Throughout
Islamic history, one of the uniting aspects of the Muslim world was the
caliphate. After the death of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his close companion, Abu Bakr, was elected as the first
khalifah, or caliph, of the Muslim community. His job as leader combined
political power over the Muslim state as well as spiritual guidance for
Muslims. It became a hereditary position, occupied at first by the Umayyad
family, and later by the Abbasids. In 1517, the caliphate was transferred to
the Ottoman family, who ruled the largest and most powerful empire in the world
in the 1500s.
The
Ottoman Empire in 1878
For
centuries, the Ottoman sultans did not place much emphasis on their role as
caliphs. It was an official title that was called in to use when needed, but
was mostly neglected. During the decline of the empire in the 1800s, however, a
sultan came to power that would decide to revive the importance and power of
the caliphate. Abdülhamid II was determined to reverse the retreat of the Ottoman
state, and decided that the best way to do it was through the revival of Islam
throughout the Muslim world and pan-Islamic unity, centered on the idea of a
strong caliphate. While Abdülhamid’s 33-year reign did not stop the
inevitable fall of the empire, he managed to give the Ottomans a final period
of relative strength in the face of European encroachment and colonialism, with
Islam being the central focus of his empire.
Islamic Reform
Throughout
the 1800s, the Ottoman government had been trying desperately to slow the
decline of the empire. Beginning with Mahmud II and throughout the reigns
of Abdülmecid and Abdülaziz, attempts at reforming the empire were at
the forefront of the government agenda. These Tanzimat (reorganization) reforms attempted to
rebuild the Ottoman state along liberal, European lines. Islam (and religion in
general) was given a back seat in public life, as secular ideas began to
influence laws and government practices.
These
reforms proved to do nothing to reverse the decline of the empire. If anything,
the increased emphasis on non-Islamic identities of Ottoman subjects just
further promoted the nationalistic aims of the Ottoman Empire’s numerous
subjects, which created further disunity in the empire. During the Tanzimat
Era, the Ottoman provinces of Serbia, Greece, Wallachia, Modova, Abkhazia,
Bulgaria, and Algeria were all lost to European encroachment or nationalism.
Abdülhamid
decided to take a radically different approach. Because of the loss of European
territory that had occurred just before and in the first few years of
his reign, the empire was now overwhelmingly Muslim. Throughout Ottoman
history, Christians had been a major part of the population, at some times
being about 80% of the population. Throughout the 1800s, however, the Ottoman
Empire was losing Christian-majority lands in Europe, and was getting a net
influx of Muslim immigrants coming into the empire. With about 3/4th of his
empire Muslim, Abdülhamid decided to emphasize Islam as the dominant
uniting factor among his subjects.
Tughra of
Abdulhamid II
The rest
of Europe was experiencing powerful nationalistic movements in the 1800s.
Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism were examples of uniting factors for people who
spoke the same languages and had similar cultures. The Ottoman empire had always
been multi-cultural. Turks, Arabs, Albanians, Bosnians, Kurds, Armenians, and
many others made up the empire. Abdülhamid attempted to make Pan-Islamism
a uniting factor for Muslims, both inside and outside of the empire’s borders.
To show
his role as supreme leader of Muslims worldwide, Abdülhamid placed much
emphasis on the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah. In the 1800s, a building
program commenced in the holy cities, with hospitals, barracks, and
infrastructure being built in the Hejaz to aid in the yearly gathering of
Muslims in Makkah – the Hajj. The Ka’aba itself and the Masjid al-Haram that
surrounded it were also renovated with a modern water system that helped
reduce the severity of floods.
In
1900, Abdülhamid commenced the beginning of the Hejaz Railway. It began in
Istanbul and traveled through Syria, Palestine, and the Arabian
desert, ending in Madinah. The goal of the railway was to better connect the
holy sites with the political authority of Istanbul, as well as make the pilgrimage
easier. To show his emphasis on the protection of Makkah and
Madinah, Abdülhamid decided that the gauge (width of the rails) of the
Hejaz Railway should be slightly smaller than standard European ones. His
reasoning for this was that if Istanbul were to ever fall to European
imperialists, he wanted to make sure they could not use the Hejaz Railway with
European trains to easily invade Makkah and Madinah.
