Shugabanci, shugaba da Imarah duk suna da ma'ana ɗaya. Haka kuma sarki (jagora), shugaban ƙasa da Amir suna da ma'ana ɗaya. To sai dai, Khilafah, duk da cewa ita ce jagoranci gabaɗaya na dukkan Musulmai a duniya, ta fi takamaimai fiye da Imarah, kuma Khaleefah ya fi takamaimai fiye da Ameer. Wannan saboda Imarah na iya zama Khilafah, ko kuma wani abu daban da Khilafah, kamar Imarah ta runduna, Imarah ta Wilayah, da Imarah ta ƙungiya. Don haka Imarah ta fi Khilafah faɗi. Ameer kuwa yana iya zama Khaleefah, ko Ameer na Wilayah, ko Ameer na runduna, ko Ameer na ƙungiya, ko Ameer na tafiya. Saboda haka Ameer ya fi Khaleefah faɗi. Don haka kalmar Khilafah tana nufin sanannen matsayi ne, yayin da kalmar Imarah kuma tana nufin gabaɗaya ga kowane Ameer.

Leadership, presidency and Imarah (emirate) are all of the same meaning. The leader, president and Ameer have the same meaning as well. However, the Khilafah, though it is a general leadership of all the Muslims in the world, is more specific than emirate (Imarah) and the Khaleefah is more specific than the Ameer. This is because the emirate can be the Khilafah and other than the Khilafah, like the emirate of an army and the emirate of the Wilayah and the emirate of the group. Thus the emirate is more general than the Khilafah. The Ameer could be the Khaleefah, the Ameer of a Wilayah, an Ameer of an army, an Ameer of a group, or an Ameer of travel. Hence, the Ameer is more general than the Khaleefah. Thus the word Khilafah is specific to the well-known post, while the word emirate is general for every Ameer.