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PRND
For many centuries, starting with the First Fitnah, Sunni Islam was led by caliphs. They were religious leaders of all Sunnis and they were also political leaders
Sunni Islam only recognizes the first five caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and Ali's son Hasan) as "rightly-guided". After that the caliphate upon the model of Prophecy was discontinued. According to prophecy, it will be restored in the latter days, perhaps through the advent of the promised Mahdi.
This caliphate upon the model of prophecy only lasted for 30 years. After that the Muslims were ruled by various Arab dynasties (Omayyad than Abbasid) and then various Turkic and Mamluk dynasties, including the most famous (Ottomans). But orthodox Sunni Islam does not consider these as a "Caliphate" in the sense of being rightly-guided or on the model of Prophecy.
In Sunni Islam, the religious authority is confined to Prophets, since they have a direct communion with God through divine Revelation. Sunni Islam teaches that the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is the Last Prophet. Therefore, religious authority ended with him, and his successor in terms of religious authority is not any individual or institution apart from the Text of the Quraan.
Even the rightly-guided Caliphate after him did not possess religious authority, it was the succession to the Prophet's temporal authority.
This is contrary to Twelver Shiism which considers its Twelve Imams as inheriting religious authority from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
The rightly-guided Caliphs can only be described as men of piety and an inspiration and model for Muslims to look to, but it is not an institution that has religious authority in the sense of the Catholic papacy or the Twelver Shiite Imamate, since we believe such divine authority is only invested in Prophets.
At present the Muslim world is bereft of a Caliphate. It is not really a religious institution but an administrative one, and the question of how it should be restored is not really a religious/theological question. Nevertheless, my view is that Muslims should simply wait for the expected Mahdi to appear, through whom God shall restore the rightly-guided Caliphate upon the model of Prophecy.
In terms of religious influence though, there are other institutions which are greater than the caliphate in its essence, such as the institution of Mujaddids (divinely-appointed Reformers).