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cal framework on how the institution would function and operate became the
main reason for the inability of the authorities in the Muslim countries to find a
workable solution to the problem of keeping the institution intact after the
Turkish decision of abolition.
The article concludes that whenever and wherever an able Muslim political
power emerged and dominated over the rest of the Islamic world, the caliphate
appeared to have been a symbol for union in favor of this powerful entity which
came to be a centre of attraction for all Muslims. Wheras in times of crisis and
fragmentation which the world of Islam periodically faced, the institution of caliphate
made the situation worse, by becoming a source of conflict in the realm
of Islam. Subsequently, with the rise of the idea and practice of the ‘nation-state’
and the spread of its ideology ‘nationalism’ all over the world, any such fragmentation
left no place for the caliphate to take a refuge within ‘the house of Islam’
which, in its turn, could not escape from being part of this global project of
modernity.