What would the real caliph do?

The notorious ISIL, or “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” which has made a name for itself by chopping off heads and crucifying opponents, has recently made global news by declaring a “caliphate.”
 
However, and naturally, hardly anybody among the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims recognizes this self-declared “leadership of all Muslims” by a group that is too fanatic even for al-Qaeda.

Yet still, it is worth looking at what the actual caliphate, which was disestablished by Republican Turkey some 90 years ago, looked like. It is especially worth looking at the life and times of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909), the Ottoman Sultan who is widely revered in the Muslim world as the last caliph who really bore the responsibilities of his majestic title.

Abdülhamid II was certainly not a democrat, for he disestablished the Ottoman Parliament that had convened right before his rule in 1876. Yet, as historian Bernard Lewis wrote, he was also “far from being the blind, uncompromising, complete reactionary of the historical legend; on the contrary, he was a willing and active modernizer.” He founded the first archaeology museum, public library, faculty of medicine, academy of fine arts, and schools of finance and agriculture in the collapsing Ottoman Empire.
 
He also endowed the empire with the telegraph, railroads, and factories, and during his reign, Istanbul flourished as a world capital.

Abdülhamid II was an observant, pious Muslim, but he also had Western tastes. He loved playing the piano, and arranged piano lessons for his daughter. He enjoyed opera, too, and had the famous Belgian soprano Blanche Arral perform for him.

As Kemal Karpat, distinguished professor of...