Conceptual history of the caliphate (from its beginnings to the end of the Abbasids)

The caliphate, which has become an institution in the history of Islam after the death of the Prophet (PBUH) and which refers to the head of state in the most general sense, has been a concept that has been debated and opened the door to new understandings, with different opinions about it both from the period of its emergence to the present day. The concept in question and some concepts that have the same origin as this concept have been included in the Holy Qur'an, the two main sources of Islam, and have even been the subject of the Prophet's (PBUH) words. In this study, the changes and transformations that the institution of the caliphate underwent in certain periods of Islamic history are presented from the perspective of the history of concepts by identifying the reflections of the caliphate in practice. This study, which deals with the conceptual history of the caliphate, basically consists of two parts. In the first part, the conceptual framework and definitions of the caliphate, the meanings and contexts in which this concept is used in the Qur'an and hadiths, the new concepts that emerged around this concept, and the concepts used as equivalent to the concept of caliphate in Islamic historical sources are examined. In the second part, the change and transformation in the semantics of the concept of caliphate are examined in the periods of Asr al-Sa'âdat, Hulefâ-yi Râshidîn, Umayyads, and Abbasids in Islamic history, and the understanding of caliphate is revealed by analyzing these periods in the works of some authors who wrote Islamic history texts. As a result of these examinations and analyses, it has been determined that the change in the structure of the caliphate institution and the practices put forward by the caliphs throughout the historical process have a direct impact on both the shaping of the understanding of the caliphate of societies and people and the change in the theories put forward about the caliphate.