Before the outbreak of the First World War, scholars of the Arab Salafiyya movement represented the leading voice of Islamic religious dissent within the Ottoman Empire. Their most influential theologian Muhammad Rashid Rida, an ardent critic of Abdul Hamid II and Turkish nationalism, regarded Ottoman kings as unqualified to rule over the affairs of the Muslim World. While excoriating the Ottomans as an artificial caliphate based on unjust wars and conquests; Salafi scholars nonetheless strongly forbade rebellion against the Ottoman authority due to their insight of dangers posed by the expanding European colonialism. Rashid Rida and his pupils perceived the Ottoman state as an essential entity for allowing Muslims to successfully repel European imperial powers and rebuked the proponents for an alternative Caliphate; suspecting them of serving the aims of imperial powers. All of this changed with the Ottoman entry into World War 1 in October 1914, on the side of the Central Powers. Rashid Rida viewed the war as part of the secular Turkish nationalist programme of the Young Turks, a faction he vehemently denounced as murtadd (apostates).
In several Pan-Arabist journals of the time, the Ottoman Empire was condemned to the same extent as were the British and French, portraying it as a continuation of the Mamluk rule of oppression, humiliation, and impoverishment. Rida presented a more independent and sophisticated argument in Al-Manar, and dwelt much more intellectually on the consequences of the war for the people in the Middle East. He was far more critical of the French and the British empires and of their colonial ambitions. In his fatwas, Rashid Rida comprehensively explained the issue over political allegiance (bay'ah) to the Ottoman Empire, which had become one of the most important concerns in Salafi circles. During the early phase of the World War, Rida viewed the Ottoman Empire acted as one of the final barricades against encroaching European colonialism. He distinguished between the Young Turks, whom he opposed vehemently, and the Ottoman state, insisting that every Muslim's loyalty is only to the Ottoman Sultan-Caliph. As the war continued, Rida's stance shifted; as he saw the Ottoman state as synonymous with the tyranny of Young Turks. Rida described the Ottoman Empire as a client-state subservient to Germany and declared that German colonialism was as much evil as British empire. He was particularly critical of Berlin–Baghdad railway, which he considered as part of the wider expansionist project of German imperialism. Over the course of the war, Rida began warning about an imminent Ottoman collapse, motivating him to look to other Muslim rulers to wage the banners of Jihad against the European powers.
During World War I, Rashid Rida's activities primarily involved bolstering efforts to establish an alternative pan-Islamic state, led by a suitable candidate elected as Khalifa, in the increasingly likely scenario of an Ottoman collapse. Throughout this period he was most concerned about British imperial designs to divide and conquer the Arab World. His skepticism intensified when British officials turned a blind eye to his proposed caveats. After the public disclosure of Sykes-Picot agreement in 1917, Rida became a fervent enemy of the British empire and described it as one of the biggest imperial powers that sought to obstruct pan-Islamist efforts to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate.
Outbreak of the war (1914)
The First World War broke out in the Arab world in November 1914. The biggest concern of Rashid Rida during this period was the need to defend and maintain an Islamic Caliphate. While this priority had made him stress his Ottoman loyalty both before and during the war; it pushed him in the direction of trying to revive an Arab caliphate in the subsequent years. According to Rida, it was the non-Arabs who were responsible for the proliferation of pagan influences that threatened the Muslim Ummah. Rida believed that the re-establishment of an Arab leadership over the Islamic World was necessary to revive the Islamic prowess during the glorious epoch of the Salaf al-Salih. He pushed forward with his plans for an “Arab caliphate” through the activities of his secret society Al-jami‘a al-‘arabiyya, defying the Ottoman government, having perceived its political instability and foreign entanglements. He corresponded with various rulers of the Arabian Peninsula, seeking a pact among them for a future union of Arabian Peninsula and Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
Abdallah I of Jordan, a son of Sharif Husayn of Mecca, met with British officials in 1914 in Egypt on preliminary talks that would lead to the McMahon-Husayn Correspondence the following year. In Cairo, Abdallah met Rida and joined Jam'iyyat al-Jami‘a al-Arabiyya. Per the society's goals, Rida called for an alliance among the Emirs of the Arabian Peninsula, which would pave the way for the regions of Hijaz, Najd, Yemen, and 'Asir to form an Islamic union that would uphold Tawhid, implement Sharia and wage Jihad to defend the peninsula from non-Muslim threats. Although Abdallah was positive to spirit of the program, his father Sharif Husayn rejected the proposal for fear of alienating the Allied Powers.
