Related to or belonging to a caliph or the office and authority of a caliph in Islamic history.
From caliph (Arabic khalifah, meaning successor) plus the suffix -al; developed in English to describe anything pertaining to caliphs or their rule.
The word caliph literally means 'successor' to the Prophet Muhammad, so caliphal authority was literally about succeeding in leadership—one of history's most consequential succession systems.
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