15 rows · This is a list of people who have held the title of Caliph, the supreme religious and political leader of an Islamic state known as the Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, as the political successors to Muhammad.All years are according to the Common Era.Some Muslims believe that, after the death of Muhammad in 632, a succession crisis arose …

Caliph. In Arabic, caliph means "a successor to the prophet". This is what leaders of the Islamic faith came to be called. Their rule is called a caliphate . Some of the early leaders of the Muslim community following Muhammad 's (570–632) death called themselves "Khalifat Allah", meaning representative of God.

Caliph (Arabic: خليفة‎ ḫalīfah/khalīfah) is the term for the successor of Muhammad, and the head of state of a caliphate. In theory, a caliph is the supreme leader of all Muslims, from priests and commanders to even presidents and kings; he is their emperor, effectively. They all swear loyalty to him (if a suitable Caliph is available).

Caliphate of Ali. Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, was the caliph between 656 and 661 CE, a trying period in Muslim history, coinciding with the first Muslim civil war. He reigned over the Rashidun empire which extended from Central Asia in the east to North Africa in the west.

Early life. Hārūn was born in Rey, then part of Jibal in the Abbasid Caliphate, in present-day Tehran Province, Iran.He was the son of al-Mahdi, the third Abbasid caliph (r. 775–786), and his wife al-Khayzuran, (a former slave girl from Yemen) who was a woman of strong and independent personality and who greatly and determinant influenced affairs of state in the reigns of her …