Possession of the Haramayn was an indispensable condition for any caliph.[1]:12 According to The Times, Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman sultan and penultimate Ottoman caliph, sent a telegraph of support to Hussein after he had proclaimed himself caliph.[1]:240 Nevertheless, King Hussein's caliphate failed to receive wide recognition from the still-colonial Arab world and it was ended when the Hashemite family had to flee the Hejaz region after its capture by the Najdi Ikhwan forces of Ibn Saud (the founder of today's Saudi Arabia) in 1924–1925.[1]:248