The Speaker of the US Congress celebrates the centenary of the “fall of the Caliphate”..Why?

More than 100 years have passed since the fall of the Islamic Caliphate in its final form (the Ottoman), yet it continues to trouble the West. It persists as a concern for some Arab hypocrites who fear its return, tarnishing its image and that of anyone who remembers it favorably.

Recently, marking the centenary of the fall of the Caliphate and another somber anniversary, that of the Nakba or the establishment of the Zionist entity, US Congressman Mike Johnson celebrated what he termed “fulfillment of promises made to Ibrahim, Isaac, and Jacob thousands of years ago,” and also celebrated “the fall of the Islamic Caliphate.”

It was striking that the President of the Congress invoked the memory of the fall of the Caliphate alongside the commemoration of the Zionist entity’s establishment, revealing the underlying animosity held by him and other Western politicians and leaders towards the Caliphate. Even in its weakest moments, the Caliphate posed a barrier to the rise of the usurping entity. Here, we must recall the role of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (may God have mercy on him), who rejected all temptations offered by the Zionist movement and its Western allies to allow the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. In 1876, he issued a legal decree titled “The Ottoman Lands Memorandum” or in Ottoman Turkish, “Osmanlı Arazi Kanunnamesi,” which strictly prohibited the sale of Ottoman lands, especially Palestinian lands, to Jews. He also established a special police unit to enforce this decree and monitored it closely. The Sultan allocated specific and limited times for Jews wishing to visit Palestine, and famously said, “By God, if you cut my body into pieces, I will not give up one inch of Palestine.”

While the British Mandate authority over Palestine promised Jews a national homeland on that land (as declared by British Foreign Secretary Balfour in 1917), this promise remained ink on paper until after the formal fall of the Caliphate a quarter century later.

Global Muslim strength

The Islamic Caliphate, especially in its golden ages (Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and even Ottoman before its decline), represented a major global power in terms of geographical expansion, scientific and military strength, as well as advancements in medical, mathematical, and astronomical sciences, and urban development. Its Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid famously said to a cloud in the sky, “Rain wherever you wish, for wherever it rains, its tribute will come to me.” Meanwhile, Europe languished in the darkness of the Middle Ages, with its kings’ despotism and subjugation of their peoples, allied with the Church that opposed scientific discoveries and inventions, even persecuting astronomer Galileo for his heliocentric theory.

Western politicians and thinkers detest the Caliphate because it united Muslims for over 1300 years, preceded them in scientific and urban renaissance, and occupied their lands for long periods. They attempt to cloak their hatred and the animosity of their East followers towards the Caliphate with claims of the despotism of the caliphs, their corruption, indulgence in pleasures, impoverishment of their peoples, and inhumane treatment. Yet they themselves are reminiscent of the proverb “she cast her stone and fled,” as it was European empires that committed such crimes against their peoples in the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, we cannot justify the despotism or corruption of some caliphs or their governors, even if they were isolated or individual cases.

Threat to the West

The West sees the revival of the Caliphate as a threat to Western values that have asserted their presence through soft and sometimes harsh power in many regions of the world. They view the revival of the Caliphate (Islamic unity) as a danger to their political influence, which benefits from the fragmentation of Islamic states, and would certainly lose this influence in the event of true unity in the Islamic world. Their economic influence is also threatened, as the Islamic world, which represents a quarter of the land and population, currently accounts for approximately 12% of the global economy (about $10 trillion). If a real unity among its countries were achieved, this percentage could multiply, and it would also have more capacity to manage the global energy market, controlling half of the world’s oil production alone, aside from its gas production.

While the West actively opposes the return of the Caliphate, it has actively sought various forms of unity, such as the European Union, which currently includes 27 countries and awaits more, and the United States of America, which currently comprises 50 states that were once independent republics. However, it remains committed to continuing the division and fragmentation of the Arab and Islamic world to maintain its colonial dominance, using the motto “divide and conquer.”

The West and its followers in the East exploit the emergence of some armed Islamic organizations carrying the banner of the Caliphate, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda. They highlight the killings and destruction carried out by these organizations in the areas they briefly controlled, to fuel opposition against the Caliphate and its supporters. The West has achieved some success in these efforts, to the extent that even some Islamists who believe in the Caliphate fear declaring their position, lest they be associated with these organizations and branded as terrorists.

The Western propaganda against the idea of the Caliphate should not discourage Muslims; rather, their intellectuals should present a modern interpretation of the Islamic Caliphate, avoiding the shortcomings of the past and drawing inspiration from the spirit of the times. Perhaps the development and genuine activation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, providing it with sufficient authority and necessary resources, can make it a modern alternative to the missing Caliphate.