The Abbasid Caliphs
Until the Omayyids, there was one Caliph (Ruler) for the whole
of the Muslim Empire, but with the start of the Abbasid
Caliphate, the Spanish territory did not acknowledge the Abbasid
rulers. Abdur-Rahman had established his hold on Spain,
competing with the pomp and show of the Abbasid Court. The
African positions were under different rebel heads. Thus, with
the start of the Abbasid rule, there were many separate rulers
in
various parts of the Muslim Empire, each claiming to be the
Caliph or the rightful successor of the Apostle of GOCL Thus the
word, "Caliphate" and the title "Caliph" became openly identical
with rulers of the Muslim States, but the people still considered
the Caliphs as, not only their political lords, but as their
supreme
spiritual leaders. The Shias, the followers of Ali, though
subjected to the most miserable persecution and painful torture,
were always with the Holy Imams who were the source of
spiritual knowledge.
The Abbasids, though related to Ali, as the issue of Abbas,
the uncle of the Holy Prophet, were hostile to the family of Ali
and Fatema.
The Abbasids ruled as kings until 656 A.H., when Mo'tasim,
son of Mustansar, was killed by the Mongol King Halako, and
thus the Caliphate at Baghdad came to an end. But one of the
sons of Tahirbillah fled to Egypt and started a dynasty which
ruled until 1517 ~D when Sultan Salim of Turkey conquered
Egypt and founded the Ottoman Caliphate in Turkey which
continued until 1922 A.D., when Mustafa Kamal Ataturk
abolished it altogether. From that time there has been no
Caliph. Thus the Caliphate 'started by man was abolished by
man, while the Imamat, or the divinely commissioned succession
from the Holy Prophet, continued and was acknowledged by the
Muslim world as the Golden Chain of the divinely commissioned
and sinless guides and Imams, guardians of the Holy Qur'an and
its correct interpretation, and perfect models of Islamic
practice.
The following is a list of Abbasid Caliphs, with the period of
rule and the behaviour of those who claimed to be the successors
of the Holy Prophet.
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