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[Servant Corps]

I'm trying to find very obscure caliphates, both in the past and in the present. I'm writing a book on them, so, I don't want to exclude any. Of course, many of these Caliphates may or may not exactly be valid in the eyes of those who follow Islam, however, I don't really care about that, I only care about documenting what "Caliphates" existed, just to inform people about the past.

The only thing that matters is that the caliphates I'm writing about has to be historically significant, but that's pretty vague and general, and it only exist to exclude one-man claimants to the Caliphate, like the Micronation of Kali. I am especially interested in Caliphates that exist in the present day...but, it can't be like Kali.

The insitution of the Caliphate is pretty complicated, but these two Wikipedia paragraphs should explain it a bit.

The caliphate (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa) represented the political leadership of the Muslim ummah in classical and medieval Islamic history and juristic theory.[1] The head of state's position (caliph) is based on the notion of a successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political authority.

Sunni Islam dictates that the caliph should be selected by Shura[2], elected by Muslims or their representatives. Followers of Shia Islam believe the caliph was an imam descended in a line from the Ahl al-Bayt. From the time of Muhammad until 1924, successive and contemporary caliphates were held by various dynasties, including the Umayyads (who were driven from Damascus to Córdoba), the Abbasids (who ruled from Baghdad and drove away the Umayyads from Damascus), the Fatimids (who ruled from Cairo), and finally the Ottomans.

Here's the Caliphates that I know existed.
1) Rashidun/Rightly Guided
2) Twelver Sh'ia (the 12 Shia Imams).
3) Umayyad Dynasty
4) The Caliphate of Córdoba (altough it is linked to the Ummayyds)
5) The Berghouata Caliphate (Hetrodox, as its leader claimed to be the Mahdi and created a new holy book)
6) The Almoravid and Almohad Dynasties in Spain
7) Abbasid Dynasty
8) Fatmid Dynasty, Sh'ia dynasty that controlled Egypt
9) Madhist State (Muhammad Ahmad in Sudan claimed to be the Madhi and rebelled against the Egyptian oppressors, forming his own state. He still has some followers.)
10) Ottoman Caliphate (based around present-day Turkey)
11) Zaydism Shia Sect (The Zaidi Imamate once controlled Northern Yemen. The last imam was overthrown and killed in a revolution. The current Yemeni government accuses Hussein al-Houthi, a leading rebel cleric within Yemen, of planning on resurrecting the Imamate, so I don't know if the accusations are correct [and thus, should be considered in the Present-Day]...or not. Likely not.)
11) Ahmadiyya Caliphate (Considered by most Muslims to actually be outside the fold of Islam, due to their hetrodox beliefs. Leader also claimed himself to be Mahdi.) [present-day]
12) Sokoto Caliphate (Based in Nigeria. Holds spiritual leadership.) [present-day]
13) Ismāʿīlism Shia Sect, the Nizari Branch (Aga Khan IV) [present-day]
14) Yogyakarta Caliphate (A small province within Indonesia. The Sultan has some power over Yogyakarta. It seemed that the Sultan wrote in a letter back in the 18th Century claiming to be Caliph, so he may still be Caliph, by this claim.) [present-day]

So, yeah. Right now, I only found four three Caliphates that exist in the present-day. If you can help me find any more (both in the past and in the present), that would be great. Just make sure they have some historical significance.

[mainiac]

While I'm not an expert on the Caliphate, I think only four of those are Caliphates, the rest are just pretenders.  The three dynasties you list (Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid) were recognized widely enough to be Caliphates.  Potentially the Ottoman Empire was a forth caliphate, but that ruled over an even smaller fraction of the Muslim world.  Maybe the Murgals are a fifth, due to their economic might.  But no other Islamic empire was even remotely strong enough to be seen as the Caliphate.  The title was just an empty boast for everyone else.

[chaoticag]

The Ottoman empire was not a caliphate, they let the caliph as a religious leader, but moved power to the sultan.

[SirHoneyBadger]

How about the Mameluk dynasties?

