Rahnuma-E-Deccan Daily | Special Report
(RAHNUMA) The abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 did not merely end an institution. It triggered a profound theological and political crisis across the Muslim world. While the Turkish Republic formally dismantled the Caliphate as a state structure, the question of its continuity—symbolic, custodial, and moral—did not disappear. Instead, it moved into quieter channels shaped by colonial constraints, private diplomacy, religious consensus, and the realities of power in an age of empire. A growing body of archival evidence, contemporary journalism, religious correspondence, and later testimony now warrants a serious re-examination of Hyderabad’s role in this transitional moment.
The British Record and the Politics of Silence
Confidential correspondence between the British Government of India and the Resident at Hyderabad from 1931 to 1936 reveals sustained official concern over the Nizam of Hyderabad’s connection with the Khilafat question. These documents, marked Secret, refer explicitly to “Berar negotiations and connection of Nizam with Khilafat,” discussions surrounding titles, and proposals involving the ex-Sultan of Turkey during the Nizam’s Silver Jubilee.
The British fixation on titles—particularly the question of “His Majesty”—is revealing. Under the Raj, any overt assertion of supranational Islamic authority by a princely ruler would have been politically intolerable. The persistence of secrecy does not weaken the claim; rather, it explains the form it took. If such a transition was contemplated, discretion was not optional—it was necessary.
The Collapse of Hejaz and the Vacuum of Authority
At the same time, Hyderabad’s own press was documenting the disintegration of the old order in real time. From as early as 1924 and 1925, Rahbar-E-Deccan carried extensive coverage of the fall of Hejaz, the siege of Medina, the abdication of Sharif Husayn, and the explicit abandonment of any Caliphal claim by his successor.
Reports from October 1924 and September 1925 described the abolition of government in Mecca, the flight of refugees, the end of Hashemite authority, and the rise of Najdi power under Ibn Saud. These were not retrospective interpretations, but contemporaneous dispatches capturing the moment when custodianship of the Holy Cities—and any competing Caliphal legitimacy—collapsed.
Crucially, Rahbar-E-Deccan recorded that Sharif Ali, successor to Sharif Husayn, explicitly renounced any claim to the Caliphate, declaring that he sought only the welfare of the Arab people. A vacuum was left behind—widely acknowledged, but nowhere formally filled. It is within this vacuum that Hyderabad’s role becomes intelligible.
The Indian Scholarly Framework: Religion, Power, and Title
The intellectual groundwork for such a role had already been articulated in India. At the fourth session of Jamiat-ul-Ulama, held in Gaya in December 1923, leading scholars unanimously affirmed that politics and religion were inseparable in Islam. Maulvi Abdul Rauf argued that Islam had historically known no form of governance other than the sultanate, and that the Caliph, as supreme leader, must possess both spiritual and temporal authority, receiving allegiance from Muslim polities functioning as delegated sultanates. He even demanded that the Turkish Caliph send a nominee to India to guide Muslims and settle disputes.
Maulana Habibul Rahman of Deoband reinforced this view, stressing that there could be no Caliph without both spiritual and temporal power, and that his title must remain “His Majesty.”
This insistence on title is critical. It explains why British intelligence cables repeatedly fixated on the Nizam’s pursuit of recognition as “His Majesty,” and why the issue resurfaced persistently before the 1936 Jubilee. It also helps explain the extraordinary appearance of that title in 1947.
1947: The Title That Appeared Once
In a rare tricolor Independence Special Edition of Rahbar-E-Deccan dated 15 August 1947, the Nizam appears under a title never used for him before or after: “Long Live His Majesty Shah Osman.”
In a Muslim world where no other ruler carried that title, its appearance cannot be accidental. It reflects motive, continuity, and context: a Caliphal claim consciously signaled at the moment of independence, after decades of preparation, restraint, and discretion.
