With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the failure of Faysal’s Arab Kingdom in 1920, the loss of Iraq and Greater Syria to the Mandatory Powers, the triumph of secular Kemalism in Turkey, and the abolition of the caliphate in 1924, the well-being of the umma appeared seriously threatened and there was a sense of urgency amongst the Islamic reformers. Rida’s initial response was not to favour one group or doctrine in particular, for he believed that factionalism and sectarianism could only weaken the already fragile Islamic community. He regularly called for Islamic unity through the pages of "Al-Manar" against the European threat. Rida was worried that internal feuds might provide European powers with a pretext for intervention. He urged both Sharif Hussein in Hejaz and Abd al Aziz al Saud, Arabian rivals, not to fight each other. Although he greatly admired Abd al-Aziz al Saud and his religiosity, he did not want anyone’s political ambitions to interfere with the good of the umma.