The Ottoman Caliphate () was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty, rulers of the Ottoman Empire, to be the caliphs of Islam during the late medieval and early modern era.

Ottoman rulers first assumed the style of caliph in the 14th century, though did at that point not claim religious authority beyond their own borders. After the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by Sultan Selim I in 1517 and the abolition of the Mamluk-controlled Abbasid Caliphate, Selim and his successors ruled one of the strongest states in the world and gained control of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, the religious and cultural centers of Islam. The claim to be caliphs transitioned into a claim to universal caliphal authority, similar to that held by the Abbasid Caliphate prior to the sack of Baghdad in 1258. Further Ottoman victories, the dynasty's geopolitical dominance in the 16th–17th centuries, and the lack of rival claimants strengthened the Ottoman claim to be the leaders of the Muslim world.

Following territorial losses in the 18th and 19th centuries, the use of caliphal authority by the Ottomans reached its height under Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909), who attempted to cultivate support for the Ottoman Empire through a Pan-Islamist foreign policy. Abdul-Hamid's absolutist rule came to an end through the Young Turk Revolution of 1908. The caliphal office was weakened in domestic politics, though was retained due to its usefulness in international diplomacy. At the beginning of World War I, Sultan Mehmed V proclaimed a jihad against the Entente, though this was largely ineffectual. The legitimacy and authority of the Ottoman Caliphate was damaged by the Great Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the end of the war, which saw the empire lose all of its Arab territories.

The Ottoman Empire came to an end following the partition of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922), which established the modern Republic of Turkey. The last Ottoman caliph, Abdülmecid II, retained his position under the republic until the abolition of the caliphate on 3 March 1924, as part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secular reforms. The imperial Osmanoğlu family was also exiled from Turkey.

With the establishments of Sufi orders like the Bayramiyya and Mawlawiyya under the Ottoman Caliphate, the mystical side of Islam, Sufism, flourished.

History

Assumption of the caliphate (1362–1517)

Early claims to caliphate

Several early Ottoman sultans claimed the style of caliph. Murad I (r. 1362–1389) was notably often referred to by this title from his conquest of Adrianople in the 1360s onwards. Murad achieved some international recognition of this title, for instance from the Karamanids in correspondence. The title was used consistently by sultans from at least the time of Murad II (r. 1421–1444; 1446–1451) onwards. Mehmed II (r. 1444–1446; 1451–1481) was referred to as a caliph in contemporary sources Prior to 1517, Selim I had ordered that the khutbah be recited in his name as Ottoman caliph several times, for instance at Tabriz in 1514 and at Aleppo in 1516. their use of the caliphal title did for the most part not carry real religious or political significance. The Ottomans were not the only Muslim rulers to use the title and in the eyes of most contemporary Muslim jurists, the caliphate had come to an end with the death of the Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim during the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258. some historians dismiss al-Mutawwakil's surrender of the caliphate to Selim as a forgery, Due to being rooted in both Islamic and Roman (see Ottoman claim to Roman succession) traditions, historians have sometimes referred to the Ottoman Empire as a "universal empire". Since there was virtually no strong rival challenger to the Ottomans (their main Muslim rivals, the Safavids of Iran, were Shia), the Ottoman Caliphate was rarely questioned in the 16th–18th centuries. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, various Turkish princes in Central Asia recognized the Ottoman sultans as caliphs.

Diplomatic use and recognition

thumb|Commemorative plaque where the [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed]]

In the eighteenth century, the role of caliph became a prominent part of Ottoman diplomacy. In the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (21 July 1774), the Russian Empire thus recognized the Ottoman sultan as the "Supreme Muhammedan Caliph" Despite the success of its self-strengthening reforms, the empire was largely unable to match the military strength of its main rival, the Russian Empire, and suffered a severe defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. The Ottoman state defaulted on its loans in 1875–76, part of a wider financial crisis affecting much of the globe.

The British government supported the view that the Ottomans were caliphs of Islam among Muslims in British India and the Ottoman sultans in return helped the British by issuing pronouncements to the Muslims of India, which extolled them to support British rule. Such pronouncements were issued by sultans Selim III (r. 1789–1807) and sultan Abdülmecid I (r. 1839–1861). Sultan Abdulaziz (r. 1861–1876) occasionally invoked his role as caliph to bolster support from Muslims outside his empire.

