For centuries, the multiethnic Ottoman empire (1299–1922) was recognized as the Caliphate and global protector of orthodox Sunni Islam.
The empire defined Orthodox Sunni teachings in terms of the adherence to the four legal schools, the three schools of theology, and sober Sufi tariqas.
The religious authority of the Ottoman empire did not come from nowhere. Rather it had several foundations, of which three were particularly important.
First, it had the ability to effectively control and protect a vast region of the Muslim world (Anatolia, Southeastern Europe, Hijaz, Iraq, Syria, North Africa).
Second, it operated the most important institutions of religious education in the Muslim world (Azhar, Suleymaniyye, Semaniyya).
Third, it controlled the Hijazi holy cities of Makka and Madina.
Constantly attacked by the European powers, the Ottoman empire gradually weakened over the course of the nineteenth century. Little by little, it lost its ability to effectively control and protect any region outside Anatolia.
Finally, it collapsed after World War in the 1920s.
At this time its leading institutions of religious education were either lost (e.g., Azhar) or closed down by Ataturk’s new Republic (e.g., the closing of Suleymaniyye, Semaniyye).
This left a global vacuum in Sunni religious authority, to which the Wahhabi Sultanate of Najd responded.
The Ottomans and the Najdis (Wahhabis) had been at war since the eighteenth century – each side declaring the other to be heretics opposed to Sunni orthodoxy.
RELATED: Pillar of Wahhabism: Hating Other Muslims
The Ottomans militarily resisted the Europeans and were destroyed as a result. By contrast, the Sultanate of Najd preserved itself by allying with the Europeans and constantly attacking Muslim lands (especially the Ottomans) while never attacking non-Muslims.
Once the Ottomans collapsed, the Sultanate of Najd made a systematic effect to appropriate Ottoman religious authority.
The most important steps were undertaken between the 1920s and 1960s, as the Sultanate annexed the holy cities and established new centers of religious education.
The Sultanate conquered and annexed the Hijazi holy cities in the 1920s, and then proclaimed itself the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom discovered oil in the 1930s.
Using oil revenues, between the 1940s and the 1960s, the Kingdom established a network of new institutions of religious education – Madina University in Madina, Umm al-Qura in Makka, and Muhammad ibn Saud in Riyadh.
This enabled Saudi Arabia to set forth a new version of Sunni orthodoxy, based on a mixture of traditional Hanbalism, Wahhabi khariji heresy, anti-Ottoman Arab nationalism, and the modernist ideas of Abduh and Rida.
Saudi Arabia used its religious authority to establish a new principle for the world’s Muslims. This principle is as follows: The mark of Sunni orthodoxy is loyalty to the kingdom and willingness to obey the religious scholars who work as its paid employees.
RELATED: Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi: Lessons From Medieval Geopolitics to Today’s Muslim World
How do you know if the local scholars who claim to be salafis are deviants?
I know people like Asim al Hakeem say that criticizing rulers even if you don’t live in their land is wrong.
Just to be safe, should one stay away from scholars who claim to be salafi? How about the islamqa website? how much of that is trustable and not affected by deviant beliefs?
There is a well-known incident where Caliph Umar (RA), during a khutbah, stated that women should not be given more than a certain amount as dowry. In response, a woman stood up and respectfully challenged him, saying he had no right to set such a limit, as the Qur’an allows otherwise. Umar (RA) immediately acknowledged his mistake, saying, “The woman is right and Umar is wrong.
1300 – 1450 ottomans conquered byzantine.
1450 – 1550 ottomans expanded into bulgaria.
1550 – 1600 ottomans expanded into serbia and albania.
Till 1700 ottomans had their venetian wars trying to expand in europe.
Then some succesfull europan counter wars started with the eu siege of Lepanto. And thereafter came successes for eu in the turkisch wars.
To make it short: the ottomans lost it all it had conquered in 1920.
England divided the last parts into the 4 mandaat regions…