While the political and commercial importance of Constantinople is supreme, when considered in relation to the Powers of Europe and the far East, this is insignificant in comparison with its religious importance in relation to the Mohammedan world. So far as we can learn, this fact did not receive large consideration at the time missions in Turkey were begun. The truth is that it did not then hold the commanding relations to the Mohammedans of other countries that it holds to-day. The present reigning sultan, Hamid II, has done more than any of his predecessors to secure for himself recognition by all the faithful as the one supreme head, the caliph of Islam. He has sent presents with messages of sympathy and encouragement to Mohammedans in India, China, and Africa, and these have been received as from the great living head of the Moslem faith. When our government found itself in possession of a country in which a Mohammedan ruler was enthroned, it found it convenient to carry on negotiations for submission through the sultan of Constantinople. There are probably 230,000,000 Mohammedans in Turkey, Europe, Persia, Africa, India, China and other countries, who look upon the sultan of Turkey as the representative on earth of their revered prophet Mohammed. As such, he does not possess or assume temporal authority, or even well-defined spiritual prerogatives, but he does command an influence that has been secretly discussed in many European cabinets, and which has been taken into consideration in dealing with Moslem races and in administering ultimata to the head of the Ottoman empire. The sultan clearly represents a temporal and a religious power. The strength of the temporal influence lies in his relations religiously, not only to his own mediate and immediate subjects, but to all followers of the prophet Mohammed, whatever language they speak and in whatever land they dwell.
The official title of the sultan is padishah, father of all the sovereigns of the earth. This is the name exclusively used by the Turks in official communications. He is also called Imam-ul-Musselmin, the supreme pontiff of all Mussulmans or Mohammedans; Zilullah, the shadow of God; and Hunkiar, the slayer of infidels. By these and other similar titles he is known as far as the Mohammedan religion has gone. No one else claims such honors and to him they are conceded. Destroy his religious power and he would be the most impotent of monarchs, but with it he has defied for three generations the efforts of the Powers of Europe to secure some degree of justice and freedom for his oppressed subjects.
The sultan holds his religious power through two important facts. The first is that the two sacred cities of Islam in Arabia are within his empire and under his control—Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet, and Medina, which contains his tomb. This sacred territory is prohibited to infidels, but is the goal for tens of thousands of Moslem pilgrims each year. There is no faithful follower of Mohammed who does not dream of the time when he will be so blessed as to kiss the black stone of the Kaaba, drink of the well of Zemzem, or have a part in the prolonged ritual which shall entitle him during the rest of his life to the honored name of Haji.
THE BOSPORUS, CONSTANTINOPLE
