His Majesty Caliph Abdulmejid II

Welcome! 
You have come to the crown of the caliphate, a great blessing.
You have arrived at the pinnacle of fortune and prosperity, welcome!
Victory and success have accompanied you, welcome!
As the standard-bearer of prophethood, you have arrived, welcome!
The gates of the caliphate have opened again, welcome!
You have come as the solution to governance, welcome!
O light of brotherhood, you have come, welcome!
With grandeur and splendor, you have awakened the dormant world,
You have illuminated the kingdom and nation, welcome!
For the garden of aspirations, you have come as a flourishing flower, welcome!
With your arrival in Deccan, the spirit of illumination has returned,
A legacy has revived, pouring blessings upon it,
A grand sip from the timeless chalice of Usman Khan.*
The poor are now comforted,
The destitute and helpless find refuge,
Even strangers are guided to a noble path.
In this realm, a voice has risen—
The pride of Hindustan, The glory of Islam
Indeed, you are the manifestation of a divine blessing in Deccan,
*The fulfillment of the caliphal aspirations linked to Ottoman Usman Khan I.

— Rahbar-E-Deccan 1931. Wali Ahad Number.
Crown Prince Special Edition.
Al Sharif Ahmed Mohiuddin, Al Sharif Yusufuddin.
68 pages. Pg. 40. Rahbar-E-Deccan Press,
Afzal Ganj, Hyderabad

is Majesty Caliph Abdulmejid II, after accepting the Caliphal Crown in the newly formed Turkish Republic, dedicated himself to the preservation and promotion of Prophet Muhammad’s established civilization’s rich heritage. This civilization’s roots can be traced back to the establishment of the former political Representative Headship of Arab and Muslim civilization, known as the Imperial Office of ‘Caliph Al Islam,’ by the Imperial Rashidun Caliphs following the life of the Prophet Muhammad over 1400 years ago, despite the presence of the Prophet Muhammad’s legal heirs.

While the legal heirs of the Prophet Muhammad are acknowledged as Fatima Al Zahra and her legal heirs Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib and their subsequent generations to majority of Muslims, in the line of the Twelve Imams, Muslims across generations have recognized the importance of having an Representative Headship to oversee the advancement of their civilization, even without specific political territorial authority as established with the passing of the Caliphal Crown to His Majesty Abdulmejid II.

In 1924, following the abolition of the monarchy (sultanate) and the earlier political collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the Republic of Turkey, His Majesty Caliph Abdulmejid II was exiled and the entire imperial family was mercilessly forced out of the Republic of Turkey within a single day with the Caliphal Crown. Subsequently, the responsibility of sponsoring the Caliphal Crown which cannot be legally abolished as it represents the authority of the Prophet Muhammad over Muslims, fell upon the mighty shoulders of His Exalted Highness Asaf Jah VII Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderabad as is recorded in history.

To ensure the continuity of the Caliphal Crown in the new world order, His Majesty Caliph Abdulmejid II arranged for the marriage of his daughter, Her Imperial Highness Princess Durru Shehvar Sultan, to General His Highness Azam Jah Nawab Sir Mir Himayat Ali Khan Bahadur, the eldest son of the Nizam of Hyderabad accepting the Nizam’s condition of right to succession of the Caliphal Crown going to the first born male of the union, and the Caliph agreed as is recorded in history.

Notably, His Exalted Highness Asaf Jah VII, the Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, held the distinction of being the wealthiest monarch in the world at that time and was recognized as the fifth wealthiest individual in history by Forbes. Historically, succession to the Caliphal Crown was reserved for the most powerful, and the Nizam’s wealth demonstrated his right to seek it in his House.

In November 1931, TIME Magazine reported on the “secret engagement” between the Caliph’s daughter and the Nizam’s heir, which many Muslims perceived as a favorable union. The possibility of their marriage and the birth of a male descendant raised hopes of combining temporal and spiritual authority in a figure who could be proclaimed as “The True Caliph.”

According to The New York Times, Abdulmejid II, appointed his schoolboy grandson, Mukarram Jah, through his will as the inheritor of his claim to the Caliphal Crown. Though he never asserted a hereditary claim to the grand apolitical title of caliph, the young Mukarram Jah inherited the responsibility according to religious law.

His Exalted Highness Asaf Jah VIII Mukarram Jah Bahadur was coronated as VIII Nizam of Hyderabad in 1967, and took the oath upon the Uthman Codex Kufic Quran of the third imperial Caliph while holding the sword of his maternal grandfather His Majesty Caliph Abdulmejid II, but never claimed the Caliphal Crown to himself, despite being its true legal heir.