Caliphate - Famous Caliphs

Famous Caliphs

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Caliphs.

• Abu Bakr – First Rashidun (Four Righteously Guided Caliphs) of the Sunnis. Subdued rebel tribes in the Ridda wars.
• Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab) – Second Rashidun. During his reign, the Islamic empire expanded to include Egypt, Jerusalem, and Persia.
• Uthman Ibn Affan – Third Rashidun. The various written copies Qur'an was compiled and standardized under his direction. Killed by rebels.
• Ali (Ali ibn Abu Talib) – Fourth and last Rashidun, and considered the first imam by Shi'a Muslims. His reign was fraught with internal conflict.
• Hasan ibn Ali – Fifth Caliph (considered as "rightly guided" by many Sunnis as well as Shias). He ruled for six months only and handed the powers to Muawiyah I in order to unite the Muslims again.
• Muawiyah I – First caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Muawiyah instituted dynastic rule by appointing his son Yazid I as his successor, a trend that would continue through subsequent caliphates.
• Umar ibn AbdulAziz – Umayyad caliph considered by some (mainly Sunnis) to be a sixth true and legitimate caliph under Islamic Laws of electing Caliph.
• Harun al-Rashid – An Abbasid caliph during whose reign Baghdad became the world's prominent centre of trade, learning, and culture. Harun is the subject of many stories in the famous work One Thousand and One Nights.
• Suleiman the Magnificent – Early Ottoman Sultan during whose reign the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith.
• Abdul Hamid II – The last Ottoman Sultan to rule with absolute power.
• Abdülmecid II – The last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty, the 101st Caliph in line from Caliph Abu Bakr and nominally the 37th Head of the Ottoman Imperial House.