The Deccan Signal: A Poem and a Crown
In the 1931 Wali Ahad (Crown Prince) Special Edition of Rahbar-E-Deccan, published under the Nizam’s patronage, page forty contains a poem explicitly welcoming the arrival of the Caliphal Crown (Taj-e-Khilafat) to the Deccan. The poem speaks of the reopening of the gates of the Caliphate, the return of illumination to governance, and the revival of a legacy linked to Ottoman Usman Khan I.
This was not nostalgic symbolism. It was a contemporary literary announcement, published while Caliph Abdulmejid II was still alive and immediately following the Ottoman–Asaf Jahi matrimonial alliance.
Translation by The Rahnuma-E-Deccan
Welcome! From the pulpit of Maulvi Nooruddin Khan, Mansabdar
You have come to the crown of the caliphate, a great blessing.
You have arrived at the pinnacle of fortune and prosperity, welcome!
Victory and success have accompanied you, welcome!
As the standard-bearer of prophethood, you have arrived, welcome!
The gates of the caliphate have opened again, welcome!
You have come as the solution to governance, welcome!
O light of brotherhood, you have come, welcome!
With grandeur and splendor, you have awakened the dormant world,
You have illuminated the kingdom and nation, welcome!
For the garden of aspirations, you have come as a flourishing flower, welcome!
With your arrival in Deccan, the spirit of illumination has returned,
A legacy has revived, pouring blessings upon it,
A grand sip from the timeless chalice of Usman Khan.*
The poor are now comforted,
The destitute and helpless find refuge,
Even strangers are guided to a noble path.
In this realm, a voice has risen,
The pride of Hindustan,
The glory of Islam.
Indeed, you are the manifestation of a divine blessing in Deccan.
*The fulfillment of aspirations linked to Usman Khan the First.
_____________________
Source: Rahbar-e-Deccan 1931. Wali Ahad Number. Crown Prince Special Edition. Syed Ahmed Mohiuddin, Syed Yusufuddin. 68 pages. Pg. 40. Rahbar-e-Deccan Press, Afzal Ganj, Hyderabad.
International Attention and the Marriage Alliance
International media noticed. TIME Magazine in November 1931 observed that Hyderabad’s ruler had sought Caliphal recognition and that the engagement between the Caliph’s daughter and the Nizam’s heir was viewed by many Muslims as a promising fusion of temporal and spiritual authority.
Later assessments echoed this. The Deccan Chronicle in 2006 noted that the alliance was believed to offer a Muslim authority acceptable to world powers after the Ottomans. In 2023, The New York Times reported that Caliph Abdulmejid II, in his will, nominated his grandson Mukarram Jah as inheritor of his Caliphal claim, though that claim was never publicly asserted.
The Custodial Plan: Gandhi, the Ali Brothers, and Nice
Significantly, Zuberi attributes the origin of this idea to Mahatma Gandhi, who suggested to Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar that Hyderabad—then the wealthiest and most powerful Muslim princely state—was the natural custodian of the Caliphal legacy after the Ottoman collapse. The proposal was conveyed by Maulana Shaukat Ali to Caliph Abdulmejid II in Nice and was reportedly received with approval.
Zuberi notes that these discussions were deliberately private, which explains the absence of formal proclamations.
Jamia Nizamia and the Language of Legitimacy
A letter from the Ulema of Jamia Nizamia to His Exalted Highness Asaf Jah VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, sent on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee and preserved in the archives of Prince Muffakham Jah, discovered by Imam ul-Mulk IV Nawab Syed Ahmed Khan, grandson of the VII Nizam’s last Military Secretary, addresses the Nizam using explicitly Caliphal titles, including “Caliph of the Muslims” and “Commander of the Faithful.” The letter praises his justice, governance, and guardianship of all communities, and even proposes the addition of the honorific “Shams al-Millat wa’l-Din” and confirms the likelihood of the contested Caliphal Deed of 1931 is real.
Translation by Rahnuma-E-Deccan
In the Name of God Almighty, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
To the August Presence of His Exalted Highness, the Most Noble and Most Sublime, the Caliph of the Muslims, the Commander of the Faithful—may God grant him long life and the (continuance) of his sovereignty and majesty.
