I start with a prayer to Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) to unite this Ummah on the way of His Beloved (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) and to bless us with being witness to the return of the Khilafah.
The situation that Muslims are in today is the culmination of a long period of decline in the Muslim/Ottoman Empire. It is said that the Kings are on the Deen of their people, but the Kings also come out of the people’s condition. It is a historical fact that when the people start transgressing and leaving the Commands of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala), then Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) will change their condition from a good one to a bad one.
When Hadhrat Salahuddin Al Ayubi (rahmatallah alaih) retook Jerusalem from the crusaders, he went round the army camps, the night before the victory. He woke up the mujahideen and told them to give worship if they wanted a victory from their Lord; they were up all night praying tahajjud, after which Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) handed Palestine to them. This was after the land had been in Christian hands for around eighty years and now once again Palestine has been taken from us, this time from Jewish aggressors. It has been about 50 years, approximately, and we are rightly saddened at the state of affairs. We will need patience (“verily Allah is with the ones who are patient”), and most importantly we ALL need to start learning the Deen (not just a couple of us, but all of us), implement it and take it to others. Then insha Allah, in our lifetimes will return the “…khilafah on the methodology of the Prophets”.
In this article my aim is to briefly give a rundown on the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the causes and who was involved.
One of the reasons leading to the downfall was what is today known as an inferiority complex. Since the rest of Europe was “progressing”, technologically and economically, the Ottomans wanted also to be a part of this progress and wanted to fit in. During the years of reform of 1774-1861, the constitution was revamped to bring about an equal status to the rest of Europe. In the spheres of foreign policy, the Ottomans did not have as much ambition as they should have in terms of pursuing a separate and purely Islamic policy. The Ottomans were too worried about consolidating the institution of the Sultanate and creating a new order (tanzimat) in public administration that would bring about an equal footing with the Great Powers (Britain, France and Russia).
Reform was given speed by Sultan Salim on whom the caliphate was conferred in 1789. The notion of Caliphate, however, in practical terms had become little more than a shadow and a trophy. In terms of politics, foreign relations and the internal situation it does not seem that it was taken seriously. Sultan Salim’s “new order” was a pure attempt at westernisation. It is possible that the Ottomans may have felt inadequate against the intellectual and political changes taking place as a result of the Revolution in France. When you do try to please other than Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala), what do you expect will happen other than ruin? What was happening was the secularisation of the Ottoman Empire, the separation of religion and state. You see there is now a sharp distinction between the Caliphate and the Sultanate. The Caliphate is the automatic position of the Head of State i.e. the Sultan. Since the 18 th century, the separation of the sultanate as the symbol of state power and the caliphate as the cultural symbol of religious unity had become an established fact and a lot of the intellectuals of the empire actually encouraged this.
Although, Sultan Salim did not in the end, attain his “order” due to the pressures of a conservative coalition, among which were the Ulama of the time. As a result these reformist ambitions were short-lived and the successor to the sultanate Mustafa IV had Salim and the reformers killed. But he himself was killed after a Fatwa issued by the Ulama. Succeeding him, was Mahmud II, who was the first to introduce a cabinet system of government. He also formed a corps with German aid, which infuriated the traditional Janissary (a traditional elite corps of the Ottoman Turkish Army). Mahmud brutally put down the resulting revolt (historically known as the Auspicious Incident) at the orders of the Shaykh-ul-Islam of that time.
Mahmud II’s successor was also a reformer: Abdul Majid I. The focus of his foreign policy and many internal reforms was geared to maintaining friendly relations with the west and to preserve the territorial integrity of the Ottoman State. This led to the Ottomans fighting alongside France, Great Britain and Sardinia (an island off the Italian mainland) as a “Western power” against Russia in the Crimean War of 1853-1856. To forward the notion of Caliphate onto the world stage now in terms of foreign policy, would mean jeopardising the newly acquired position of the Ottoman Empire as an equal with the west, an ally and a friend. Sultan Abdul Aziz also continued to reform the Empire in terms of governmental and provincial institutions, civic codes and public education, all modelled on their French counterparts.
