Fazlur Rahman Malik argues that even though he was necessarily secular, his nationalism was inspired by an Islamic past. This appears to be the natural conclusion as Egypt had remained under the Islamic Caliphate system for centuries before.[28] The British often accused him of advocating pan-Islamism, and it is well known that he supported the Ottoman Sultan against the Egyptian Government and the British authorities in Egypt in the dispute over Taba in May 1906, even though later in his life he moved away from supporting Egypt as a part of an all-encompassing Islamic world, and more as a unique territorial entity.[29]