Non-Ottoman Muslims
Throughout
Ottoman history, there have been examples of the sultans helping Muslim communities
outside their borders whenever the opportunity arose and the Ottoman state was
capable. For example, in the 1500s, the Ottoman navy was a key force in the
Indian Ocean, aiding local Muslims fighting Portuguese colonialism as far away
as India and Indonesia. Abdülhamid considered it his duty to do the same
in the 1800s, especially since large populations of Muslims in Africa and Asia
were under European imperial control.
The
opening of the Hamidiye University in Beijing
Delegations
were sent to African Muslim kingdoms such as Zanzibar, giving gifts
from Abdülhamid and asking them to acknowledge the caliph as their
protector against European imperialism. Similar delegations were sent to
Muslims living within Russian and Chinese borders.
In
1901, Abdülhamid sent one of his advisors, Enver Pasha, along with
numerous Islamic scholars, to China. When they arrived in Shanghai, they were
warmly greeted by the Chinese authorities, and especially so by the local
Chinese Muslims, who had lived in China for centuries. Abdülhamid later
helped establish a Muslim university in Beijing, called the Peking (Beijing)
Hamidiye University. Even as far away as China, Abdülhamid wanted to create a
sense of belonging and unity among Muslims, centered on the caliphate.
Abdülhamid’s efforts
resulted in the caliph of the Muslim world being acknowledged in Friday prayers
from small towns throughout Africa to the major Muslim communities of India and
China.
The Issue of Palestine
In the
late 1800s, a potent nationalist movement was forming among European Jews:
Zionism. Zionist ideology called for a Jewish state to be established in their
ancient homeland, Palestine. Although European Jews were dispersed throughout
Europe, the unique financial and political power of numerous Jewish families
was able to make Zionism a major force in the late 1800s.
™Even if
you gave me as much gold as the entire world, let alone the 150 million English
pounds in gold, I would not accept this at all. I have served the
Islamic milla [nation] and the Ummah of Muhammad for more than thirty
years, and never did I blacken the pages of the Muslims- my fathers and
ancestors, the Ottoman sultans and caliphs. And so I will never accept what you
ask of me.
He further
prevented the purchase of tracts of land within Palestine by Zionist
organizations, ensuring that their attempts at establishing a foothold there
were futile. Ultimately, the Zionists were allowed to purchase land and settle
in Palestine after the reign of Abdülhamid II, when the Young Turk
movement was in charge of the Ottoman Empire.
Legacy
Abdülhamid
II was the last of the Ottoman sultans who had any real power. He was
overthrown in 1909 by a group known as the Young Turks. They were
Western-educated liberal secularists who vehemently disagreed with the Islamic
direction that Abdülhamid took the empire in from 1876 to 1909. After his
overthrow, his brother Mehmed Reshad was chosen as sultan by the Young Turks,
but he effectively had no power, and the empire was run by an oligarchy of
three ministers in the Young Turk government.
Three more
people held the office of caliph after Abdülhamid II: Mehmed V, Mehmed VI,
and Abdülmecid II, none of which had any power. In 1924, the caliphate was
abolished by the new Turkish parliament and Abdülmecid and the rest of the
Ottoman family were forced into exile. As such, Abdülhamid II was the last
of the caliphs to have had any power over the Muslim world. The tradition of a
strong, in charge caliph that commenced with Abu Bakr in 632 was upheld
by Abdülhamid in the late 1800s before finally being overthrown by liberal
elements within the empire.
Abdülhamid
II died in Istanbul in 1918, and was buried in a mausoleum along with Sultans
Mahmud II and Abdülaziz near Sultanahmet Square.
http://lostislamichistory.com
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