Sharifian Caliphate
The Sharifian Caliphate (Arabic: ٱلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلشَّرِيفِيَّة, lit. 'ʾal-H̱ilāfaẗu ʾal-Ššarīfiyya') was a caliphate proclaimed by the Sharifian leaders of the Hejaz in 1924, replacing the Ottoman Caliphate, which was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Even though the Banu Hashim held the caliphate at various points in history, Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, was the first and last caliph of this lineage.[1]
Sharifian Caliphate
In the Arab world, it represented the culmination of a long struggle to reclaim the caliphate from Ottoman hands. The first Arab revolts challenging the validity of the Ottoman caliphate and demanding that an Arab Sayyid be chosen as caliph can be traced back to 1883 when Sheikh Hamat-al-Din seized Sanaa and called for the caliphate as a Sayyid.[2]
However, it was not until the end of the Ottoman caliphate, abolished by the Kemalists, that Hussein bin Ali was proclaimed caliph in March 1924. His stance towards the Ottoman caliphate was ambiguous, and while he was hostile to it,[3] he preferred to wait for its official abolition before assuming the title, so as not to break the Ummah by creating a second caliph alongside the Ottoman caliph. He also supported financially the late Ottoman dynasty in exile, to avoid them being ruined.[4]
His caliphate was opposed by the British and French Empires, Zionists, and Wahhabis,[5] but he received support from a large part of the Muslim population at the time,[6][7][8][9] as well as from Mehmed VI.[10] Although he lost the Hejaz and was exiled, then imprisoned by the British on Cyprus,[11] Hussein continued to use the title until his death in 1931.[12][13]
Caliphate[edit]
Events[edit]
After the Caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Hussein was proclaimed as Caliph. The accounts on the official date and proceedings vary, some place the beginning of the Caliphate on 3 March 1924, when Hussein would have declared himself Caliph at his son Abdullah's winter camp in Shunah, Transjordan.[30] Other accounts, such as a Reuters dispatch, instead set the date as March 7, 1924, and describe Hussein bin Ali being elected as a caliph by Muslims from "Mesopotamia, Transjordan, and Hejaz."[31] He visited numerous scholars during this period, traveling within his territories. Thus, on March 10, 1924, he visited the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Under the presidency of Amin al-Husseini and Al-Taji, they discussed the matter. Finally, they proclaimed a document of allegiance to the caliphate of Hussein bin Ali, in which they stated:[32]
Legacy[edit]
Religious significance[edit]
The Sharifian Caliphate is considered by some as the last "traditional" caliphate of Sunni Islam[9][49][50][51][52] before the more recent claims of various jihadist groups starting in the 1990s, notably the Islamic State.[53]
Others[edit]
Several mosques bear his name to the present day, such as the Hussein bin Ali mosque in Aqaba,[54] the Hussein bin Ali mosque in Ma'an[55] or the al-Husseini mosque in Amman.[56] In 2020, a documentary was made about him and his life by Al-Araby,[57] which was seen more than five million times on YouTube as of May 2023.[58]