Khilafah (Caliphate)

Upon Muhammad's death (632)

According to the hadiths, the people of Medina got together to collectively ascertain a leader to take Muhammad's place shortly after Muhammad's death. Abu Bakr and Umar, however, decided that this council-based appointment would lead to infighting, and thus Abu Bakr suggested either Umar or Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah be made leader. When the Medinans refused to make a choice between these two, Umar declared his allegiance to Abu Bakr as caliph. The Medinans present, it is said, then followed suit.

It is also reported that upon Abu Bakr's designation as caliph, Ali refused to accept Abu Bakr as the caliph, presumably preferring that he himself, as son-in-law and cousin of Muhammad, be appointed caliph instead. Ultimately, Umar confronted Ali, perhaps physically, and extracted his allegiance.

The Rightly Guided Caliphs, or al-Khulafa al-Rashidun (632-661)

According to Islamic theology, the first four successors of Prophet Muhammad were the "Rightly-Guided Caliphs" (Khulafaa-e-Rashidun). They were all Sahabahs (companions or apostles) who were extremely close to Muhammad, and are therefore considered by Muslims to be model Islamic leaders who ruled in accord with the Qur'an and Sunnah.^[1] The first four Caliphs were; Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali.

Abu Bakr ruled for two years before dying of natural causes in 634. Umar, Uthman, and Ali were all assassinated by political oppositionists, with Ali's stint as caliph ending in a 5-year civil war that left thousands dead and gave rise to a group that would later become the Shi'ite sect of Islam.

During the Rashidun caliphate, the Islamic empire grew from comprising just the Arabian peninsula during Muhammad's life, to comprising modern day Iran, part of modern day Turkey and the Caucasus, as well as well as lower Egypt and the northern part of modern day Libya.

Umayyad caliphate (661-750)

The Islamic empire saw great expansion under the dynastic rule of the Umayyad caliphate founded by Ali's opponent and successor, Mu'awiyya. Under the Umayyads, the Islamic empire grew to comprise modern day Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Morocco, and Spain, becoming the largest empire in history until the 8th century, and the 6th largest empire in all of history.

The Umayyad rulers did not enjoy universal support among the Muslim ummah, as they gained their thrones through birth rather than appointment. This led to multiple rebellions against Umayyad rule, some of which resulted in the solidification of the Shia-Sunni split. As the number of people pushing for a caliph from the family of the prophet grew, however, the Umayyad Dynasty would succumb to the Abbasids (descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abd al-Muttalib), scattering their efforts.

Umayyad Spain (756-1031)

Following overthrow in 750, the Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman I would flee in 756 to Codoba in modern day Spain and establish the Emirate of Cordoba. Though the Umayyad emirs of the Emirate of Cordoba would initially recognize the caliph and caliphate of the Abbasids, in 929, these Cordoban Umayyads, led by Abd al-Rahman III, would declare their own independent caliphate (to help in their fight against threatening Fatimids), transforming (heretofore-emir) Abd al-Rahman III into a caliph and transforming the Emirate of Cordoba into the Caliphate of Cordoba. The Caliphate of Cordoba would last until 1031, at which point it would dis-aggregate into various independently governed principalities.

Abbasid caliphate (750-1258)

The Abbasid overthrow of the Umayyads ushered in the Islamic Golden Age, especially as the rationalist heresy of the Mu'tazilites became culturally dominant and as the ruling Abbasids themselves participated in and encouraged this heresy. The rationalists' obsession with knowledge and reason directly motivated the Mu'tazilite ruler al-Ma'mun (ruling from 813-833) to both found the famous House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) in Baghdad, fund the works of scientists like al-Khwarizmi, and begin an inquisition (mihna) against the traditionalist, and even anti-intellectual movement that would later become orthodox Sunni Islam and bring an end to the scientific and philosophical flourishing of the Islamic world as a result of the sort of dogmatism that would define the lives and works of Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) a few centuries later. By the 1250s, however, the once-loyal Mamluk members of the Abbasid military would take control of Egypt, and in 1258, Baghdad would be sacked, bringing an end to the original Abbasid caliphate.

Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo (1261-1517)

A memory of the Abbasid caliphate would persist under the Mamluk rule of Egypt, who then founded the Mamluk sultanate (also known as the Abbasid caliphate of Cairo) in 1261, which would last until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1517.

Fatimid caliphate (909-1171)

The Isma'ili, Shi'ite Fatima caliphate, from its base and capital in Mahdia, Tunisia, ultimately came to rule the entire northern coast of the African continent as well as lower Egypt (where caliphate later established its capital in Cairo), modern day Morocco, parts of Syria and the Arabian peninsula, and Sicily.

The caliphs of the Fatimid dynasty where also the holy Imams of the Isma'ili Shi'ites. These Imams were the descendants of Ali via his wife Fatima (also the daughter of Muhammad, making the Imams direct descendants of both Muhammad and Ali), hence the name of the caliphate.

The Fatimid project depended upon taking land from the Abbasids, with whom the Fatimids were contemporaneous. By the 1160s, the Abbasid began to take back what had, since the 900s and the relative military decline of the Abbasids, been a very one-sided land-grab by the Fatimids. By 1171, the Fatimids would be totally conquered by Saladin of the Ayyubid dynasty of the Abbasid caliphate.

Muslim India

Ghurid Dynasty

Ghaznavids

Delhi Sultanate

Mughal Empire

Ottoman caliphate (1517-1924)

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