Sultan Abdul Majid II Efendi, his daughter and son-in-law (Templar)

This March marks the 100th anniversary of the decision of the “Grand Turkish National Assembly” to abolish the caliphate that had lasted for 1,300 years on March 3, 1924, as its demise was a major moment in the history of this republic, which now has a population of more than 85 million people. .

The Middle East Eye website published a report by writer Imran Mulla, in which he discussed canceling the date of the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 as part of the endeavor of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, to “modernize the state and separate it from religion,” explaining the reasons and repercussions resulting from this historic decision.

The writer pointed out that this decision is also considered a milestone in the history of politics and Islam, and put a seal on the end of Ottoman rule, which formed a large part of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for nearly 6 centuries.

He stated that the Caliphate was an Islamic political institution that considered itself to represent the succession of the Prophet (Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace) and the leadership of Muslims in the world, so the matter was never without controversy, as sometimes several Muslim rulers were competing for the title of Caliph at the same time.

How did the Ottoman Caliphate appear?

The writer said that the Othman family, the ruling Ottoman dynasty, demanded the caliphate in 1512, a demand that grew stronger over the following decades, when the Ottoman Empire annexed the holy Islamic cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, and Baghdad, the former capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle Ages in 1534.

In recent years, historians have been discussing the validity of the previously common idea that the Ottomans were not interested in the idea of ​​the caliphate until the 19th century.

The writer explained that the perception of the caliphate was radically reconstructed, during the 16th century, by Sufi orders close to the Ottoman dynasty, as the caliph became a figure with temporal and spiritual authority over his subjects.

Thus, the imperial court came to present the caliph (who had previously been described as a sultan) as “God’s successor on earth.”

He added that the Ottoman Caliphate - whose nature was reinterpreted several times throughout the empire's history - lasted for 412 years, from 1512 until 1924.

The last caliph

Prince Abdul Majid, who was born in 1868, spent most of his adult life under the tight surveillance and restrictions imposed by Sultan Abdul Hamid II on the royal princes of the ruling family.

News published in November 1923 entitled “The news of the resignation of Caliph Abdul Majeed is incorrect, thank God” (Ataturk Library)

The writer pointed out that after the overthrow of Abdul Hamid in the 1909 coup and the establishment of the “constitutional caliphate,” Abdul Majeed - a talented painter and poet passionate about classical music - became a modern public figure, calling himself the “Democratic Prince.”

Not only did he paint a picture of his predecessor, Sultan Abdul Hamid, during his removal from power, but Abdul Majeed also took a picture with the men who carried out the removal.

The prince became desperate during World War I (1914-1918) due to the military defeats that the empire suffered. He even became more desperate during the Allied occupation of Ottoman lands, including its capital, Istanbul.

Mehmed Vahid al-Din later became caliph and sultan, and Abdülmecid was crown prince, making him next in line to the throne, but in 1919 Vahid al-Din refused to support the emerging nationalist movement of Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later Ataturk) as it fought against the Allied forces in the Anatolia region.

The writer reported that the Nationalists (Independence Movement) established the Grand National Assembly in Ankara on April 23, 1920 as the basis for a new political system.

Later that year, Ataturk invited Sultan Abdulmecid to Anatolia to join the nationalist struggle.

But Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, where the prince lived, was surrounded by British soldiers.

Abdul Majeed had no choice but to reject the offer, a position that Republicans would later cite when the tide turned against the caliphate.

How did Abdul Majeed become Caliph?

The writer said that the truce resulted in the victory of the nationalists and paved the way for the creation of what was called modern Turkey, in October 1922, and Sultan Vahid al-Din was widely hated by his people.

On November 1, the new government abolished the Sultanate and with it the Ottoman Empire.

He added that Wahiddin left "shamefully" from Istanbul on board a British warship on November 17.

In his absence, the government removed him from the caliphate and instead offered the title of caliph to Abdul Majeed, who promptly accepted it and ascended to the seat of the caliphate on 24 November 1922.

For the first time, an Ottoman prince was to become a caliph rather than a sultan, elected to this role by the Grand National Assembly (Parliament of the Turkish Republic).

The Last Caliph Abd al-Majid II (Library of Congress)

The Republic and the Sultanate

The writer explained that the conflict began almost immediately.

In his new role, Abdelmajid was banned from making political statements.

Instead, the government in Ankara put forward a new vision of Islam in which the caliph would be a mere figurehead, but as his granddaughter Princess Neslişah later wrote, Abdulmecid “had no intention of adhering to the set guidelines.”

He reported that the New York Times informed its readers in April 1923 that the Caliph was “a landscape painter, who does not seem likely to cause any inconvenience to anyone.”

The writer pointed out that this was a stark contrast to the reality in Turkey, where the grandeur and popularity of Abdul Majid's weekly processions to various mosques in Istanbul to perform Friday prayers was increasingly worrying Ankara.

On one occasion, the Caliph arrived at a mosque by crossing the Bosphorus Strait on board a large barge, decorated with paintings and flying the Caliph’s flag.

The writer added that Caliph Abdul Majeed was not a silent puppet. On the contrary, he held banquets, created the “Caliphate Orchestra” and hosted political meetings in his palace, much to Ankara’s consternation.

An illustration of the removal of the Ottoman Caliph “Abdul Majid II, surrounded by some of his men,” published in the French newspaper “Le Petit” (Shutterstock)

Tension in Istanbul and Ankara

The writer said that after the liberation of Istanbul, Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, and that one of the points of tension was the government’s angry reaction to a letter written by Muslim leaders in India to the Turkish Prime Minister on November 24, 1923. They warned of That "any diminution of the prestige of the Caliph or the abolition of the Caliphate as a religious factor in the Turkish body politic would mean the disintegration of Islam and its practical disappearance as a moral force in the world."

He stated that the letter was published in 3 newspapers in Istanbul, and its editors were arrested and charged with high treason, and they were interrogated in courts that received significant media coverage before they were released and their newspapers were suppressed.

Government officials saw Abdelmajid's succession as a serious threat to the cohesion of the republic.

When US President Woodrow Wilson died in February 1924, Ankara refused to fly flags at half-mast on government buildings, as it did not have diplomatic relations with Washington.

But in Istanbul, the Caliph ordered the Turkish flags to be flown at half-mast on his palace and yacht.

Istanbul at the beginning of the twentieth century (Shutterstock)

Family fate

By early 1924, the government decided to abolish the caliphate, and major newspapers began publishing articles attacking the Ottoman imperial family.

If Abdul Majeed was dismayed on Friday, February 29, when the number of American tourists who attended his weekly parade was greater than the number of Muslims, he did not show it publicly.

Instead, he continued to make public appearances, where he received the public while realizing that his position was difficult to justify.

But these conditions did not last long, for on March 3, the Grand National Assembly not only abolished the caliphate, but stripped every member of the imperial family of their Turkish citizenship, sent them into exile, confiscated their palaces, and ordered them to liquidate their private properties within a year.

The debate raged in the Assembly for more than 7 hours, and Prime Minister Ismet Pasha declared to the General Assembly with widespread approval, “If other Muslims show sympathy with us, it is not because the Caliph exists, but because we were strong.” His argument ultimately won out.

How was Abdel Majeed removed?

The then governor of Istanbul, Heydar Bey, accompanied by Istanbul Police Chief Saadeddin Bey, informed the deposed Caliph Abdul Majid of the decision before midnight on March 3.

They found the Caliph reciting the Qur’an in his library and read the expulsion order to him.

Abdel Majeed replied, "I am not a traitor. I will not go under any circumstances."

The Caliph's daughter, Princess Durr al-Shahwar, was 10 years old at the time.

She recalls her memories of that night and the feeling of disappointment, not primarily by the government, but by the Turkish people.