Beginning with the Turkic Ghulams, they served under various caliphs (assassinating several), and evolved from slave-soldiers to the ruling political party.

As a political power, they existed from Egypt and Delhi, so there's probably quite a handful of obscure caliphates in there to discuss, and the Mameluks themselves are quite an interesting subject-matter.

[Servant Corps]

mainiac:
I was taught that the "offical" succession was Rashidun, Ummayd, Abbasid, and Ottoman. But the point is that I plan on documenting most Caliphates out there, even if they are 'pretenders'.

chaoticag:
The Ottoman Dynasty is a caliphate, altough during the 1920's, Autuark abolished the Sultante and kept the Caliph as the religious leader. By 1924, Autuark decided to go and abolish the Caliphate itself, as part of his secularizing drive. Before that period, the leader of the Ottomans was the Sultan/Caliph.

SirHoneyBadger:
I was considering mentioning them under the Abbasid Dynasty. While they did end up controlling the Caliphate and turning the Caliph into nothing more than a puppet (especially during the Abbasid "Shadow Caliphate" after the Mongol's sacking of Baghdad), the Caliph was still there. I didn't know they were Malmuks in Delhi though, thanks Sir Honey Badger.

EDIT: I also forgot to add onto the list the Safivid Dynasty of Iran, of the Twelver Shia sect, who claimed to be the representive of the 12th Hidden Imam.
EDIT2: And I also forgot the "Hejaz Caliphate" when Sharif Husyan ibn Ali, King of Hejaz, declared himself to be Caliph once the Ottoman Empire abolished it. Husyan ibn Ali is best known for leading the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, with British help.

EDIT3: It seems that the Mughal Empire had the title of Emperor, not Caliph. That really doesn't seem to make them caliphates...

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Also, the real title for Yogyakarta is Sultanate, I think...

Really, they are not a caliph... Since they're not a religious leader.

[mainiac]

mainiac:
I was taught that the "offical" succession was Rashidun, Ummayd, Abbasid, and Ottoman. But the point is that I plan on documenting most Caliphates out there, even if they are 'pretenders'.

Listen,strange men sittin' on thrones, distributin' names is no basis for a system of government!

If I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

[Servant Corps]

That's why I'm excluding nations like the Micronation of Kali. But these other Caliphates had at least some power, in that they have a military and that they have followers. They have much more power than the Micronation of Kail or you, in any event.

And I decided to cross out "Yogyakarta Sultanate". Altough I do think it may be possible that the Caliph may be a secular, not a religious leader, if the Sultanate doesn't see itself as a caliphate, then it isn't.

[SirHoneyBadger]

The Delhi Sultanate:

Started technically (traditionally anyway) in 1206, in 1211 AD, the Mamluk commander in India, 'Qutb ud-Din'-proclaimed himself Sultan. The dynasty lasted until 1290. 

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Servant Corps, you need to post your definition of 'caliphate'.

Then I may help.

Edit: yeah, from the OP's definition, Yogyakarta is not a caliphate.

[Servant Corps]

Yeah. Er.

The problem is that my own definition of a Caliphate is back at home, and it is pretty complex. I'll dig my definiton up and post it for all to see. As for the Delhi Sultanate, it doesn't seem to be a caliphate either, just a regular sultanate. So, er, sorry.

[chaoticag]

some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

You do know that in Arabic, bint means girl...

[mainiac]

... believe it or not, I did learn that at one point.  But I totally didn't make that connection.  Excuse me now, I'm going to go laugh my ass off.

Edit: wait, it's been a while, so confirm this for me before I begin the de-gluteumation.  Are you sure the word (in romanized form) is "bint", or would it be "bin-d"?

[SirHoneyBadger]

Although my arabic is woefully inadequate (even my Japanese is better-I'm horrible at languages...), I'm pretty sure it's "Bint", atleast colloquially, in that I've seen it in common use.

[mainiac]

Cool.  I didn't know Dennis the peasant was so cosmopolitan!  Or so naughty!