Mustafa Kamal had a clear idea that religion strangles the soul of the country and prevents it from flourishing. In the words of Mustafa Kamal, “For five hundred years the rules and beliefs of one Arab Sheikh and the interpretations of them by generations of Mullahs determined all the laws of Türkiye. They took the life of every Turk, food and drink, sleep-wake time, Dress, Mother-child routine, Education, customs and traditions, thought, Even the fine details of his life have been decided.” And all this is a burden.
When Mustafa Kamal ended the Caliphate!-1
‘Caliph’ was the supreme religious-political head of the Muslims of the world. This began after the death of Prophet Muhammad, when his successor Abu Bakr became the first Caliph. He remained Caliph from 632 to 634 AD. But after just two decades, mainly Iraqi and Turkish people continued to become Caliphs. The Turkish Sultan remained the Caliph continuously since 1517 AD.
Ultimately, the modern Ottoman leader General Mustafa Kemal Pasha abolished the Sultanate and the Caliphate in 1922 and 1924, respectively, and created the secular Republic of Türkiye. He completely abolished all religious systems like Shariat law, Maktab-Madrassas, Arabic script, religious dress, positions of Mullahs and Maulvis, Darveshi Khanqahs, their property, etc. In return, Turkey adapted a new language, scientific education and secular lifestyle in the Roman script. Due to which there was progress like Europe. Later the Turkish Parliament also gave Mustafa Kemal the title of ‘Ata-Turk’ i.e. Father of the Turkish Nation.
All this did not happen suddenly. Mustafa Kamal had a clear idea that religion strangles the soul of the country and prevents it from flourishing. He had said that he would remove the religion from Türkiye whose poison rots the entire body of the country and society. He wanted to free himself from this and create a dynamic modern Türkiye. In the words of Mustafa Kemal, “For five hundred years the rules and beliefs of an Arab sheikh and the interpretations of them by generations of mullahs determined all the laws of Turkey. They have decided every Turk’s lifestyle, food habits, sleep-wake time, dress, mother-child routine, education, customs, thoughts, even the finer details of his life.” This was a burden on all the people.
Mustafa Kamal also considered the alleged revelations to be lies, which were used by the Mullahs and Sultans to keep the people in shackles. According to Kamal, a ruler who needs religion is weak. In his words, “The religious doctrine given by a useless Arab is now a dead thing.” It may have worked well for a desert tribe centuries ago, but it is useless for a developing state today. It is like a poisonous creeper, only by removing which a country’s tree can be saved. That is why Kamal had a strong hatred for Mullahs and Maulvis. He considered them all to be a useless group who only suck the common people. Kamal agreed to remove all of them from the mosques and khanqahs and put them to work like other people or throw them out of the country. That’s what they did.
Although the Turkish Mullahs also propagated against Mustafa Kamal that he wanted to destroy Islam and oust the Caliph of Islam from there. Still, Kamal remained firm on his stand. As soon as they gained power, they first abolished the Sultanate, i.e. rule, of Khalifa Waheeduddin in November 1922. The Caliph remained the head of only religious matters. Mustafa Kemal became the President of Türkiye by taking over the rule. Then the Caliph fled Türkiye and took refuge from the British. After this the Turkish Parliament elected Abdul Majeed as the new Caliph.
But Mustafa Kamal did not allow the new Caliph to have the traditional pompous ceremony. Kamal said in the Turkish Parliament that the Caliph is now only in name, with no function. That is why when the new Caliph demanded an increase in his expenses etc., Kamal rejected it and bluntly said that the Caliphate is just a token. He also expelled Türkiye’s leading cleric ‘Sheikh-ul-Islam’ from the country. Even the Turkish language with Arabic script, and all the previous Turkish books printed in Arabic script, etc. were removed from everywhere! Instead of that, a new Turkish language was created in Roman script and spread in the country.
Engaged himself and his higher officials in this work. Religious attire including the famous Turkish fez (cap) was also abolished. Instead, it was made mandatory to wear suit, coat, shirt, pants, tie, and hat. Women were also encouraged to come out of the burqa and live with complete equality with men. In this way, like Europe, education, cultural life, dance-music, etc. were promoted.
The opposition of Türkiye’s Mullahs and Maulvis to these steps remained in vain. Because Mustafa Kamal had already become famous among the army and people like the pride of Türkiye. Then, Kamal’s political opponents were targeting the new Caliph. The young Caliph also wanted to restore the old Caliphate power. In this situation, Mustafa Kamal showed the Caliph and the Mullahs and Maulvis as harmful for the national interest of Türkiye. With Kamal’s steadfastness, Türkiye’s sense of honor and independence became more influential on the people than the religious trappings and Caliphate of Islam.
When some members of the Turkish Parliament raised the issue of the diplomatic importance of the Caliphate, Mustafa Kamal got angry and said, “Was it not the Caliphate, Islam, its Mullahs-Maulvis, etc. for which the Turks had been fighting here and there for centuries? -Keep getting ruined? Now the time has come for Türkiye to look at itself, ignore the Indians and Arabs, get rid of them, get rid of being the leader of Islam. The Caliphate has sucked Turkey to lifelessness for centuries.” Kamal considered the Caliphate as a ‘phantom’, which is not needed.
Mustafa Kamal’s words were widely accepted across the country. The opposition of the Mullahs and Maulvis remained fruitless. Kamal ordered the Governor of Istanbul to completely stop the Caliph’s pomp and show, reduce his salary to a minimum, and reduce his staff. Some people appealed to Kamal to become Caliph himself. But Kamal rejected it with contempt. He said, “If other Muslims in the world support us, it is not because we have a Caliphate, but because we are powerful.” This seemed correct considering the inferior position of the Arab rulers for centuries, who despite being the direct successors of Prophet Muhammad, were defeated and forgotten for centuries.
In fact, after 656 AD, the people of the Prophet’s own Quraysh tribe had also become disinterested. Whereas the Prophet had said that only those from his tribe would be the Caliphs. But this could last only for a few years. In later centuries, the whole of Arabia was afraid of the Turkish Pashas (royal servants). To some extent, the situation is the same even today, when Turkish rulers appear more powerful than Arab rulers. So, it must be said that Mustafa Kamal had understood real politics and life more correctly. The claims of Islamic ideology proved useless in front of him.
Interestingly, Indian Muslim leaders played a decisive role in expelling the Caliphate from Türkiye and also ending the Caliphate. This is double irony, because in 1919 AD. Since then, ‘Caliphate Movement’ was going on in India to maintain the Caliphate’s empire. Which had not happened anywhere else in the world. Even in Arab countries, there was disgust with the Caliphate, which was considered a dying exploitative institution. But some Indian Muslim leaders – Abul Kalam Azad, Shaukat Ali, Muhammad Ali, Abdul Bari, etc. were very enthusiastic for the same Caliphate. He made appeals from all over the world, met many rulers, campaigned for the Caliphate. Distributed letters and pamphlets. This was the Khilafat movement in which Mahatma Gandhi also participated enthusiastically and remained engaged till the end.
In fact, throughout the entire Khilafat movement, Gandhiji worked blindly as its chief secretary, organiser, clerk and even as a slave. This can be understood by reading innumerable articles, speeches, letters, proposals, etc. in his ‘Collected Works’ in several volumes between 1918 and 1925. Gandhiji, and Congress, under his pressure, did this when the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal himself considered it interference in his country’s affairs. Kamal had described the Khilafat movement as a ‘conspiracy of foreigners’ against Turkey.