[2] In the years prior to the abolition, during the ongoing Turkish War of Independence, the uncertain future of the caliphate provoked strong reactions among the worldwide community of Sunni Muslims.

[3] The potential abolition of the caliphate had been actively opposed by the Indian-based Khilafat Movement,[1] and generated heated debate throughout the Muslim world.

[6] Unsuccessful "caliphate conferences" were held in the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia) in 1924,[7] in 1926 in Cairo, and in 1931 in Jerusalem.

In an effort to neutralize this threat, the sultan agreed to hold elections, with the hope of placating and co-opting the nationalists.

To his dismay, nationalist groups swept the polls, prompting the Allied Powers to dissolve the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire in April 1920.

On 24 November 1923, Syed Ameer Ali and Aga Khan III sent a letter to İsmet Pasha (İnönü) on behalf of the movement.

[citation needed] In Egypt, debate focused on a controversial book by Ali Abdel Raziq which argued for secular government and against a caliphate.

[18] Today, two frameworks for pan-Islamic coordination exist: the Muslim World League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, both of which were founded in the 1960s.

[19] The most active group that exists to re-establish the caliphate is Hizb ut-Tahrir, founded in 1953 as a political organization in then Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar and appeals court judge from Haifa.