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace be upon the Chief of the Messengers, and upon his family and all his Companions.
Just as the cloud of mercy pours forth its beneficence equally upon every valley and ravine, every city and desert, so too is it among the great favors of God Most High that the boundless grace of His Exalted Highness, the Most Noble and Most Sublime, is extended without distinction to his subjects, regardless of whatever class or community they may belong to. The realization, in its fullest sense, of the divine command—“Indeed, God enjoins justice and beneficence”—is ever before him.
As befits a true Muslim sovereign, while there is in the heart of His Highness, the Shadow of God, a deep personal love for his faith and the utmost reverence for its commandments, so also, in his capacity as ruler, everyone who is attached to the hem of the state and who takes refuge beneath the shade of his compassion—whether in service or not, whether rich or poor, whether Hindu or Muslim, Christian or Parsi—is equally dear to him. In justice and equity, in generosity and munificence, all share alike; in concern for the welfare and betterment of each and every one there is the same devotion, and toward all the same measure of affection.
On this auspicious occasion of the Silver Jubilee, when the Nizamia Seminary has also, by good fortune, completed its sixtieth year of life, in gratitude for the immense favor of God Most High, and in acknowledgment of the benevolence of His Exalted Highness toward creation and of his love for the faith, the Nizamia Seminary, on its own behalf, humbly expresses the desire that the august title “Shams al-Millat wa’l-Dīn” (the Blazing Sun of the Community and the Faith) may also be included among his blessed honorifics—so that thereby honor and distinction may be further exalted.
O God, send blessings upon our master Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, all of them.
On behalf of the Members of the Administrative Council, the Scholars, and the Students and Alumni of the ancient Nizamia Seminary
Support was not confined to India. Letters from Mecca and Medina preserved in the Rahbar-E-Deccan archives address the Nizam using titles such as Amir-ul-Mu’minin and Zill-e-Subhani (Shadow of God).
Another such letter, accompanied by an attestation from Hafiz Muhammad Ahmed, son of Qasim Nanawtawi of Deoband, who served as Shaykh al-Islam in Hyderabad for a short period, includes the lofty titles ‘Sultan-ul-Islam’ and ‘Caliph of Muslims’ among the styles accepted by Indian Ulema for the VII Nizam. Under colonial conditions, such recognition could only be expressed cautiously—but the language itself is revealing.
The Caliph’s Extraordinary World: 2023 Salar Jung Museum Exhibition
A final dimension emerged publicly only after the death of Prince Mukarram Jah. In 2023, during the exhibition “The Caliph’s Extraordinary World” at the Salar Jung Museum, a document was displayed stating that sometime prior to 1967, after Mukarram Jah refused to accept the Caliphal Crown, the Custodianship of the Caliphal Crown was entrusted to the Nizam’s Military Secretary, a descendant of Secunder Yar Jung I.
Secunder Yar Jung’s lineage, traced in Tuzuk-e-Mahbubiya, was historically associated with the religious authority of Chief Justice of Shariah in the Asaf Jahi realm and the title Mu‘in-ul-Islam (Support of Islam).
A Converging Record
Taken individually, none of these sources constitutes a universally proclaimed restoration of the Caliphate. Taken together, they form a coherent and internally consistent evidentiary continuum. British intelligence records acknowledge the issue. Rahbar-E-Deccan documents its evolution from the fall of Hejaz onward. Deoband and Jamia Nizamia articulate the theological framework. Mecca and Medina provide moral recognition. International media records the implications. Later custodial documents explain the silence.
Lineage and the Quiet Return Home
According to official records, the Nizam’s Military Secretary to whom the Custodianship was entrusted, descended from Secunder Yar Jung—whose lineage is traced back to Fatima al-Zahra, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, through Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida, Crown Prince of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Thus, it seems after nearly fourteen centuries of separation from the line of the Prophet’s legal heirs, the Caliphal Crown, through its custodianship, appears to have found its way home—not as a political claim, nor as a claim to religious authority, but as a duty to ‘king and country’—restored at last to the Children of Fatima.
