1914 Ottoman jihad proclamation

Original document in Ottoman Turkish.

On 11 November 1914, ^[a] Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V proclaimed holy war against the Entente powers and appealed for support from Muslims in Entente-controlled countries. The declaration, which called for Muslims to support the Ottomans in Entente-controlled areas and for jihad against "all enemies of the Ottoman Empire, except the Central Powers", ^[2] was initially presented on 11 November and published in Takvim-i Vekayi the following day. ^[1] The proclamation included five fatwa or legal opinions endorsed by 29 religious authorities. Several days later, on 14 November, it was read out to large crowd outside the Fatih Mosque by Ali Haydar Efendi, the fetva emini ('custodian of the fatwa', the Ottoman official in charge of dictating tafsir on behalf of the Shaykh al-Islām). ^{[3] [2]}

Effects of the jihad proclamation in the war

The declaration was seen as mostly ineffective in the war with some like the Emirate of Afghanistan avoiding confrontation with the Entente despite pressure from the German Empire and Ottomans. ^[4]

• Farish A. Noor points to the 1915 Singapore Mutiny, arguing that the call did have a considerable impact on Muslims around the world. ^[5]
• The proclamation was also a factor in the Battle of Broken Hill in Australia. ^[6]
• Most of the Revolts of the North-West frontier theatre of WWI were influenced by Ottoman declaration of Jihad.
• Most of the Revolts of the North African theatre of WWI were influenced by Ottoman declaration of Jihad.
  • The Senussi Campaign started due to Ottoman pressure for the Senussi to follow them in their declaration of Jihad.
  • Darfur was influenced to side with the Central Powers due to Ottomans Jihad. ^[4]
  • The Dervish movement had been in contact with the Ottomans and might have put their followers under Ottoman protection after the proclamation. ^[7]
  • The leaders of the Kaocen revolt referred to the jihad but it might have played a lesser role. ^[8]
  • Emperor Lij Iyasu of Abyssinia, who had been supporting the Dervish, was deposed after trying to approach the Muslim population. ^[4]
  • France planned to appoint a Moroccan anti-caliph, the plan was abandoned in 1916.
• Jabbal Shammar sided with the Ottomans following its declaration of Jihad.
• The second Muslim revolt by the Union of Krujë against the Muslim pro-Serbian Senate of Central Albania was influenced by the Ottoman declaration of jihad.

Notes

1. Using the Rumi calendar, the declaration was dated 29 Teşrin-i Evvel 1330. ^[1]

References

1. "World War I: Declarations of War from Around the Globe". Law Library of Congress. 2017. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
2. Lüdke 2018.
3. Aksakal 2016, p. 56.
4. Opfer-Klinger, Björn (2014). "Der Krieg an der Peripherie – Mittelasien und Nordafrika". Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte (in German). 16–17.
5. A. Noor, Farish (2011). "Racial Profiling' Revisited: The 1915 Indian Sepoy Mutiny in Singapore and the Impact of Profiling on Religious and Ethnic Minorities". Politics, Religion & Ideology. 1 (12): 89–100. doi:10.1080/21567689.2011.564404. S2CID   144958370.
6. Christine Stevens (1989), Tin Mosques and Ghantowns: A History of Afghan Cameldrivers in Australia, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, page 163; ISBN   0-19-554976-7
7. Slight, John P. (2011). "British and Somali Views of Muhammad Abdullah Hassan's Jihad, 1899–1920". Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies. 10: 40.
8. Krause, Jonathan (2021). "Islam and Anticolonial Rebellions in North and West Africa, 1914-1918". The Historical Journal. 64 (3): 686. doi:10.1017/S0018246X20000357.

Sources

• Aksakal, Mustafa (2011). "'Holy War Made in Germany'? Ottoman Origins of the 1914 Jihad". War in History. 18 (2): 184–199. doi:10.1177/0968344510393596. S2CID   159652479.
• Aksakal, Mustafa (2016). "The Ottoman Proclamation of Jihad". In Zürcher, Erik Jan (ed.). Jihad and Islam in World War I: studies on the Ottoman Jihad at the centenary of Snouck Hurgronje's "Holy war made in Germany". Debates on Islam and Society. Leiden University Press. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
• Gaunt, David (2006). Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I. Gorgias Press. pp. 62–64. ISBN   978-1-59333-301-0.
• Slight, John (2019-01-30). "Reactions to the Ottoman jihad fatwa in the British Empire, 1914–18". The Great War in the Middle East. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-315-18904-8.
• Zürcher, Erik Jan, ed. (2016). Jihad and Islam in World War I. Leiden University Press. doi:10.26530/OAPEN_605452. ISBN   978-94-006-0234-2.
• Lüdke, Tilman (17 December 2018). "Jihad, Holy War (Ottoman Empire)". International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1). Retrieved 19 June 2021.