1957 Indian Revolt and the Caliphat of the Ottoman Empire
• 1857: A grassroot Muslim consensus, regarding the prestige and status of the Ottoman ruler as the great Caliph of the worldwide community of Islam had, thus, emerged by the year 1857.
• The British were aware of the religious regard in which the Muslims of India held the Ottoman sultan Caliph in recognition of this regard, they had addressed the Ottoman Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) as the “acknowledged head of the Mohammedan Church” when they requested him to advise Tipu Sultan not to fight against the British forces. By stressing their friendship with the Ottoman state, the British government sough to ingratiate themselves with the Muslim leadership and to draw them closer into a network of collaborative benefits.
• During the tumultuous year of 1857, the Indian government, “had secured a proclamation from the Sultan, as Caliph, advising the Indian Muslims not to fight against them. The proclamation was circulated and read in the mosques of India . Khawaza Kemaluddin wrote in 1922 that, “there are thousands of Muslims still alive in India who heard the ferman of sultan read to them in the mosques . The Sultan is reported to have “condemned and abhorred the atrocities committed by the Mutineers .
• The news of the capture of Delhi by the British troops was received with great satisfaction in Istanbul and “Ali Pasha, the grand vizier, sent a message of congratulations to the British Government” .
References:
Dispatch from Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, 2 December 1858. Foreign Department. https://archive.org/…/lifeofstratfordc00laneuoft_djvu.txt
Ozcan, Azmi. Pan Islamism Indian Muslims, the Ottoman & Britain (1877-1924). https://archive.org/…/pan-islamism-indian-muslims-the….
Ozcan, Azmi. India in Balance, British Rule and the Caliphate: Working Paper, 1922. https://archive.org/…/pan-islamism-indian-muslims-the….
Sharma, Shashi. S. Caliphs and Sultans. Rupa, New Delhi, 2004.
