Ottoman Caliphate

Office of the caliphate خلافت مقامى Hilâfet makamı
1517–1924
Caliphate standard of Abdulmejid II (1922–1924) Coat of arms of Abdulmejid II (1922–1924)
The Ottoman Empire in 1566 The Ottoman Empire in 1683 The Ottoman Empire in 1739 The Ottoman Empire in 1914
Capital	Constantinople
Working languages	Ottoman Turkish (dynastic) Arabic (religious)
Religion	Sunni Islam
Government	Hereditary caliphate under an empire (1517–1922) Elective caliphate under a parliament (1922–1924)
Caliph
• 1517–1520	Selim I (first)
• 1922–1924	Abdulmejid II (last)
Established
• Al-Mutawakkil III formally surrenders his title over to Selim I	1517
• Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca	1774
• Declaration of jihad by the Ottoman Empire	1914
• Abolition of the Caliphate	1924
Preceded by Abbasid caliphs of Cairo

Caliphate خِلافة‎
Main caliphates Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Ottoman Caliphate
Parallel caliphates Cordoba Caliphate Fatimid Caliphate Almohad Caliphate Sokoto Caliphate Sharifian Caliphate
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The caliphate of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: خلافت مقامى, romanized: hilâfet makamı, lit. 'office of the caliphate') was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty to be the caliphs of Islam in the late medieval and early modern era. During the period of Ottoman expansion, Ottoman rulers claimed caliphal authority after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by sultan Selim I in 1517 and the abolition of the Mamluk-controlled Abbasid Caliphate. This left Selim as the Defender of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina and strengthened the Ottoman claim to leadership in the Muslim world.

The demise of the Ottoman Caliphate took place because of a slow erosion of power in relation to Western Europe, and because of the end of the Ottoman state as a consequence of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the League of Nations mandate. Abdulmejid II, the last Ottoman caliph, held his caliphal position for a couple of years after the partitioning, but with Mustafa Kemal Pasha's secular reforms and the subsequent exile of the imperial Osmanoğlu family from Turkey in 1924, the caliphal position was abolished. Mustafa Kemal Pasha offered the caliphate to Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, on the condition that he reside outside Turkey; Senussi declined the offer and confirmed his support for Abdulmejid II.^[1]

With the establishments of Sufi orders like the Bayramiyya and Mawlawiyya under the Ottoman Caliphate, the mystical side of Islam, Sufism, flourished.^[2][3][4][5]