Firstly, we should consider Ottoman Sultanate and Khilafah separately. All the Muslim lands were not under the control of the Ottoman Empire but the majority of the Sunni Muslims were bound to the Caliph, religiously and this was an “Islamic Unity.” This is why Indians and Pakistanis collected money to help the continuation of the Caliphate after the end of the Ottoman Empire. They were quite aware of the fact if the caliphate declines, it will be hard to restore it again. You can discuss the legitimacy of the position of Caliphate, you can claim that Ottomans were corrupted and they did not have right to seize Arabian Peninsula, you can claim that Arabs were right to cooperate with British against the Ottomans; however, you cannot claim that the unity of the Muslims at that time was a bad idea…. As a Muslim, I accept the faults of the Ottoman Empire but I’m proud of their power once upon a time… Muslims were unified, Muslims were strong at that time… I have an African friend who really suffered under the Western regimes in Africa… We, Arabs, especially the Gulf people who enjoy the richness of the gas and oil in the region, cannot easily understand what they suffer. He told me that “When the Ottomans were in power, we had our honour, now our honour is under the feet of the Westerners.” Despite a corrupted image of the Ottomans, this answer is quite enough for me…. and we Muslims, as Allah commands in Qur’an, have to give up our Qawmi and Watani aims and concantrate on the “Ummah” consciousness and the actualization of it in this life… It doesn’t matter under whom, Ottomans played their role and it ended and this doesn’t mean that our responsibility ceased to exist…

Salam Alaykoum
Hayyakoum Allah….

First, the Arabs made a deal with British and revolted not only against the Ottomans but primarily against the caliph -the ottoman sultan- in 1916. The ottoman soldiers who were killed were the army of the caliph. The great war was a war between religions, and the arab leaders aligned with the wrong side. (as long as the British bribed them well)

In the end of the war, it became clear that the clever Arab leadership was tricked by the British with the false promise of an independent state. Rest of the story is well-known, colonization, Balfour declaration, and so on…and Saudi Arabia left as the only independent state under British “informal empire” .

I think this article remembering the last caliph is simply odd. It is really absurd to hear that people are mourning for the last (ottoman) caliph, the one they betrayed in a holy war.

Let me tell you the real story abolishing of caliphate: The leader of the Arab revolt “Sheriff Hussein” declared himself as caliph in 1924, after Turkish parliament abolished the caliphate. King Ibn Saud of Arabia, driven by power-seeking, kicked Sheriff Hussein out with the support of British once again. Yes, this is the real end of the caliphate. The greediness of “revolutionary” leaders of the Arab world, their quest for dominance served european imperialism, and left the “great Muslim nation that has no one to lead it.”

I think it will be better to face the mistakes of the past instead of creating illogical reasonings to hide them.

Check history:
“When Hussein declared himself King of the Hejaz, he also declared himself King of all Arabs (malik bilad-al-Arab). This aggravated his conflict with Ibn Saud, with whom he had fought before WWI on the side of the Ottomans in 1910. Two days after the Turkish Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on March 3, 1924, Hussein declared himself Caliph at his son Abdullah’s winter camp in Shunah, Transjordan.[2] The claim to the title had a mixed reception, and he was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate. Saud defeated Hussein in 1924. Hussein continued to use the title of Caliph when living in Transjordan.”

JazakAllah khairun to everyone for your comments whether negative, positive or neutral. We may disagree or agree but as long as we understand that we are Muslim brothers and share the same vision of raising Allahs name above all others and to establish Islam in the world then what binds us is more than what divides us.

I will inshaAllah be discussing many of the points and controversies raised here in future posts. If there are any suggestions I would be grateful to hear from you all.

An excellent presentation by Sheikh Imran Hosein about the abolition of the Caliphate and the prophecy regarding its restoration :

http://www.youtube.com/user/mycutelittlepandas#g/c/6E332B8DFB4AE07F

This is perhaps the best post that i have read on MuslimMatters. We, as Muslims, must have a love for our Khulafa’ in our hearts. As such, we must love the Ottoman Khulafa’ who ruled correctly and represented our faith and our Holy Prophet (AS) with honor for centuries.

To those who are speaking against these noble men who spent their lives and blood in the way of Islam. Who are you and what have you done for our religion? You are like dogs howling at the moon; you may lose your voices, but you will still not bring it down.

