Embracing the falling giant: How Indian Muslims claspsed the shattering Ottoman Khalifa

This research examines the dynamics of Indian Muslim resistance against British colonial rule during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through the theoretical lens of hierarchy. The most intriguing puzzle is why a resistance movement embraces a dying giant without expecting any material support? This study seeks to understand how Muslim resistance in India appropriated the Ottoman Khilafat as an 'order' to contest the legitimacy of British rule. This analysis illustrates the paradoxical nature of the late Ottoman order-declining within its own domain yet serving as an emerging order in the context of Indian Muslim resistance, demonstrating 'decline is not an obstacle but an order-builder'. Indian Muslims constructed this order in their resistance against colonial rule, in which subordinates are the key actors, thereby introducing the concept of a 'subordinate-centric hierarchical order'. Consequently, this thesis contributes to the existing literature on hierarchical order studies and Historical International Relations (HIR) by offering a nuanced understanding of how subordinate entities can construct and leverage hierarchical order to contest prevailing hegemonies, thereby offering new insights into the complex processes of order construction through resistance in colonial contexts.