The earlier Sunni authorites conceived of the caliphate as the legitimate political institution of the Islamic community. Asthere is only one community (ummah) and one Divine Law or Shari'ah, so is there ideally one caliph who rules over the community and whose duty it is to protect the community and administer the Shari'ah in conformity with the view of the 'ulama'. Later, when the caliphate became weakened politically and powerful kings ruled over the Muslim world, this theory was somewhat revised to include the caliph, the sultan and the Divine Law. The caliph symbolized the unity of the community and the supremacy of the Divine Law, while the sultan held actual temporal, military and political power and was supposed to enforce and uphold the Law and protect the community. I

Ideals and realities of Islam On page 157 Saturday, January 5, 2013 @ 4:45pm