Sultan is an Arabic word. Formerly it referred to the Islamic title. There are quite a few chronological connotations of the word. It meant strength, or ruler ship or authority. In the later times, the meaning of the word shifted to being the title of some Muslim rulers. These were the rulers who claimed the full civil liberties of sovereignty in practical lines. These rulers did not claim the on the whole caliphate. The difference between a Sultan of the latter times and the ruler of the earlier times was vast. In the earlier times the ruler's role was defined in the Quran. The ruler in those times was supposed to be religious authority and of moral weight whereas, the latter rulers i.e. The Sultans' were not the religious heads.