
Contents
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God’s Government God’s Government
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The Shadow of God on Earth The Shadow of God on Earth
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Prophethood as Rulership Prophethood as Rulership
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The Sultanate as Caliphate The Sultanate as Caliphate
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Prophet’s Successor and God’s Vicegerent Prophet’s Successor and God’s Vicegerent
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Rulership as Mystical Experience Rulership as Mystical Experience
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The Caliphate as Unified Authority The Caliphate as Unified Authority
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From Sultanate to the Caliphate From Sultanate to the Caliphate
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Four The Caliph and the Caliphate
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Published:November 2019
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Abstract
This chapter analyzes the views on the nature of authority in Islam, diverse visions of the caliphate and its relation to sultanate as a political regime, and portrayals of the perfect ruler through archetype-building and reinterpretation of Islamic history. The emergence of Turko-Mongolian dynasties whose Islamic credentials were at best questionable, the decline of the power of the jurists, and the spread of Sufi orders in response to spiritual anxieties of fragmented Muslim society enabled the Sufis to resolve this question in their favor. It was consensual among Ottoman Sufis to argue that the Prophet had three distinct natures: spiritual, political, and prophecy. Political and prophetic nature emanate from the spiritual. In this configuration, the jurists, as inheritors of Muhammed's prophecy, and rulers, as claimants for his political nature, were obliged to submit to the spiritual authority, namely the perfect human being among the Sufis whose identity was disclosed only to the worthy.
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