It can be understood in one sense why these reforms took place and the reasons for their progress. After the Industrial revolution, and the Enlightenment of western Europe, it had seemed to jump ahead at an alarming pace, while the Empire was not progressing (in material terms) as much. Furthermore up and till, and especially during, the reign of Abdul Aziz the Ottoman State had indeed gained great prosperity, diplomatically as well as economically. In all of this, however, the Islamic way of governance was nowhere to be seen. Even though Abdul Aziz was a member of the Mawlawi Order of Sufis, Islam was not allowed to impact the Ottoman scene. As the first Ottoman Caliph Othman I (after which the Empire is named) said to his son: “Allah charged me, his poor slave, to conquer and spread the word of Islam all over the world. I charge you to do the same. Whoever of my descendants, swerves from honesty and justice will be deprived of our Master Mohammed's blessing.” This really is an accurate diagnosis and consequent prognosis since if you compare the drive and motivations of this first Caliph against the later “Caliphs”, you see a shift in priority from spreading Islam to maintaining territories and conceding and compromising to the West.
This is one of the reasons why the “Khilafah” fell (I put it in speech marks because I am being sarcastic. In all honesty the Khilafah had ceased functioning as a Khilafah in terms of the deputy of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) on Earth a long time ago). However, the Empire took a sharp upward turn in the form of the last great Sultan and Caliph in terms of standing up to the West as opposed to the compromising policies of the previous sultans.
Historically, Sultan Abdul Hamid II was indeed the last obstacle for the Great Powers to overcome, in order for them to carve up the Ottoman Empire for themselves. It has to be remembered that the Ottoman Empire was a treasure trove of territories including most of North Africa, most of the Caucasus, the major Arab regions of the Middle East, the Hijaz and up to the gates of Vienna.
The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) once taught us that there would come a time when the Kuffar would all surround the Muslim lands and help themselves to them. It is reported in the Sunan of Abu Dawood that the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said “Soon the nations will call one another against you, just as people call one another to eat from a platter of food”. This one saying should be enough to convince any learned and rational-minded non-Muslim that at the very extreme least, this man whowalked among us fourteen hundred years ago was no ordinary Arab. He was indeed the Messenger of Almighty God, and he was telling us this (a portent of the unseen (ghaib) so that we may recognise what is happening.
It was obvious for a long time that the Ottoman Empire was in decline, for indeed when it collapsed who would inherit its vast territories in Asia, Africa and Europe; this was the primary concern of the powers at the time. Tsar Nicholas told the Aberdeen government in England that “In my cabinet there are two opinions about Turkey: one is that she is dying; the other is that she is already dead”. The territorial potential led to the Sykes-Picot agreement of 9 May 1916 in which Britain and France (with the tacit approval of Russia) made a plan of dissecting and assigning the territories to each other. The prophecy of Sayidinna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) quite literally materialised in the form of this secret convention. As a result of the seemingly inevitable collapse of the Empire, Constantinople became the focus of a sinister round of power games and political manoeuvring, as sinister and as sharp as warriors quietly duelling on a plain in the moonlit night. After a string of wars, Constantinople had lost many of its European territories and the Empire kept on receding until it seemed that the Turkish capital itself would be consumed. Amongst all this was the insatiable appetite of Tsarist Russia for the treasure of Istanbul. However, a string of treaties and interventions by Great Britain aided in the failure of Russia to realise her ambitious goal.
Revolts and insurrections continued in the Ottoman lands in places like Syria and Lebanon, with the Great Powers intervening to arbitrate ultimately self-favourable truces between the rebels and administrations of those lands. Rebellion upon rebellion hit the territories from Greece (1837) to Bosnia and Herzegovina (1875). One of the last treasures, incidentally, was the Near East and the Ottomans were desperate to retain this area, which included the two Holy Cities. A clever manoeuvre by the British in securing the island of Cyprus on the pretext of protecting it for Sultan Hamid against Russia handed another part of the Muslim Empire into the hands of the disbelievers. It has to be noted that Cyprus was a key strategic location that at one time commanded the military fronts of Syria and Egypt. As a result Britain then conquered Egypt in order to safeguard for itself the Suez Canal.
Throughout all this, an unexpected turn occurred in the form of a marked increase in German influence and ambition. The Germans had somehow acquired an appetite of their own for the receding territories of the Empire not to mention the land route to India, a major lifeline for the British economy. The subsequent uproar against this new German aggression materialised in the form of a number of unfriendly marriages of convenience with Britain siding up to Russia; this led to Ottoman Turkey to side with the opposing powers i.e. Germany and Austro-Hungary, hence losing its hitherto neutrality.
The purpose, however, is understandable from one angle in terms that it would provide an opportunity to regain lost territories and to hold back the ambitious drive of Russia to acquire Istanbul. Constantinople/Istanbul itself has always been a major chess piece in empirical politics for centuries, occupying one of the most advantageous sites in the world. Uniting Europe and Asia on the one hand and putting into communication the Black Sea and southern Russia with the greater part of Europe and Asia, the historic city of Constantinople itself is divided into three sections; two in Europe and one in Asia.
The efforts of Sultan Abdul Hamid kept the dying Empire afloat for a further 33 years, and everyone except the intellectuals who were working under the protection of the European Countries, appreciated and applauded his efforts. From accounts, he was deemed to be a religious, pious and honourable Muslim who when he refused to give up Palestine to the Zionist-driven British, said Palestine was a trust from God, and it was not his to give away.
Amongst the achievements of the Empire under the Sultan were broad educational reforms culminating in, to note a few, an extension of primary, secondary and military schools across the empire, 18 professional schools including the present-day University of Istanbul, the reduction of the national debt and the creation of industries such as dockyards and clothes factories. Without capitulating grossly to the colonial powers, he actually made the Empire function as an independent Islamic body; this led to an attempt on his life by, it is believed, Christian factions. His defiance against these and other incidents led to a revolution by the Young Turks Movement (amongst whom was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk), leading to his deposition in 1909 and exile, which was the ultimate aim of the Jews for they wanted a homeland in Palestine (modern day Israel), and also the secular Young Turks/Committee of Union Progress who were more interested in preserving a Turkish identity than preserving the Holy Sites under their protection.
After getting rid of Abdul Hamid (at whose funeral even his adversaries wept and about whom Otto von Bismarck once remarked that “90% of intelligence is in the head of Sultan Abdul Hamid and 5% in my head, and the remaining five in all the heads of the politicians.”), the secularists were, in practical terms running the country with the replacing sultans starting with Mehmed V as puppets of the secular regime. A miscalculating alliance with Germany led to the collapse of not only the Empire, but also of the centuries-old alliance between Turkish and Arab societies, partly as a result of British incitement of Arab nationalism.
After the First World War and the failure of the CUP, it seemed that the Allies had secured for themselves the treasure of Istanbul, however, there was one more hurdle to cross in the form of a nationalist army officer: Atataurk. By this time, the Allies were in the port of Istanbul and were effectively governing Istanbul as a result of the concessions of Mehmed VI in order for him to remain in power. The young Turk was not going to let that happen and subsequently set out on a series of nationalist political and military campaigns with the aid of a friendly General and possible secret agreements with Russia to found the modern state of Turkey. Russia was the first to recognise the secular government of Ankara (where Ataturk set up an opposing power base to that of the sultan and his allies), and it is thought that through its determination to end the Islamic Khilafah and the parallel determination of Ataturk to oust the Allies went a ways to forge this unofficial alliance (although this may never be proven). Only after these events did the Allies invite Ankara to set the borders of the new republic with the Treaty of Lausanne. The new National Assembly subsequently abolished the sultanate in 1922, separately retaining the caliphate thereby officially proclaiming an end to the Ottoman Empire, and even though the caliphate was given to Abdul Majid II, his powers were considerably curtailed, effectively becoming a ceremonial role. The last thing that the secularists had to do was to deal with the Caliphate.
After cunningly twisting a verse from the Qur’an, the Turkish intellectuals put forth the notion that every man is a caliph/sovereign, hence legitimising the idea of democracy; that every Turk now holds sovereignty in his/her hands. Therefore, they justified that there was no need for a Caliphate since it is integrated into the state’s legislative apparatus. Ataturk proposed this very abomination on 1 March 1924 to the Turkish National Assembly after which was incorporated into the law two days later the statement: “The caliph has been dismissed. The office of the caliphate has been abolished, since the caliphate is essentially contained in the meaning and concept of government and public” (my italics). In practical terms the state of Turkey could now be stamped “SECULARISED”. Overnight, the state-sanctioned Islamic way of life was completely reversed; a complete abolition and overhaul of religious institutions, the clampdown on establishments of mystical orders, the solar calendar was officially pronounced as the only official calendar, a state monopoly on alcohol started, the introduction of civil marriages at registry offices, a ban on religious inscriptions on public buildings and the replacing of the Arabic alphabet with its Latin counterpart. The Islamic discourse was completely rubbed out in the public domain in favour of a thoroughly Turkish identity. As a result, the Qur’an was henceforth openly recited in Turkish and even the Adhan started to be given in Turkish. May the Lord keep us from such evil innovations. In fact, talking about bid’ah, why do not the fanatical wahhabis/salafis condemn this innovative practice? A topic for another time, maybe.