Despite Husayn's refusal, Rida issued a fatwa for the Syrian Muslims, calling upon them to fight on the side of the Ottoman Empire and assist in their Jihad against the Allied powers according to the norms of sharia. Rida argued that his calls for Islamic Renaissance had led to social and spiritual progress across the Muslim World, and that its purpose was not to destabilise the Empire; but rather to strengthen and reform it back to correct Islamic principles. However, this demonstration of loyalty was not unconditional. Rida warned: “But I remind you that ... duty to obey the Empire refers only to its official and legal commands.” Organisations and parties such as the ruling CUP should be opposed, since they were from the secularist apostates who transgressed the Sharia. Rida's underlying motivation was the goal to establish a Pan-Islamic supra-state uniting led by an Arab Caiph elected through Shura; and the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law) via such an Islamic state. In his fatwa issued to Syrians imploring them to wage Jihad against the Allies alongside the Ottoman armies, Rida also cautioned to not initiate hostilities against the native Syrian Christians.
Disputes with British officials (1914–1915)
Rashid Rida and his Salafi disciples, wary of both the Central Powers and Allies, saw the worsening climate of the raging war as a chance for liberation of Arab lands from the Ottoman yoke. Rida was no longer able to maintain his former tight-rope approach towards the Ottomans as the war spread across the Empire. He concluded that Ottoman collapse was only a question of time, and this set him in a collision course towards what he had feared and tried to prevent the most: European control of Arab lands. As the war raged, Rida intensified his campaigning for the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate or a Pan-Islamic confederacy led by Arabs to substitute the Ottoman Empire. Rida established direct contacts with British officials like Gilbert Clayton, the Director of British Intelligence in Cairo, and informed them that he was ready to mediate between Britain and Arab rulers as the war spread to the Middle East. Rashid Rida's Society of Arab Association commanded deep influence on Islamist elements in Ottoman army; particularly the Sunni Arab officers disaffected by the German dominance. These officers held Rashid Rida in high regard and was patiently waiting for his fatwa to wage Jihad against the Young Turk regime at the optimal moment. Rida persuaded the British Intelligence Department in Cairo to give military weaponry for his Mujahidin in establishing a pan-Islamic state led by an Arab Caliph. During the early stage of the war, certain British officers in Africa were receptive to the proposals of Rida. However, majority of British officials, particularly from the India Office outright dismissed his proposals as "fanatical" and outright dangerous to British imperial hegemony and this became their official policy. Rashid Rida reacted by turning vehemently anti-British; accusing Britain of waging a War on Islam and replace the implementation of Sharia (Islamic laws) with Western secularism.
British had sought an alliance with Arabs against the Ottomans through diplomatic engagement with both the Hashimite family in Mecca and various pan-Arab factions. Although he was encouraged by the initial positive tone of British officials, Rashid Rida firmly rejected any notions of a Caliphate dependent upon British power. In conversations with Rida, they argued that Britain was ready to assist the Arabs to free themselves from the Ottoman yoke and that Britain had no imperial ambitions in the Arab countries. According to Rashid Rida, prominent British officials in Egypt had assured that Britain would not occupy Arab lands and would recognise Arab proclamation of independence. In any scenario where British armies have to invade the Arab countries during the war to expel the Turks, they would evacuate the Arab lands as soon as the war was over. Rida suggested Britain to ratify these oral promises as an official declaration. A draft for the proclamation was written by Rida himself and conveyed to the British authorities on 4 December 1914. The draft was a record of promises given by British officials Ronald Storrs and Gilbert Clayton to Rida in Cairo. It specified the regions of the Arab Caliphate as "Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, the countries lying between the Red Sea, Bahr El-Arab, Persian Gulf, frontiers of Persia and Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea" which would be recognised by Britain without any interference on Arab sovereignty. Rida wanted these promises to be formalized by London, by publicly announcing unequivocal promises regarding their commitment to support Arab independence and refrain from trying to control them in any form whatsoever, whether by occupation or protection. However, London refused to ratify their secret promises and never published Rida's draft. Instead, the draft was altered, and an edited version was sent to Rida, which removed British denial of territorial expansion in the Muslim World. It was supplanted with "a promise of free trade to the Arabs in the Arab country which will become possessed by the English Government." Rida ardently denounced the alterations as an evil betrayal which departed from the earlier official assurances, thus making the document a potential justification for further British colonial aggression and "leaving it devoid of the spirit which would tend to gain the hearts and confidence of the Arabs". Rida condemned the British occupation of Faw and Basra and called on Muslims to expel them from Islamic Lands.