KHALIFAIL ARAB. A ruler, king, deputy, a title assumed by the successors of Mahomed. who possessed absolute authority in civil and religious matters. Abubakr, who succeeded Mahomed, was the first to adopt it, styling him self Khalifah Rasul Allah, Vicegerent of the Apostle of God; and this, together with Amir-ul Momanin, Commander of the Faithful, which the khalif Omar assumed, was the principal title of all the reigning princes from the Hijira in A.D. 622 till the taking of Baghdad A.D. 1258. Khalifat is the dominion.
The Shiah sect of Muhammadans hold as a tenet that on Mahomed's demise All ought to have been elected the first khalifah. Many of this sect regard Ali as having so succeeded, and smaller sub-sects of the Shiah religionists believe in the incarnations of All up to the present day.
The Muhammadans of the Sunni sect have largely adopted the belief that in A.D. 1263 a descendant of Abu Jafar (ob. 1226) appeared in Egypt, and was recognised by Bibars, the Mainink sovereign, as khalifah. And that in A.D. 1517, when Selim r. of Constantinople over threw the Cairen khalifah, Matawakkel b' Selim obtained the transfer to himself of the khalifat, and with it the sword and mantle of Mahomed, from which time the mantle has been a standard. This point has been discussed as regards British India, because the Muhammadans there have never introduced into their Friday service at the mosque, nor yearly at the Idgah, the name of any British sovereign, but sometimes have prayed for the emperor of Dehli, the Sultan of Ruin (Constantinople), the Sharif of Mecca, or, indefinitely, the ruler of the age. On these points it may be remarked that it is held to be an essential principle in the establishment of the office that there shall be only one khalifah at the same time, and the office is acknowledged by all parties to be elective and not hereditary. Also the Sunni sect and the Wahabee consider that the khalifah should be of the Quraish tribe, and the Shiah sect even hold that he should be a descendant of Mahomed.
The Wahabee sect, when Sana took Mecca and Medina in 1804, regarded the Sultan of Turkey as a usurper. This question has divided Muhain
=clans up to the present day.
On the death of Mahomed, the people of Medina suggested that they should elect one leader, and Mecca another ; but this was not adopted ; and under the three khalifs, who were successively acknowledged by the whole Muhammadan world, Arab armies poured across the northern sandy waste into Syria and Palestine. A few sieges, a few fierce battles, and these rich provinces were lost to the empire of Byzantium, the ancient Sassanian dynasty was crushed on the field of Kadesia, and Persia was added to the khalifat. In less than three years the Arabs were masters of Egypt.
The elected successor of Mahomed was Abubakr. Omar was the second khalif. His time was a period of great extension of Muhammadanism. The battle of Kadesia was fought and won by his general. Saad, and put an end to the Persian empire of the Parsee. He imposed the khiraj Syria, and died and was buried at Jerusalem, where his tomb still is.
When Omar had achieved the triumphs which consolidated the power of El Islam, an ambassador from the Byzantine emperor came to Arabia to pay homage to the great conqueror on the part of his master. Arrived at Medina, he was directed to the presence of the khalif, who, dressed in simple Arab garb, was reclining fast asleep and unattended beneath a palm tree. The simple life of one whose fame had filled the whole world, and still more the discourse which Omar addressed to him on waking up, made so profound an im pression upon the Greek ambassador, that he there embraced the Muhammadan faith. The contrast between the unassuming manners of the early khalifs and the arrogance and luxury of the later commanders of the faithful in their palaces at Damascus or Baghdad, was striking. Arabic annals are full of examples of this, and the incident of the entry of Umar into Jerusalem clad in a rough mantle, and leading his own camel, like the poorest desert Arab, is familiar to all readers of the history of the Holy City.