The fatal blow
Shaikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum
When Mustafa Kemal sensed that the whole atmosphere was against him and that the majority of the National Assembly was also against him, he thought of a way out from this critical impasse. These circumstances were not favourable to resume the peace conference in Lausanne, for they would not allow the execution of the four conditions stipulated by the British, and which Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, made them conditional for the success of the conference. Hence, it was imperative for him to undertake an action which would enable him to fulfil these conditions and in order to fulfil them it was also imperative to obtain a decision from the National Assembly endorsing the establishment of the republic and electing him as president of the republic, and also to obtain a decision endorsing the total abolishment of the Khilafah. Since the majority of the National Assembly was against him and since it was unlikely that it would execute his plans or agree to proceed with him, he thought about dissolving the National Assembly and holding fresh elections, which would enable him to bring a new National Assembly from among his own men, who would support him, execute his aspirations and endorse the resolutions he wanted.
Hence, he endeavoured to dissolve the National Assembly and hold fresh elections, hoping to acquire a majority. However, the Assembly which the election produced was also against him just like the old one; thus he resorted to plotting against the National Assembly in order to throw it into confusion and to place it in a position that would make it seem unable to function. Hence, he staged a political conspiracy in order to generate a crisis and exploit it. He invited the ministers to dinner at his house in the suburb of Shan Kaya during which they discussed the political status quo from all aspects; then , on the basis of a request by Mustafa Kemal, they decided at the end of their meeting to resign the next day from their posts and to refuse to be reinstated, so as to cause embarrassment to the National Assembly and to regain their dignity with it. The next day, all the ministers resigned in accordance to what they had agreed upon the night before.
Then the National Assembly convened in order to form the new government, however, it could not do so, for arguments between the deputies increased and quarrels broke out. Each deputy attempted to impose his own opinion and look after his own interest until the situation resulted in total chaos. Two days later, Mustafa Kemal hosted another dinner party for some of his loyal friends, among whom where Ismat, Fathi and Kemal-ul-Deen and they talked about the crisis which the National Assembly had fallen into due to its failure to agree upon the forming of a government. They exchanged their views about the situation and at the end of their discussion Mustafa Kemal addressed them by saying: “it is high time we put an end to this mess. Tomorrow we are going to declare the establishment of the republic. It is the solution to all these problems. Therefore, you Fathi complicate matters in the Assembly as much as you can tomorrow, so you will incite the deputies against each other. Then you Kemal-ud-Deen will propose that. I should be invited to take control in order to save the Assembly from its crisis.”
The next day, every one set about carrying out what they had agreed upon. The Assembly convened and noisy arguments broke out. The deputies came close to fighting each other by the throat. Amidst the huge uproar between the deputies, Kemal-ud-Deen suggested calling (inviting) Mustafa Kemal in order to form the government. The deputies agreed and forgot all their differences with him. However, Mustafa Kemal turn down their request at first, thus they sent him a new message in which the Assembly admitted her failure in solving the governmental crisis and requested his help. Hence he stipulated that the National Assembly should accept his opinion without any discussion if they wanted him to form the government so the agreed.
On 29th October 1923, the National Assembly held an important meeting and Mustafa Kemal took to the platform and delivered a speech in which he declared turning Turkey into a republic. To quote from his speech:” you have sent for me so I could salvage the situation at this critical time. However, the crisis is of your own doing. The origin of this crisis is not a passing matter, but rather a fundamental error in the system of our government. The National Assembly is under taking the function of the legislative power and the executive power at the same time. Every deputy from amongst you must interfere in every government resolution being adopted and stick his fingers in every governmental department and every ministerial decision. Sirs! No minister can fulfil his responsibility and accept the post under such circumstances. You ought to realise that a government built upon such basics would be impossible to establish, and if it were established, it would not be a government but an anarchy. We ought to change this status quo. Therefore, I have decided that Turkey should become a republic with an elected president.”
The deputies were stunned by this horrific decision and they became speechless, for they were not expecting it. When the voting took place, fewer than 40% of the deputies took part, however, the decree that had been prepared beforehand, stipulating that Turkey should be turned into a republic was approved and Mustafa Kemal was elected as the first president of the Turkish republic. Then he embarked upon working towards abolishing the Khilafah and declaring the secularisation of the state. People sensed his moves and public opinion started to attack him. The word was spread everywhere that the new rulers of Ankara were Kuffar. The orators and preachers started to attack Mustafa Kemal. Leaflets and caricatures which attacked him fiercely were distributed. Then many of the deputies and prominent figures started to leave Ankara and headed towards Istanbul to rally around the Khalifah Abdul-Majid. The atmosphere throughout the whole of Turkey turned against him. Hence, he started to try and win over supporters and alleviate the onslaught.
Amidst such a status quo, the British supplied him with a weapon to use against those who were devoted to the Khilafah; for at the height of the campaign against him, the two Indian Muslim leaders “Agha Khan” and “Amir Ali” sent a letter of protest on behalf of India’s Muslims, demanding that the dignity of the Ottoman Khalifah, i.e. the Khalifah of the Muslims should be respected. This Agha Kahn was the leader of the Ismaeli sect, and he was known in Turkey and other parts that he was a friend of the British and their agent. Hence, the letter was published in the Istanbul press before it reached the Ankara government. Then Mustafa Kemal started to dig into Agha Kahn’s past, highlighting the fact that he lived in Britain, he run his horses in the British race courses, mingled with the British politicians and ambassadors, and that the British had promoted his status through their propaganda machine during the World War, until he was regarded as the leader of India’s Muslims, so that they could use him to threaten the Sultan of Turkey whenever necessary; thus he was British puppet.
