A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE IN EASTERN TURKEY
The Mohammedans believe that the black stone came down from heaven and was connected with all the patriarchs and prophets, beginning with Adam. This is the great destination of all pilgrimages, as well as the earthly center of the Mohammedan world. To this point all faithful Moslems turn five times each day when they pray, and the lips which are permitted to kiss it are thrice blessed. Around this have grown up the Kaaba, the enclosing mosque, and other accessories too many even to name, all together constituting the holy temple of Islam where no infidel foot is permitted to tread, and upon which no vulgar Christian eye may look.
Medina, which contains a mosque supposed to cover the burial-place of Mohammed, is some seventy miles away. All faithful Moslems should visit Mecca once during their lives, but to add a visit to Medina increases their merit in the world to come. Outside of these sacred precincts all may travel, but woe be to the bold investigator who seeks to penetrate to the holy of holies of Islam. For the protection of these sacred cities the sultan of Turkey makes provision. He guards their sanctity against infidel invasion, and provides, as occasion may demand, a holy carpet for the holiest place. His soldiers safeguard the pilgrims, and his name is constantly appealed to as the slayer of infidels and shadow of God. The pilgrims from Africa, from Mindanao, from China and India and Ceylon, all return from these shrines of their faith indelibly impressed with the mighty power of him who rules at Constantinople.
The other fact which gives the sultan power over all Mohammedans is his custody of the Hall of the Holy Garment, which is next to the Kaaba, and perhaps upon a parity with it for sanctity. This hall is in the seraglio, upon the point of old Byzantium, which projects out into the Bosporus, dividing it from the Sea of Marmora. In it lie the mantle of the prophet Mohammed, his staff, his saber, his standard, and other relics. Among these, enclosed in a casket of gold, are two hairs from his beard. The sultan is supposed to make an annual visit to these sacred relics, of which he alone is keeper and guardian. The standard of Mohammed is the standard of Islam, consisting of a green silk flag about two feet square, embroidered with the inscription “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” It is said to have been carried by Mohammed himself and has since been regarded as the sacred standard of the entire Moslem world. If publicly borne by the sultan in the great mosques of Constantinople it would, it is said, be the signal for a general religious war. It is thought by many that should the sultan choose to use the power he possesses in this standard he could with it summon to his assistance all true Moslems and hurl them in fanatical zeal and fury against any infidel force. It is known everywhere that this standard and these relics are in the possession of the ruler of the Ottoman empire, and thus the sultan stands almost in the place of the prophet himself.
When Moslems pray they pray towards Arabia under the rule of the sultan, and when they think of their holy prophet their minds turn to the relics at Constantinople. In the face of these facts, it requires no demonstration to show that Constantinople and the Turkish empire constitute the political and religious center of Islam. Other countries may be important, this is supreme. Mecca and Medina cannot yet be entered, but Constantinople and all the rest of the Turkish empire is, by treaty, accessible for residence to the Christian of every race and name. To begin mission work here was to start at the fountainhead.
The fact that Christian preachers and teachers are permitted to reside at Constantinople and freely preach their faith, cannot but have favorable influence over intolerant Moslems in remote parts. They all have faith in the power of the sultan as well as in his supreme wisdom. If he permits this, why should they object? In several instances in India, when the writer was conversing with Mohammedans, it was almost amusing to see the keen interest they manifested in the progress of Christianity in Turkey. They were ignorant but were ready to listen, and undoubtedly went away to ponder upon what they had heard. Evidently one thing that impressed them was that while the sultan of Turkey is a mighty ruler he does not prohibit the teaching of Christianity, even within the Throne City. If he does not prohibit it, perhaps it is not so bad a religion after all.
It is also of no little value to print and send out from Constantinople large quantities of Turkish literature, and from Beirut, Arabic literature, the two languages which are most widely read by the Mohammedans. Every volume thus printed bears the stamp of approval by the government of his imperial majesty the sultan, assuring all who read that the book was issued with his sanction and authority. Under these circumstances a publishing house at Constantinople is calculated, by its very location, to reach millions who might otherwise refuse to read what is printed. In Arabia an Arabic Bible, at first rejected because it is an infidel book, is later accepted because it bears upon its title page the authoritative permission of his imperial majesty. As a strategic center for Christian work, calculated directly and indirectly to reach the two hundred and thirty million who bear the name of the prophet of Arabia, there is no place that can compare with Constantinople, resting upon two continents and swaying the most mighty religious empire on earth.