk abolished the caliphate too. After that there was no caliph, though in the 1920s and 1930s various ambitious rulers in the Muslim-majority world hoped to be recognised as such. Some groups, such as Hizb al-Tahrir, have continued to call for a revival of the caliphate (the late Osama bin Laden also called for this too). The term caliph continues to evoke memories and utopian ideals of righteous rule, universal authority, imperial glory, and resistance to non-Muslim domination. Though it seems unlikely that many Muslims will accept al-Baghdadi’s caliphal claim as legitimate, a few may find it compelling enough to give him their support.

Hugh Beattie (Open University)