In the Arab world, it represented the culmination of a long struggle to reclaim the caliphate from Ottoman hands. The first Arab revolts challenging the validity of the Ottoman caliphate and demanding that an Arab Sayyid be chosen as caliph can be traced back to 1883 when Sheikh Hamat-al-Din seized Sanaa and called for the caliphate as a Sayyid.[2]
However, it was not until the end of the Ottoman caliphate, abolished by the Kemalists, that Hussein bin Ali was proclaimed caliph in March 1924. His stance towards the Ottoman caliphate was ambiguous, and while he was hostile to it,[3] he preferred to wait for its official abolition before assuming the title, so as not to break the Ummah by creating a second caliph alongside the Ottoman caliph. He also supported financially the late Ottoman dynasty in exile, to avoid them being ruined.[4]
^"Central File: Decimal File 867.9111, Internal Affairs Of States, Public Press., Newspapers., Turkey, Clippings And Items., March 22, 1924 - March 12, 1925". Turkey: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1802-1949. 22 March 1924. GaleC5111548903.
^Strohmeier, Martin (3 September 2019). "The exile of Husayn b. Ali, ex-sharif of Mecca and ex-king of the Hijaz, in Cyprus (1925–1930)". Middle Eastern Studies. 55 (5): 733–755. doi:10.1080/00263206.2019.1596895. S2CID164473838.
^Sazonov, Vladimir; Espak, Peeter; Mölder, Holger; Saumets, Andres (2020). Cultural Crossroads in the Middle East: The Historical, Cultural and Political Legacy of Intercultural Dialogue and Conflict from the Ancient Near East to the Present Day. University of Tartu Press. ISBN978-9949-03-520-5.[page needed]