Abdulmejid II | |||||
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Caliph of Islam Amir al-Mu'minin |
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Caliph Abdulmejid II
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37th Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate | |||||
Tenure | 18 November 1922 – 3 March 1924 | ||||
Predecessor | Mehmed VI | ||||
Successor | Caliphate abolished | ||||
Head of the House of Osman (in exile) |
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Pretence | 16 May 1926 – 23 August 1944 | ||||
Predecessor | Mehmed VI | ||||
Successor | Ahmed Nihad | ||||
Born | 29/30 May 1868 Beşiktaş, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) |
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Died | 23 August 1944 Paris, France |
(aged 76)||||
Burial | Al-Baqi, Medina, Saudi Arabia | ||||
Consorts |
Şehsuvar Hanım Mihrimah Hanım Hayrünissa Hanım Mehisti Hanım Bihruze Hanım |
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Issue | Şehzade Omer Faruk Dürrüşehvar Sultan |
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Dynasty | Ottoman | ||||
Father | Abdulaziz | ||||
Mother | Hayranidil Kadın | ||||
Religion | Sufi Islam |
Full name | |
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Abdul Mecid bin Abdul Aziz |
Abdulmejid II (Ottoman Turkish: عبد المجید الثانی, Abd al-Madjeed al-Thâni – Turkish: Halife İkinci Abdülmecit Efendi, 29 May 1868 – 23 August 1944) was the last Caliph of Islam, nominally the 37th Head of the Ottoman Imperial House from 1922 to 1924.
On 30 May 1868, he was born at Dolmabahçe Palace or at Beşiktaş Palace, Beşiktaş, Istanbul, to then Sultan Abdulaziz and his wife Hayranidil Kadın. He was educated privately.
According to custom, Abdulmecid was confined to the palace until he was 40. On 4 July 1918, his first cousin Mehmed VI became Sultan and Abdul Mejid was named Crown Prince. Following the deposition of his cousin on 1 November 1922, the Sultanate was abolished. But on 18 November 1922, the Crown Prince was elected Caliph by the Turkish National Assembly at Ankara. He established himself in Constantinople on 24 November 1922.
On 3 March 1924, six months after the foundation of the Turkish Republic, the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished and the Ottoman dynasty was deposed and expelled from Turkey.
Abdulmejid was given the title of General in the Ottoman Army, but did not in fact have strong military inclinations, and his more significant role was as Chairman of the Ottoman Artists' Society.
He is considered as one of the most important painters of late period Ottoman art.
His paintings of the Harem, showing a modern musical gathering, and of his wife, Şehsuvar Hanım, reading Goethe's Faust. were displayed at an exhibition of Ottoman paintings in Vienna in 1918. His personal self-portrait can be seen at Istanbul Modern.