The Abbasid Caliphs

Until the Omayyids, there was one Caliph (Ruler) for the whole of the Muslim Empire, but with the start of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Spanish territory did not acknowledge the Abbasid rulers. Abdur-Rahman had established his hold on Spain, competing with the pomp and show of the Abbasid Court. The African positions were under different rebel heads. Thus, with the start of the Abbasid rule, there were many separate rulers in various parts of the Muslim Empire, each claiming to be the Caliph or the rightful successor of the Apostle of GOCL Thus the word, "Caliphate" and the title "Caliph" became openly identical with rulers of the Muslim States, but the people still considered the Caliphs as, not only their political lords, but as their supreme spiritual leaders. The Shias, the followers of Ali, though subjected to the most miserable persecution and painful torture, were always with the Holy Imams who were the source of spiritual knowledge.
The Abbasids, though related to Ali, as the issue of Abbas, the uncle of the Holy Prophet, were hostile to the family of Ali and Fatema.
The Abbasids ruled as kings until 656 A.H., when Mo'tasim, son of Mustansar, was killed by the Mongol King Halako, and thus the Caliphate at Baghdad came to an end. But one of the sons of Tahirbillah fled to Egypt and started a dynasty which ruled until 1517 ~D when Sultan Salim of Turkey conquered Egypt and founded the Ottoman Caliphate in Turkey which continued until 1922 A.D., when Mustafa Kamal Ataturk abolished it altogether. From that time there has been no Caliph. Thus the Caliphate 'started by man was abolished by man, while the Imamat, or the divinely commissioned succession from the Holy Prophet, continued and was acknowledged by the Muslim world as the Golden Chain of the divinely commissioned and sinless guides and Imams, guardians of the Holy Qur'an and its correct interpretation, and perfect models of Islamic practice.
The following is a list of Abbasid Caliphs, with the period of rule and the behaviour of those who claimed to be the successors of the Holy Prophet.