The revolt in Arabia

by C. Snouck Hurgronje

The same National Turkish News Agency (Milli Agency) contradicted by Reuter in regard to the revolt in Arabia, which it had reported as "a quickly suppressed uprising of roving robber bands in the pay of England"—telegraphed later that Shereef Husein was deposed and that Shereef Ali, appointed in his stead, had already set out for Mecca. Here the natural queries arise whether, by the "roving robber leader" of the first Milli report, was meant Shereef Husein himself, and whether the proposed journey of Shereef Ali will pass without incident. Whether the newly appointed Shereef, that is the man with whose aid the Turkish Government is to try to suppress, once for all, "robber raiding," is the same who was replaced by Husein, some time ago, is not made clear in the Milli-despatch, but it is very probable that it is. In that case, Shereef Ali must have left Cairo before the war and betaken himself to Constantinople.

Here we have a repetition of the old game of playing off one Shereef against another, just as it was played in the past. And the outcome will depend on which of the two can gather the greater force of "robber raiders" under his standard: Ali, supported by the Turks and their friends, or Husein, aided by their opponents.

Assuredly either alternative proves the significance that a serious revolt against Turkish authority would have under present circumstances.

III

SHEREEF AND CALIPH

Assuming that the "robber raiders" of the Turkish-German despatch and the Shereef of Mecca, referred to in the Reuter telegram are one and the same person, and that, accordingly, Shereef Husein, Emir of Mecca, has raised his standard against the Turkish domination, then the question arises, "What does the Shereef mean by his opposition?"

Various writers on Islam have commented on the impropriety, according to Mohammedan law itself, of the assumption of the title of "Caliph" by the Sultan of Turkey. It was, indeed, for more than nine centuries, regarded by the Moslem world as obligatory for the Caliphs to be able to trace their descent from the Arabic line of Koreish, the line from which Mohammed sprang. The pretensions advanced by the Sultans since the sixteenth century have never been generally approved. That they did not excite any vehement open opposition was partly owing to the imposing puissance of the Turkish Empire at the moment when the Sultans decorated themselves with the name, and partly to the circumstance that the usurped dignity had no practical sequence. The Caliph added no patch of ground to the territory that the Sultan had conquered with the sword, and spiritual authority has never been ascribed to the Caliph by the Moslem congregations. With the assumption of the highest appellation that could be worn by a Moslem regent after Mohammed, these Sultans simply announced to all Moslem princes that none of them would be allowed to consider themselves his equal.

Such Moslems as were under Turkish authority were not affected by the Caliphate of their Sultan. The relation of subjects to their rulers in Mohammedan realms not subordinated to Turkey were even less affected; and least of all did the matter signify to those followers of Islam ruled by non-Mohammedans. These are numerous and have steadily increased during the last centuries. An effective Caliphate, however explained, presupposes the political unity of all the faithful.

The Caliph is the very personification of such unity and is, primarily, the leader of Islam's armies against the foes of the Faith, or he bears a name bereft of all significance. In international life there is no room for mediæval structures, and Turkey can live in peace with other states, especially with those possessing Mohammedan subjects, only if Caliphate pretensions be honestly put aside, even though the title be maintained as a formal one. This was well understood by Turkish statesmen of later times, and they either banished the Caliphate idea in all their international discussions, or they permitted their European colleagues, who mistakenly regarded the Caliph as a sort of pope—a prince of the Church—to continue to entertain this false conception as it was harmless.