Abolition of the Caliphate

Abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 as reported in the Times of London, 3 March 1924

The Abolition of the Caliphate was the 3 March 1924 abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate, decreed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as one of Atatürk's Reforms. Abdulmejid II was deposed as the last Ottoman Caliph and Mustafa Sabri as the last Ottoman Shaykh al-Islām. It came less than 18 months after the Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate.

The abolition of the Caliphate had been actively opposed by the Indian-based Khilafat Movement, and created strong feelings and heated debate throughout the Muslim world.

Numerous leaders vied for the caliphate in subsequent years, but none were able to gain a consensus for the candidacy across the Islamic world. Candidates included Abdulmejid II, his predecessor Mehmed VI, King Hussein of the Hejaz, King Yusef of Morocco, Prince Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan, Imam Yahya of Yemen and King Fuad I of Egypt. Unsuccessful “Caliphate conferences” were held in 1926 in Cairo and 1931 in Jerusalem.

Ottoman pan-Islamism

In the last 19th century, Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II launched his pan-Islamist program in a bid to protect the Ottoman Empire from Western attack and dismemberment, and to crush the Westernizing democratic opposition at home. Being a caliph, the Ottoman sultan was nominally the supreme religious and political leader of all Sunni Muslims across the world. However, this authority was never actually used.

He sent an emissary, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, to India in the late 19th century. The cause of the Ottoman monarch evoked religious passion and sympathy amongst Indian Muslims. A large number of Muslim religious leaders began working to spread awareness and develop Muslim participation on behalf of the caliphate. Muslim religious leader Maulana Mehmud Hasan attempted to organize a national war of independence against the British with support from the Ottoman Empire.

End of the Sultanate

Following the Ottoman defeat in World War I, under Allied direction the Sultan attempted to suppress nationalist movements and secured an official fatwa from the Sheikh ul-Islam declaring them to be un-Islamic. But the nationalists steadily gained momentum and began to enjoy widespread support. Many sensed that the nation was ripe for revolution. In an effort to neutralize this threat, the Sultan agreed to hold elections, with the hope of placating and co-opting the nationalists. To his dismay, nationalist groups swept the polls, prompting him to again dissolve parliament in April 1920.

The Sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922. Initially, the National Assembly seemed willing to allow a place for the Caliphate in the new regime and Kemal did not dare to abolish the Caliphate outright, as it still commanded a considerable degree of support from the common people.

On 19 November 1922, the Crown Prince Abdülmecid II was elected Caliph by the Turkish National Assembly at Ankara. He established himself in Constantinople on 24 November 1922. But the position had been stripped of any authority, and Abdülmecid's purely ceremonial reign would be short lived.

When Abdülmecid was declared caliph, Kemal refused to allow the traditional Ottoman ceremony to take place, bluntly declaring:

The Caliph has no power or position except as a nominal figurehead.

In response to Abdülmecid's petition for an increase in his allowance, Kemal wrote:

Your office, the Caliphate, is nothing more than a historic relic. It has no justification for existence. It is a piece of impertinence that you should dare write to any of my secretaries!

On 29 October 1923 the National Assembly declared Turkey a republic, and proclaimed Ankara its new capital. After over 600 years, the Ottoman Empire had officially ceased to exist.

1924 Abolition

Then an event happened which was to deal a fatal blow to the Caliphate. Two Indian brothers, Maulana Mohammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, leaders of the Indian-based Khilafat Movement, distributed pamphlets calling upon the Turkish people to preserve the Ottoman Caliphate for the sake of Islam. Under Turkey's new nationalist government, however, this was construed as foreign intervention, and any form of foreign intervention was labelled an insult to Turkish sovereignty, and worse, a threat to State security. Kemal promptly seized his chance. On his initiative, the National Assembly abolished the Caliphate on February 20, 1924. Abdülmecid was sent into exile along with the remaining members of the Ottoman House.

Aftermath

The abolishing of the position of Caliphate and Sheikh ul-Islam was followed by a common, secular authority. Many of the religious communities failed to adjust to the new regime. This was exacerbated by the emigration or impoverishment, due to deteriorating economic conditions. Families that hitherto had financially supported religious community institutions such as hospitals and schools stop doing so.

Bibliography

• Nafi, Basheer (2016). "The Abolition of the caliphate: causes and consequences". The Different aspects of Islamic culture, v. 6, pt. I: Islam in the World today, Retrospective of the evolution of Islam and the Muslim world. UNESCO. pp. 183–192. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Brown, Daniel W. (24 August 2011). A New Introduction to Islam. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-5772-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kennedy, Hugh (11 October 2016). Caliphate: The History of an Idea. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-09439-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Black, Antony (19 July 2011). History of Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-8878-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Oliver-Dee, Sean (13 August 2009). The Caliphate Question: The British Government and Islamic Governance. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-3603-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Nafi, Basheer (11 December 2012). "The Abolition of the Caliphate in Historical Context". Demystifying the Caliphate: Historical Memory and Contemporary Contexts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-932795-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
• Arnold, Thomas W. (18 November 2016). The Caliphate. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-315-44322-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ardıc̦, Nurullah (2012). Islam and the Politics of Secularism: The Caliphate and Middle Eastern Modernization in the Early 20th Century. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-67166-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Teitelbaum, Joshua (2000). ""Taking Back" the Caliphate: Sharīf Ḥusayn Ibn ʿAlī, Mustafa Kemal and the Ottoman Caliphate". Die Welt des Islams. 40 (3): 412–424.
• Kedourie, Elie (1963). "Egypt and the Caliphate 1915-1946". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 3/4: 208–248.
• Özoğlu, Hakan (2011). From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-37956-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)