Sultan

(sül'tăn.) [Arab.] A title of royalty among Mohammedan nations. It signifies a despotic ruler. The Grand S., or chief of the Turkish empire,is styled in his dominions the Sultandin, or protector of the faith, the Padishah Islam, or Emperor of Islamism, and the Zil-Ullah, or Shadow of God. The title of S. was first a umed by Bayazid I., the chief of the Osmanlis, who reigned 1389-1403. [s. 867]