“My father, whose family ruled for the past seven centuries, sacrificed his life and happiness for the people who no longer valued him,” she said.

Abdul Majeed II and his daughter Dar al-Shahwar in Nice, France (social networking sites)

At around five in the morning, Abdul Majeed left the palace with his three wives, his son, his daughter, and their maids.

The deposed Caliph received the official salute from the soldiers and police surrounding the Dolmabahce area, then headed to the Çatalca area, west of Istanbul, to board the train.

Back in Istanbul, the princes were given two days to leave and a thousand Turkish liras each, and the princesses and other family members had just over a week to arrange their departure.

When the princes left the city, a crowd of people that “appeared sad and resigned” gathered to bid them farewell.

Within days, Abdel Majeed's family moved to a picturesque suburb located on Lake Leman in Geneva, Switzerland.

Rulers of the new republic

The writer explained that Ankara welcomed the end of the caliphate as the beginning of a new era.

The president of the new republic, Ataturk, seeking to calm the discontent of the Islamic world, issued a statement declaring that the authority of the caliphate had been legitimately transferred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (the parliament of the republic).

But what came next was a new secular order. In 1928, the Assembly passed a bill removing all references to Islam from the constitution.

From that time onwards, representatives and parliamentarians had to swear “by honor” and not “by God”.

Outside Turkey, the abolition of the caliphate sparked competition over who would take over the legacy of this ancient institution, and speculation abounded in the international press that a new caliphate would be launched from Mecca by Sharif Hussein, King of Hejaz. King Fuad I of Egypt floated the idea of ​​assuming this role, and the Emir of Afghanistan publicly put himself forward as a candidate. But no one was able to muster sufficient support from the Islamic world.

A week after his exile, Abdul Majeed issued a public statement from his Swiss hotel, arguing that “now the Muslim world alone has the exclusive right to assume, with full authority and complete freedom, the fate of this vital question.”

His comments indicate an attempt to modernize the Ottoman caliphate, so that it does not rely on the legacy of the empire for its legitimacy, but rather on the support of Muslims around the world.

But such a plan needed support and a strong back, and the Caliph family ended up in a villa on the French Riviera, paid for by the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the richest men in the world at the time and the ruler of a wealthy, modern princely state in the Indian subcontinent.

In Hyderabad, the last successors of the Othman family took place with the princely dynasty of Asaf Jahi in the Indian state, where Abdul Majeed searched for the revival of the caliphate, and in 1931, the Indian politician Shaukat Ali mediated the marriage of the daughter of the Caliph (Princess Durr al-Shahwar) and the eldest son of the ruling dynasty in Hyderabad Prince Azam Jah.

Abdul Majeed appointed their son - his grandson, who would become the future ruler of Hyderabad - as heir to the caliphate.

But in the end, this caliphate never saw the light of day, as the then newly established Republic of India annexed the Hyderabad region in 1948.

The last Caliph Abdul Majeed II with his daughter and son-in-law (Library of Congress)

The fate of the last caliph

The deposed caliph was unable to return to Istanbul, but during his years in exile he never accepted the abolition of the caliphate.

Abdelmajid wrote to a friend in July 1924, describing to himself an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and saying that he was suffering from "the arrows of unlucky fortune" even though (unlike the play's hero) he was still "loyal, conscientious, and strong in faith."

Abdel Majeed died on the evening of August 23, 1944, in a villa near Paris, at the age of 76. American forces were trying to liberate France and fighting the Germans in a location near his residence when stray bullets flew into the villa, and he suffered a heart attack.

In 1939, Abdul Majeed expressed his desire to be buried in India.

A tomb was built for him there by his prince-in-laws, but what he wanted was not achieved due to the difficulty of transporting the body at that time.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government adamantly refused to allow him to be buried in Istanbul, so he was buried in Paris for almost a decade.

On March 30, 1954, the “last Caliph of Islam” was buried in Al-Baqi Cemetery in Medina by order of King Saud.

Source: Middle East Eye