Abdul Hamid II (1876–1909)

"Reinvention of tradition"

left|thumb|Card issued in memory of Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II's accession to the Ottoman throne]]

Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) began his reign with a loss in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which caused one of the worst territorial losses in Ottoman history. Although disastrous for the Ottoman Empire, the loss galvanized support for the Ottoman dynasty from Muslims outside of the empire.

In light of these developments, the greatest attempt to revive the classical idea of the caliph as both the religious and political leader of the Muslim ummah occurred in Abdul Hamid's reign. Abdul Hamid sought to project Islamic authority in order to foster support from Muslims both within and outside his empire. was described as a "reinvention of tradition" and emphasized Abdul Hamid's role as caliph.

In 1899, the Ottomans granted a request from the United States government to leverage their religious authority as caliphs to compel the Sultanate of Sulu (located in what is now southern Philippines and northeastern Malaysia) to stop the defense of the sultanate and surrender to American invasion. Sultan Jamalul Kiram II of Sulu heeded Abdul Hamid's order and surrendered.

Coups and revolutions

thumb|[[Mehmed V's proclamation as sultan in 1909, from Le Petit Journal]]

A decisive point in the weakening of the Ottoman Empire as a world power was the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, which established a constitutional government under the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Even though Abdul Hamid remained both sultan and caliph, and Constantinople remained the symbolic political center of Muslims, the new government was committed to Turkish nationalism rather than Pan-Islamism.

By 1914, all colonial powers had realized that Islam could become a powerful tool for anti-colonial resistance; established colonial powers such as Britain and France were cautious of the presence of many Muslim subjects, ostensibly under the religious influence of the Ottoman caliph,

Questions of legitimacy

thumb|Map of the [[Arabian Peninsula by the end of World War I. Over the course of the war, the Ottoman Empire lost its Arabian territories.]]

The declaration of jihad was not as effective as had been expected. On other fronts Ottoman efforts resulted in disastrous defeats, particularly against the Russians in the Caucasus and against the forces of the Great Arab Revolt. Three months later in October 1918, the Ottoman government resigned and a new government started the process that led to the formal Ottoman surrender in the Armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918).

The Ottoman defeat in the war led to the end of the CUP government. Mehmed unsuccessfully hoped to navigate a postwar settlement that preserved the empire. Shortly after the war's end, Greece was allowed by the Entente to occupy the strategic port of Smyrna and the surrounding territories, provoking widespread outrage in the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed, hoping to preserve some goodwill from the Entente, agreed to the occupation and commanded Ottoman forces to demobilize. Kemal and his supporters soon initiated the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922) against both the Ottoman government and the Entente troops in the empire.

Khilafat Movement

thumb|Khilafat activists leading a procession

The Khilafat Movement (1919–1924) was a Pan-Islamist Khilafat activists sought to salvage the Ottoman caliph as a uniting symbol of Islam, Vallabhbhai Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and other Congress figures also supported the movement.

The movement was undermined through the Ottoman defeat in the Turkish War of Independence and the deposition of Mehmed VI, and finally collapsed when the caliphate was abolished in 1924. Atatürk refused to let the traditional Ottoman caliphal investment ceremony take place, declaring that "the caliph has no power or position except as a nominal figurehead". The Turkish authorities viewed Ali's letter as an attempt at foreign interference, The abolition was shocking for many Muslims

In a press conference in Switzerland some days after the abolition, Abdülmecid rejected the abolition and called upon Muslim leaders to cooperate and plan an international conference to discuss the grave state of affairs. French authorities had during the war entertained the idea of proclaiming a Moroccan Caliphate under Sultan Yusef of Morocco once the Ottoman Caliphate was gone. Yusef was envisioned as being granted religious authority over the Muslims in the French territories of North Africa and could in that role have aided French colonial rule.

The Al-Azhar al-Sharif, respected Islamic scholars, called for a congress to discuss the matter of the caliphate. Such a congress was held in May 1926, with delegates from Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Morocco, Poland, South Africa, and Yemen. but did not achieve a restoration of the caliphate.