The Shi’ites in Iran, the Qadyanis/Ahmadis in the sub-Indian continent, the Wahhabis in Jazeeratul Arab have all had a vocal political presence in the Islamic world in the latter half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first as well. Where is the voice of Sunni Orthodox Islam? Well it has been silenced since that day in 1924. The people of the Ottoman Empire had long become immersed in the dunya (one of the things our Master (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) warned us against) and as a result they had started to forget the aakhirah (hereafter), and instead of looking to Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) they looked to Western Europe in the hope of progress.
We now have an assortment of groups calling for return of Khilafah (with the likes of Hizb ut-Tahreer and Al-Muhajiroon) and also reformist revivalist sects such as the Salafis or Ahl ul-Hadeeth and the Tableeghi Jam’aat that claim they have the solution to all our problems. One thing to remember is that a spontaneous return to Khilafah will not work unless the people are ready for it, otherwise they will automatically reject it. Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala) gives us a political condition in terms of what we earn (remember the Battle of Badr and the re-conquest of Hadhrat Salahuddin (rahmatallah alaih)). Well, we do not need to reform Islam; we need to reform ourselves as people and families first. There is nothing wrong with the way of Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jam’aah, but there is something wrong with us.
Just to look in England; we have mosques aplenty but they are never full other than on Eid and Ramadan and Jummu’ah. Our children are amongst the biggest drug runners/smugglers and pimps in this country. We give lip service to Islam and are losing our connection with Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala). A lot of our youth are immersed in some of the most diabolical of Shaitaan’s handiwork at universities and in the streets of the ghettos; sinning has become a way of life for us. Like the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said we are like the “…froth scum on the surface of a body of water”. The Ummah is dead, lifeless; but no nation has ever been put in a difficult or catastrophic position unless they had left the Book of Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala).
We could spend years trying to form a political front, or developing weapons systems but if most of the 1.3 billion Muslims have left just the five daily prayers themselves then we cannot expect this Ummah to receive the respect and awe that it once commanded around the globe. Our izzah (reverence) is directly related to our subservience to God Almighty; we achieve freedom from the shackles of the world through our knowing, acknowledging, obeying and worshipping our Creator. I end this article with a simple call to keep steadfast to the Qur’an and Sunnah, to arm the Muslim communities with the knowledge to combat ignorance. Go to the Ulama of Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jam’aah, sit with them and learn from them; verily, they are the inheritors of the Prophets. Do a course in Islamic Law and Theology; become well versed in Shar’iah, especially in whatever Madhab one follows. Teach yourself and then teach your families and encourage the people around you, with diligence.
For your own personal progress, it is extremely important that you take Bai’ah (pledge) with a scholar, preferably one versed in the sciences of tasawwuf who will guide you, teach you and help take you to closeness with Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala). Every great Wali Allah and scholar in Islam has had a teacher in one form or another. The teacher of the Sahaba (radhiallahu anhum ajamain) was the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), and there is no better way to learn other than face to face, indeed it is the sunnah way to do it. Make much Dhikr Allah on the tongue but more importantly in the heart; for it will soften and make you come closer to Him (subhanu wa ta’ala). Ultimately this is our goal.
May Allah (Subhanu wa ta’ala) give us the strength to persevere for the sake of upholding His Divine Law and this trust that we have been given by the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam). Alhamdulillah, the revival of the Ummah is taking place.
And all Praise is to Allah (subhanu wa ta’ala), the One who has no partners. Glorified be the Lord of all that Exists.
Blessings and peace be upon the Noor-e-Arsh, the Best of Creation. His servant and our Master (sallallahu alaihi wasallam), on his family, companions and all who follow them up until the Day of Accounting.
Wasalaaamu alaykum warahmatallah wabarakatahu.