caliphate

American  

[kal-uh-feyt, -fit, key-luh-] / ˈkæl əˌfeɪt, -fɪt, ˈkeɪ lə- /

Or califate,

noun

• caliphates
  plural

1. the rank, jurisdiction, or government of a caliph.

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caliphate British  

/ ˈkeɪlɪˌfeɪt, ˈkæl-, -fɪt /

noun

1. the office, jurisdiction, or reign of a caliph

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• caliphates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of caliphate

First recorded in 1725–35; caliph + -ate ³

Explanation

Historically, a caliphate was an area where religious Muslims lived under the leadership of a caliph, who was considered to be a successor to Muhammad, Islam's prophet and founder. A caliphate is a kind of state, but because it's based on religion, it's not bound by the international laws that govern nation-states. The earliest caliphates were formed after Muhammad's death in 632, as a way to continue his teachings. The last political caliphate, in the Ottoman Empire, ended in 1923. In more recent times, the extremist militants known as ISIL have declared themselves to be a caliphate. The word is rooted in the Arabic khalifa, "successor."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caliphate caliphates

A group of women linked to Islamic State jihadists arrived in Australia on Thursday, returning home years after allegedly sneaking into Syria to join the group's self-declared caliphate.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

IS-K, the group which admitted the attack, is an offshoot of IS which seeks to establish a Muslim caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026

Meanwhile, the All-India Muslim League had launched the Khilafat movement, at first to fund and preserve the caliphate, and then to resurrect it in exile.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

The U.S. has begun transferring thousands of detainees from prisons scattered across northeast Syria, which have been guarded by the SDF since the defeat of the terror group’s caliphate in 2019, to Iraq.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026

“I am famous from the courts of Chang’an to the caliphate of Baghdad for my honesty. They speak of my bargains among the tongueless island tribes—they click about me, like you do, Rasseem.”

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

And so we learn about the various mainstream caliphates over the centuries, the Umayyads and the Abbasids, and ultimately the Ottoman sultan-caliphs based in Istanbul who took on the role of “God’s shadow on earth.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

It moved westward to the Middle East about 1200 years ago, a date that coincides with the expansion of trade and warfare by two Islamic caliphates, the Umayyad and the Abbasid.

From Science Magazine ● May 19, 2024

Under successive caliphates and Muslim dynasties, the dead of Cairo have been buried in this part of the city, beneath the low range of the Muqattam Hills.

From BBC ● May 26, 2023

Power often rested in the hands of local governors, who exploited regional tensions or weaknesses to establish their own dynasties and even their own rival caliphates, as in Al- Andalus.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Different chiefs established different kingdoms or "caliphates," whose dominion became political rather than religious.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 05 (From Charlemagne to Frederick Barbarossa) by Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne