Refuting the statement that The Ottoman Empire was a ‘Universal Caliphate’.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله و على آله و صحبه أجمعين.

Muslims who sympathise with organisations which call for a universal Caliphate and ask Muslims to revolt against their rulers like Hizb-ut-Tahreer and Al-Qaeda in the past, and ISIS in our times have a very common note,i.e. that the Arab states were born out of their revolt against the legitimate and universally accepted Caliphate of The Ottoman Empire.

The usual and first target of these organisations is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They claim that the Aal-Saud clan alongwith the students of Shaikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Rahimahullah ‘rebelled’ against the Ottoman governors in the lands of Hijaz and Najd and captured these places to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And that the Saudi State was responsible for the ultimate downfall of the ‘Universal Caliphate’, i.e. The Ottoman Empire.

Without making very lengthy points let me scribble down some reminders from the political history of Islam.

  1. The Ottoman empire was a monarchy just like any other monarchy of the past.They had their own service and disservice to the Deen.But anyone who claims that it was ‘a univerally respected(=accepted) Caliphate’ is either ignorant of history or lying.
  2. If the Ottomans were ‘The Caliphate’, how come we had the Mughals in India, Mamlukes in Egypt and other kingdoms side by side.After the Banu Ummayyah (Ummayyad Monarchy/Caliphate), the Muslims were never under one single flag.
  3. Muslims after the Khilafatur-Rashida have used the word Caliphate and Kingship/Monarchy interchangeably.
  4. If ‘The Caliphate Callers’ criticise the Arabs (esp. Saudi Arabia) for fighting the Ottomans,let them read how the Ottoman crushed other small competing Muslim states in their 600 years’ history.
  5. This map1 shows The Ottoman Empire, The Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate and The Empire of Tamerlane all running simultaneously (they were also warring each other).
  6. This map2 shows the extent of The Ottoman Empire and the fact that the (Sunni) Mughal Empire existed in north India. It also shows that large areas of the (Muslim and Sunni) Arabian peninsula were free of Ottoman rule.
  7. The Ottomans destroying The Mamluk Sultanate. Wikipedia1 [Wikipedia is just mentioned for a brief read, however it is advised to read other better historical sources].
  8. Apart from these, there were tens and hundreds of simultaneous Muslim kingdoms and chiefdoms running alongside and parallel to the Ottoman empire in North Africa, Arabia and the Indian Subcontinent.
  9. The Ottoman persecuted the Alawi Shiites (who are indeed were a disbelieving sect). Wikipedia2 . I have mentioned this point to remind the people who criticise other Muslim states for eliminating opposing belief systems (sects) amongst Muslims.
  10. The Ottoman kings were infamous for their practice of fratricide. That means, the new ‘Caliph’ (=King!) kills all his brothers to avoid future internecine wars. Read here. This is similar to what almost all kings do to save and secure their throne at all costs.
  11. Like all present day Muslim governments(who ally with the disbelievers) the Ottomans also sided with Germany in the first world war for their own benefits. Wikipedia 3

-Thus anyone sensible will understand that The Ottoman Empire was a monarchy like the other monarchies and kingdoms which existed in Islamic History.

-Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna.