The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.58

c7.58

The head of the Muslims was the caliph. His functions as laid down by the jurists indicate his place in the Islamic polity. He is the defender and maintainer of the Faith, the protector of the territory of Islam, the supreme judge of the state, and the chief organizer and administrator of the commonwealth.¹ He is the successor to the Prophet as head of the community, commander of the Faithful, leader and ruler of all Muslims. His authority is limited by the existence of a divine law which he cannot supersede, but he is its final interpreter and it is his duty to enforce it.² The caliph was not a priest, but the Abbasids assiduously exploited the idea of being the vicegerents of the Prophet until they achieved a sacerdotal character and became the centre of unwarranted superstition.³ The existence of a rival caliphate in the West with parallel claims deprived them of much of the Muslim world. The hidden propaganda which they had employed against the Umayyads had now turned against them with a much better developed technique. The claims of the rival house of the Fatimids considerably weakened the Abbasid authority.