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social science subjects > politics and international relations > global studies > global governance and world order > caliphates
... > social science subjects > politics and international relations > political science > political theory > medieval political thought > caliphates

Preferred term

caliphates  

Definition

  • The term caliphate was used classically in the West to indicate the “successor” to the Prophet Muhammad, while the Arabic term khalifa signifies the office or institution of a single ruler and symbolic leader of the entire Muslim community (umma). Rival claims to this office were the source of three early civil wars (fitnas) in the first century of Islam, resulting in the creation of sects within Islam based first on loyalty to rival claimants and ultimately on diverging conceptions of the meaning and authority of the office itself. [Source: Encyclopedia of Political Theory; Caliphate]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/caliphates

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