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Sharifian Caliphate (From Wikipedia)
from 1924–to December 19 1925


Capital Mecca (de facto)
Language(s) Arabic
Government Caliphate
Sharif of Mecca
-Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca
History
- Foundation 1924
- Downfall December 19 1925
Today part of Saudi Arabia

The Sharifian Caliphate (Arabic: خلافة شريفية‎) is the term used to describe the unsuccessful attempts at the beginning of the 20th century to establish an Arab caliphate headed by the Sharifs of Mecca in replacement of the Ottoman Caliphate. The idea had been floating around since at least the 15th century.[1] It started to gain importance towards the end of the 19th century due to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which was heavily defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. However, there is little evidence that the idea of a Sharifian Caliphate ever gained wide, grassroots support in the Middle East.[2]

The Ottoman sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922, in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence. However, the office of caliph was retained for an additional 16 months, during which it was held by Abdülmecid II. The latter served as caliph under the patronage of the newly founded Turkish Republic until 3 March 1924, when the Grand National Assembly of Turkey formally abolished the caliphate. Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, seized the opportunity of the vacancy of the caliphate and proclaimed himself caliph.[3] Hussein based his claim on his prophetic ancestry (he descended from Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim) and his control of Islam's two holiest mosques: the Masjid al-Haram and the Masjid al-Nabawi, collectively known as the Haramayn (Arabic: الحرمين‎). Possession of the Haramayn was an indispensable condition for any caliph.[4] According to The Times, Mehmed VI (the last Ottoman sultan and penultimate Ottoman caliph) sent a telegraph of support to Hussein when he proclaimed himself caliph.[5] Nevertheless, King Hussein's caliphate failed to receive wide recognition from the still colonial Arab world, and it was defeated when the Hashemite family had to flee the Hejaz region upon its capture in 1924–25 by the Najdi Ikhwan forces of Ibn Saud, the founder of today's Saudi Arabia.[6]

References1.^ Teitelbaum 2001, p. 42
2.^ Teitelbaum 2001, pp. 43–44
3.^ Teitelbaum 2001, p. 241
4.^ Teitelbaum 2001, p. 12
5.^ Teitelbaum 2001, p. 240
6.^ Teitelbaum 2001, p. 248
[edit] BibliographyTeitelbaum, Joshua (2001). The Rise and Fall of the Hashimite Kingdom of Arabia. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 9781850654605. http://books.google.com/books?id=Y1A...sec=frontcover.