Mustafa Kemal became very active in striking the right note and inciting the public opinion against the Khalifah. He used to say to people: “When Britain, the wicked arch enemy, failed to destroy Turkey through Greece, she resorted to her old tricks; thus she inspired her puppet Agha Khan to support the Khalifah and split Turkey into two camps.” He then set about stirring up the fervour of the National Assembly and this led the orators from among the deputies to rush into launching a fierce attack against the Khilafah, the clerics and the opposition leaders. They also endorsed a bill enjoining the fact that any opposition to the republic and any inclination towards the deposed Sultan would be considered a treason that carries capital punishment.
When some deputies highlighted the merits of the Khilafah from a diplomatic aspect, Mustafa Kemal’s supporters attempted to silence them by yelling and screaming and protesting. Then Mustafa Kemal stood up and said: “Was it not because of the Khilafah, Islam and the clerics that the Turkish peasants have fought and lost their lives for five centuries? It is high time Turkey attended to her interests, ignored the Indians and the Arabs and saved herself from the burden of leading the Islamic lands.” Then he sought to ascertain the army and find out the extent of their support or their opposition to the abolishment of the Khilafah and the separation of the Deen from the state. So he attended the annual military manoeuvres near Izmir and spent days reviewing the situation with Fawzi and Ismat and probing the low ranking officers and soldiers; he found a strong opposition and failed to reach a conclusive outcome that reassured him.
He then spent several nights pondering on the matter from every angle, then he decided to resort to terrorism. So he picked one of the opposing deputies following his fierce opposition in one of the sessions and ordered someone to assassinate him on the same night while he was returning home. Another deputy delivered a speech in which he supported the Khalifah, so Mustafa Kemal threatened him with hanging if he opened his mouth with the same thing again. He then summoned Ra’uf from Istanbul and forced him to take the oath of allegiance to him and to the republic before the central committee of the People’s Party, threatening him with dismissal from the party and from the committee if he failed to do so. He also sent a strict order to the governor of Istanbul, commanding him to cancel the pompous protocol surrounding the Khalifah during the performance of prayer; he also lowered his standing to the lowest level and ordered his followers to abandon him.
Amidst this atmosphere of terror, and these propaganda and rumours, the Greater National Assembly called for a meeting. Thus the Assembly convened on 1st March 1924. The inaugural speech focused on the necessity to destroy the Khilafah, thus it was greeted with a barrage of fierce opposition.
Mustafa Kemal put forward to the Assembly a decree enjoining the abolishment of the Khilafah, the expulsion of the Khalifah and separating the Deen from the state; then he addressed the angry deputies by saying: “We must at all costs safeguard the endangered republic and make her rise upon solid scientific basics. The Khalifah and the legacies of the “Ottoman Family” must go, the dilapidated religious courts and their laws must be replaced by modern courts and laws, and the clerics’ schools must concede their place to governmental secular schools.”
Heated debates took place and bitter disputes broke out, but this came to nothing. On the second day, the National Assembly convened once more in order to review this decree; the session went on all night until 6.30 a.m. with fierce argument and unabated debate.
In the morning of the third day of March 1924, it was announced that the Greater National Assembly has approved the abolishment of the Khilafah and the separation of the Deen from the state. On the same night, Mustafa Kemal sent an order to the governor of Istanbul stipulating that the Khalifah Abdul-Majid should leave Turkey before the dawn of the next day; so he went with a garrison from the police and the army to the Khalifah’s palace in the middle of the night and the Khalifah was forced to climb aboard a car that took him through the borders towards Switzerland, after he had been supplied with a suitcase containing some clothes and some money. Two days later, Mustafa Kemal gathered all the throne’s princes and princesses and deported them outside the country. All the religious functions were cancelled and the “Awqaf” (endowments) of the Muslims became the property of the state, and the religious schools were turned into civil schools under the auspices of the education ministry.
Therefore, Mustafa Kemal fulfilled the four conditions which Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary had demanded, and the impediment preventing the convening and the success of the peace conference no longer existed. Hence, on 8th March 1924, Ismat Pasha, Turkey’s foreign minister and head of the delegation, sent a letter to the conference requesting the resumption of negotiations, and the Allies agreed. On 23rd April 1924, the conference was reconvened and the conferees agreed on the peace terms. The Lausanne Treaty was signed on 24th July 1924, the states recognised Turkey’s independence, Britain evacuated Istanbul and the straits and Harrington left Turkey. Consequently, one of the British MPs protested against Curzon in the House of Commons for recognising Turkey’s independence. Curzon answered him by saying: “The point at issue is that Turkey has been destroyed and shall never rise again, because we have destroyed her spiritual power: the Khilafah and Islam.”
This is how the Khilafah was destroyed. She was completely destroyed and Islam was also destroyed as a state constitution, an Ummah’s source of legislation and as a way of life at the hands of the British through their collaborator and agent Mustafa Kemal the traitor. Therefore, when the discerning sincere people say that the British are the head of Kufr among all the other Kufr states, they mean exactly that, for they are indeed the head of Kufr and they are the arch enemies of Islam. The Muslims should feed their babies with their milk, the hatred for the British and the yearning for revenge from them. the British have managed to destroy the Khilafah and Islam through Mustafa Kemal in spite of the Muslims throughout the whole world in general and in spite of the Muslims in Turkey in particular.
Hence, the rule by what Allah has revealed dwindled away from the face of the earth and the rule by other than what Allah has revealed remained. The rule of Kufr remained. The rule of Taghut remained alone dominant over all people and implemented throughout the whole world.
Extracted from 'How the Khilafah was Destroyed" by Abdul Qadeem Zallum
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