May Allah (SWT) bless our Ottoman Sultans and may He bring those who will once again raise the Flag of RasulAllah (S) over all of humanity, Ameen.

Abu Umar, you are right for pointing out that Sherrif Hussein of Makkah was a British stooge as well. I did point it out (albeit briefly), when mentioning how he switched sides against the Ottomans by allying himself with the british, and working with T.E. Lawrence. I didn’t direct criticism against him because:

1. His story of collaborating with the British is quite well known, thanks in part to the movie, “Lawrence of Arabia”. His treachery definitely cannot be ignored, nor can it be trivialized. The disgusting thing about this family, is that in the 1973 war, King Hussein (another big traitor), knew of the planned attack against Israel by Egypt, and Syria, and tried to warn Golda Meir (the Prime Minister of Israel at that time) of the planned attack. The funny (and ironic) thing was that the Israeli Prime Minister didn’t believe him! Truly amazing.

2. I target my criticism against the House of Saud family because there unfortunately is a myth that they are the “defenders of Tawheed”, that they never colluded with the british (nor work with the US at all), and that they are (somehow), “legitimate” Islamic rulers, who do no wrong, and must be obeyed. What these people are essentially doing is trying to ensure that the Khilafah does NOT get re-established, by protecting the legitimacy, and occupation of the hijaz by the House of Saud. They also divert the argument by playing a game of bait and switch, by proving that Sheikh Abdul Wahhab was innocent from revolting against the Ottomans (this is true). What they always fail to accept, and acknowledge, is that while Sheikh AbdulWahhab was not guilty of revolting against the Khilafah, Ibn Saud was, and history bears witness to this.

Having said that, any of the present rulers has the ability at any time to say, “our predecessors were wrong in what they did, and now we will rectify this”, and they can do this by declaring themselves as being the new Khalifah, and officially declare their respective country, an Islamic state. Unfortunately, all of these rulers are being watched by their colonial masters (i.e. the US, British, and the French), who will quickly depose them should they make any such attempt. Look what happened to Saddam Hussein! (He at no point tried to declare khilafah in Iraq, and was a brutal tyrant towards Muslims, but once he no longer was a puppet for the US, they got rid of him).

JazakALLAH Khair for pointing this out. We Muslims need to be aware of our history to put today’s events in context, and recognize who the friends, and enemies of Islam and Muslims really are.

Was-Salamu’alaikum

King Abdullah I of Jordan who was backed by the British and whose colloboration with the Zionists in the 1940′s played a large part in the loss of Palestine

King Faysal of Iraq who was also a stooge for the British

King Hussein of Jordan who was on the CIA payroll and continued the treachery of his grandfather by colloborating with the Zionists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Saudi_State

“This was seen as a major challenge to the authority of the Ottoman Empire, which had exercised its rule over the holy cities since 1517.”

While I was incorret to say that Ibn Saud was allied with the British (it was Abdul Aziz), you also proved that the Ottomans ruled over Makkah and Madinah since 1517. This predates Sheikh Abdul-Wahhab’s time.

All that you have proven is that from the very beginning, the House of Saud has been fighting the Ottoman Khilafah. When the opportunity came to receive help from the British to support their goals (a relationship of mutual benefit), they jumped on the bandwagon, as has already been proven, many times over.

The House of Saud has repeatedly fought the Ottoman Khilafah, and later fought Sherrif Hussein of Makkah, when he declared himself the new Caliph.

Here is some more food for thought:

http://www.imranhosein.org/books/126-the-caliphate-the-hijaz-and-the-saudi-wahabi-nation-state.html

Scholars of the past like Imam Ahmad, Imam Malik, Ibn Taymiyyah and others had the courage to speak the truth against the Khulafah of their time. It’s pretty sad that in our time, we lack the integrity, and the knowledge to speak out the truth against rulers WHO AREN’T EVEN KHULAFAH. This is pretty sad.

Moreover, just because the House of Saud throws a few dollars in the direction of the Muslims does not negate their history, nor the evil of their partnership with the British from before, nor with the US today.

Allah in the Qur-an says:

“Do you consider the providing of drinking water to the pilgrims and the maintenance of Al-Masjid-al-Haram (at Makkah) as equal to the worth of those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah? They are not equal before Allah. And Allah guides not those people who are the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers).” Surah 9:19

Was-Salamu’alaikum