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caliph Definition

ca·liph (kā′lif; also, kal′if)

noun

supreme ruler: the title taken by Mohammed's successors as secular and religious heads of Islam

Etymology: ME & OFr calife < Ar khalīfa, caliph, successor < khalafa, succeed

caliph Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • become: He later became the 5 th Caliph of Islam.
  • guide: Instead, they compare Muhammad or his four rightly guided Caliphs with the Medieval Church or some other Christians or historical event.
  • murder: The relatives of the murdered Caliph fled to Mecca with vows of vengeance.
  • have: Wouldst thou have the Caliph murdered, or delivered over to the enemy?
  • venerate: In accusing Britain of being hostile to their venerated Caliph, the Khilafatists were fighting an imaginary enemy.
  • die: Weak and faint from the assassin's dagger, the emergency came upon the dying Caliph unprepared.

Adjective modifier

  • rightly-guided: Such a system invalidated any tradition to the contrary traceable to any Companion, even one of the rightly-guided Caliphs.
  • fourth: Sayyida Nafisa, a descendant of Ali, the fourth Caliph, was also a great scholar.
  • third: His anger was provoked, however, by the election of the third Caliph, Uthman.
  • second: Note: Ibn Umar was the second Caliph 's - Umar's son.
  • early: The earlier Caliphs desired their tombs to be kept secret, for fear of desecration.
  • late: There were exceptions; but ' Ali was lenient, and 235 would not press the adherents of the late Caliph to swear allegiance.

Modifies a noun

  • uthman: Muslims trust that it is the Qur'an which was written in the days of the third caliph Uthman.
  • Suleyman: The caliph Suleyman, who reigned up to 717 AD, went to Mecca to ask about the Hajj.

Noun used with modifier

ruling: Most of them acknowledged the political authority of the ruling caliphs so as to secure the people's religious leadership for themselves.

Possessives

  • brother: Bagdad rose in tumult and demanded that Abu Ahmed, the late Caliph's younger brother and the people's favorite should succeed.
  • army: Then Yezid wished to attack the Caliph's army by night, but was prevented by two religious fanatics who followed him.
  • court: The privileged at the caliph's court were probably invited to play polo or go hunting.

Preposition: of

time: The caliph of those times had taken as his wife an enchanting, delicate woman presented to him on his travels to Basra.