What Is a Caliphate?
Since the dawn of Islam, the world has seen a number of caliphates. These are states or regions that come under the leadership of a caliph somebody who is considered to be a leader of the Islamic people. Caliphs have generally existed in the Middle East, which is where the Islamic religion was founded.
Caliphates have developed a bad reputation recently because of the association with ISIL, the extremist terrorist group. It is not necessary for a caliphate to have such characteristics, however, and they have often been peaceful in nature. Here, we take a closer look at what a caliphate is and some examples of them in history.
