Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/171



Caliph, or Khalífa (i. e. the vicegerent of the Prophet), is the sovereign dignity amongst Muhammadans, vested with absolute power. The word more frequently used for the office in Muhammadan works of jurisprudence is Imám (leader), or Imám-ul-ʾAzam (the great leader). It is held to be an essential principle in the establishment of the office, that there shall be only one Caliph at the same time; for the Prophet said:—"When two Caliphs have been set up, put the last to death and preserve the second, for the last is a rebel" (vide Mishkát, bk. xvi. chap. i.). According to all Sunni Muhammadan books, it is absolutely necessary that the Caliph be "a man, an adult, a sane person, a free man, a learned divine, a powerful ruler, a just person, and one of the Quraish" (i. e. of the tribe to which the Prophet himself belonged). The Shíaʾhs, of