1924 Abolition of the Caliphate
“Caliph” means “successor”, successor to the Arab prophet Muhammed and, thus, the supreme voice of Sunni Islam. Throughout history a number of dynasties have claimed the caliphate and from the early 1500s, the Ottoman emperors in Constantinople were considered to be the rightful holders of the title. In 1914 as World War I began, Mehmed V in his role as Caliph allied his realm with Germany and Austria and declared a jihad against the British and French. The result was a disaster; the Ottomans lost their holdings in the Middle East and North Africa and the empire was reduced to an Anatolian rump. Worse was to come. A movement led by Kemal Pasha (later known as Ataturk) deposed the Ottomans – Mehmed VI was the last on the throne – and proclaimed a secular republic in 1922. The title of caliph, now severed from the imperial post, fell to a cousin of Mehmed, Abdulmejid.
For a time, Kemal tolerated the existence of a Caliph at least as a figurehead. When Abdulmejid requested increased state funding for his office, Kemal snapped, “Your office, the Khalifate, is no more than an historic relic. It has no justification for existence. It is a piece of impertinence that you should dare write to any of my secretaries!” When Indian supporters of the Khilafat Movement, a pan-Islamic group, tried to agitate inside Turkey, Kemal decided to abolish the caliphate altogether on this date in 1924. Abdulmejid was sent into exile and he spent his last days painting (he was a very accomplished artist). He died in Paris in 1944 as the city was being liberated from German occupation and was buried in Medina.
Since then the dream of a restored caliphate has been kept alive. The leader of ISIS , Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself Caliph in 2013 but his reign was cut short by his suicide under attack by US special forces in 2019. His successor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurash died under similar circumstances in 2022. At this moment there is no indication that the title has been passed on.