Sultan Abdul Hamid II
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Today marks the day that Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Uthamani Khilfah died, rahimahullah in 1918 - the last great Khalif.
Imagine from the time of Rasullallah (saw) and then Abu Bakr (ra), the first Khalif of Allah to Abdul Majid, the last great Khalif of Allah, there was an unbroken chain of Khalifs, leaders of the faithful for more than 1300 years. This chain was of course broken with the dismantling of the Uthmani Khilfah in 1922 and the Muslim world has been in disarray ever since - to use a phrase, like a "headless chicken" until such time that Allah restores the age of Khalifs once again inshaAllah.
Sultan Abdul Hamid is best remembered for his response to the accursed founding father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl. Between 1896-1901, Herzl sought to court the Sultan in gaining the land of Palestine to establish it as a Jewish State. He tried to bargain with him offering to pay the huge debts of the Ottoman Empire in return for the land of Palestine. Sultan Abdul Hamid's response was one which Muslim leaders can learn much from because this was not a time that the Ottomans were in a state of power but rather a state of abject weakness and yet his response was full of dignity and honour when he said:
“Advise Dr. Herzl not to take any further steps in his project. I cannot give away a handful of the soil of this land of Palestine for it is not mine to give; it belongs to the Muslim Ummah who have fought for the sake of this land and watered it with their blood. The Jews may keep their millions; if the Islamic Caliphate is one day destroyed then they would be able to take Palestine without a price. While I am alive however, I would rather push a sword into my body than see the land of Palestine is taken away from the Islamic State. This will never happen. I will not start cutting our bodies while we are alive” (The Diary of Theodore Herzl, Vol.I, Page 378-379).
How we miss a head like this. May Allah's mercy be on the Sultan and may He grant him jannah. Ameen