The Sultan is a ruler and a defender

The Sultan is a noble title common in countries with an Islamic majority. The original meaning went back to the verbal Arabic sultah, which meant "power" or "power." With the spread of the Arab conquest over large territories, the word from the optional epithet gradually turned into an official title, which emphasized the special position of the ruler and his unaccountability to any of the earthly rulers, except the Caliph.

The meaning of the word "sultan"

For almost thousand-year history of existence of the title around it a complex semantic field was formed, including many meanings connected both with historical conditions and with the peculiarities of the grammar of the languages into which it penetrated from Arabic.

Moving along with the Arab armies, the title received the widest geographical distribution from the foothills of the North Caucasus to the Arabian deserts and from the Atlantic coast of North Africa to the islands of Indonesia.

Although the rulers who took the title of sultan, and did not claim power in the entire caliphate, but on their subordinate lands, they enjoyed full authority and quite often abused it, thus bringing upon themselves the popular anger.

Regions that are subordinate to the sultan are called sultanates and are inherited by the descendants of the ruler.

Regions of distribution of the title

In all countries in which this term has taken root, the sultan is the inherited title of a ruler, whose authority is usually not limited to the constitution or serious democratic institutions.

At a time when the empires were still full of strength, there was a huge amount of land, whose rulers wore appropriate titles. However, by the middle of the twentieth century, when monarchies and colonial powers began to fail, the number of sultanates decreased significantly, but their former rulers, having lost power, continue to enjoy respect from their compatriots to this day.

Until now, the full power was preserved by the sultans of Brunei and Oman, while the rulers of the seven subjects of the Malaysian Federation bear the title of Sultans, but do not have all the power in a single state.

Women's titles

Despite the fact that initially the sultan is a male title, it underwent significant changes, and in such countries as the Ottoman Empire, it was applied to women. First of all, the title of "sultan" was worn by the wives and mothers of the rulers of the empire. Here it is worth noting that in the Turkish language for this word there is no difference between the male and female gender, and an incorrect impression can be created about the role of women in the politics of the Sultanate.

A Sultan woman is first and foremost a relative of a true ruler who does not have real power, but who can influence the situation in the country only through palace intrigues and conspiracies.