The Caliphate Establishment of Mamlouki Period(659 H / 1260 AD - 923 H / 1517 AD)

This study aimed at tracing the ups and downs of the caliphate procession during the Mamlouk age starting from the fall of the Abassid Caliphate in Baghdad and its transfer to Cairo till the entrance of the Ottoman Sultan, Salim the First to Cairo in the year 923 H. / 1517 AD. The study also shed light at the importance of the caliphate in uniting the nation and fighting the enemies under the umbrella of the Sultanate as an integrated political idea of an independent integrated entity during the Mamlouk and Saljouk ages. The study also investigated the legal principle which the non-Arab Muslim rulers lacked, and the need of the sultans to the legal caliphate to justify their rule before the nation and the world. The study approached the meaning of Caliphate both literally and technically, the Caliphate in the Holly Quran, its emergence following the death of the Messanger (Peace be upon him), its development during the times of the Orthodox (Rashedeen), the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphs. I also discussed the deterioration of its political role in the mid-third Hijri century when the Turkish mamlouks overpowered the caliphs. The Turks intervention in the caliphs’ affairs intensified starting from the era of the princes followed by the Bowaihi era. The distant states began to be independent forming political entities that did not belong to the caliph in Baghdad. Those states had only nominal relations with the Caliph who had only religious power represented by appointing judges, preachers and mosque imams. The unity of the political caliphate disintegrated as more than one caliphate was announced as in the case of the Umayyad Caliphate in Andolasia and the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt and Syria. The Caliphate lost its political unity when it was overpowered by the Bowaihi authority. The government, the administration and the army supervision were transferred to the Bowaihi princes who joined the caliphs in their supremacy symbols such as mentioning their names in mosques and on coins in addition to having titles that emphasized their earthly domination. The notion of the Sultan developed during the various eras of the Islamic history from a title denoting pure authority to a title equivalent to the caliph himself. Since the Bowaihi age, the title symbolized the person who had the earthly authority in addition to the caliph who had the religious authority. From the jurisprudence viewpoint, the sultanate referred to general government authorized by the caliph. During the Mamlouk age, their Sultans and princes used various political methods to achieve their objectives. The caliphate issue was one of those methods as Thaher Paypars revived the Abbasid caliphate in Cairo so as to stabilize his authority by getting rid of his opponents. At the dame time, the authority was divided between the caliph and the sultan: the sultan took the power of politics, war and administration while the caliph took the religious side by appointing mosque orators, preachers and teachers. However, the authority of the sultan would not be legal and would not be accepted by the public without the authorization of the caliph. Therefore, every new sultan took care to obtain that authorization that included gifts, flags and titles. The study also traced the efforts of the caliphs to recover their worldly authority in Egypt by exploiting the state of weakness that spread in the Sultanate due to the struggle for government. Those attempts started from the reign of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkel (763 – 808 H / 1361-1405 AD.), including the Caliph Al-Mustaeen (808-816 H / 1405- 1413 AD.) and his occupation of the Sultanate in the year 815 H / 1412 AD ending with the Caliph Al-Qaem Be-amr-Alla Hamza (855 – 859 H / 1451 – 1454 AD). In a theoretical framework, the views of the scholars confirmed that the Caliphate is the symbol of the nation’s unity, responsible for the application of the religion. They continued to confirm the idea of selection and the role of consultation. However, within their realization of what the Caliphate had turned to in its relationship with the rulers and the sultans, they moved to find settlements between the model and the reality of the Caliphate in historical terms so as to confirm legitimacy and to avoid disturbances. According to the basis that needs allow prohibitions, they turned to accept the takeover-governments. The opinions of the scholars ranged between Al-Mawardi and Ibn Jama’a accept the sultanate, the legitimacy of take-over, the confirmation of absolute obedience to the caliph, and awarding high characteristics upon the sultans. They awarded them all the requirements of the caliph except the descent of Quraish.