From 1517 to 1924 the Ottoman Empire was a Caliphate. Some orientalists and modernists have disputed this because they want to diminish the importance of the Caliphate in the minds of Muslims and show it cannot work in the modern age. Ishtiaq Hussain in the report “The Tanzimat Secular Reforms in the Ottoman Empire” states: “The political model that modern day Islamists are seeking to introduce bears little resemblance to the past, despite using language such as ‘Caliph’ (for political expediency) to invoke nostalgic imagery of Muslim Empires of the past.” Firstly, this claim that the Ottoman Sultans were not Caliphs is not new. On 23 December 1876 Abdul-Hamid II adopted a written constitution for the Ottoman Empire which contained an article that explicitly referred to the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph. Article. 4. His Majesty the Sultan, under the title of “Supreme Caliph,” is the protector of the Muslim religion. He is the sovereign and padişah (emperor) of all the Ottomans. This article proved highly controversial in Britain due to its colonial hold on the … Continue reading Was the Ottoman Empire a Caliphate?