page_title: Sultan
section_title: Compound ruler titles
hierarchical_section_title: Sultan / Compound ruler titles
caption_attribution_description: English: The 18-year-old Sultan Mehmed IV on his throne attended by a black eunuch and two pages. On his turban he carries two turned-down heron's aigrettes, sorguç. Rålamb describes him in precisely this attitude and with little flattering words. Українська: Imperatore — Султан (Padishah) — падишах, султан, халіф, правитель Османської імперії. 18-річний Мехмед IV, син української наложниці, на троні у супроводі євнуха-негра і двох пажів. Султанський тюрбан прикрашає дорогоцінна пірїна прикраса (сургуч).
context_page_description: Sultan is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun سلطة sulṭah, meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost full sovereignty in practical terms, albeit without claiming the overall caliphate, or to refer to a powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The adjective form of the word is "sultanic", and the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a sultanate.
  The term is distinct from king, despite both referring to a sovereign ruler. The use of "sultan" is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular king, which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
  In recent years, "sultan" has been gradually replaced by "king" by contemporary hereditary rulers who wish to emphasize their secular authority under the rule of law. A notable example is Morocco, whose monarch changed his title from sultan to king in 1957.
context_section_description: These are generally secondary titles, either lofty 'poetry' or with a message, e.g.:
  Mani Sultan = Manney Sultan (meaning the "Pearl of Rulers" or "Honoured Monarch") - a subsidiary title, part of the full style of the Maharaja of Travancore
  Sultan of Sultans - the sultanic equivalent of the style King of Kings
  Certain secondary titles have a devout Islamic connotation; e.g., Sultan ul-Mujahidin as champion of jihad (to strive and to struggle in the name of Allah).
  Sultanic Highness - a rare, hybrid western-Islamic honorific style exclusively used by the son, daughter-in-law and daughters of Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt (a British protectorate since 1914), who bore it with their primary titles of Prince (Amir; Turkish: Prens) or Princess, after 11 October 1917. They enjoyed these titles for life, even after the Royal Rescript regulating the styles and titles of the Royal House following Egypt's independence in 1922, when the sons and daughters of the newly styled king (malik Misr, considered a promotion) were granted the title Sahib(at) us-Sumuw al-Malaki, or Royal Highness.
caption: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV attended by a eunuch and two pages.
exif: {}