Literally 'successor' or 'deputy' — the word behind 'caliph', the successor of Muhammad at the head of the Muslim community. In Sufi usage it is the disciple a shaykh designates as his deputy or successor: in most cases the shaykh nominates his khalifa during his own lifetime, and the transfer of this khilafat from master to spiritual descendant is what a silsila records link by link. Whether a given khilafat was in fact conferred is often disputed in order histories; the project pages date and attribute such claims.[1] [2] [3]