Islamic Caliphate

“ The Collapse of the Caliphate These same forces, operating in a collateral field, have effected a still more remarkable, and a more radical, revolution, culminating in the collapse and fall of the Muslim Caliphate, the most powerful institution of the whole Islamic world. ”

“ The caliphal institution is still undoubtedly venerated in Islam. But the shrewd leaders of the modern Pan-Islamic movement have long been working on a much broader basis. They realize that Pan-Islamism's real driving-power to-day lies not in the caliphate but in institutions like the Hajj and the great Pan-Islamic fraternities such as the Sennussiya, of which I shall presently speak. ”

“ The process which it set in motion, gradually progressing and unfolding, began by establishing His Cause for a time in the very midst of the jealously-guarded stronghold of Shí’ah Islám, and brought Him in personal contact with its highest and most illustrious exponents; then, at a later stage, it confronted Him, at the seat of the Caliphate, with the civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm and the representatives of the Sulṭán of Turkey, the most powerful potentate in the Islamic world ”

“ The multitude quieted down before the solemn words of Abu Bekr. But just then a messenger hurried up with the report, that the citizens of Medîna—the Ansâr, had assembled to choose for themselves a chief. The moment was critical. The unity of the faith was at stake. A divided power would fall to pieces, and all might be lost. The mantle of the Prophet must fall upon one successor, and on one alone. The sovereignty of Islam demanded an undivided Caliphate; and Arabia would acknowledge no master but from amongst the Coreish. The die must be cast, and at once. ”

“ The Arabian aristocracy thus created was recognised by the whole Moslem world. The rank and stipend now assigned descended in the direct line of birth. Even rewards given for special gallantry in the field were heritable. [353] By making thus the revenues of Islam the heritage of the nation militant, their martial genius was maintained, and their employment perpetuated as the standing army of the Caliphate. The ennobled nation, pampered by indulgence, factious and turbulent when idle, were indeed too often a serious element of sedition and intrigue. ”

“ In Arabia there are neither Christians nor Jews nor infidels of any sort for Islam to count with, nor is it so rich a possession that it should ever excite the cupidity of the Western Powers. A Caliph there need fear no admonition from Frank ambassadors in virtue of any capitulations; he would be free to act as the Successor of the Apostle should, and would breathe the pure air of an unadulterated Islam. A return, therefore, to Medina or Mecca is the probable future of the Caliphate.
The importance of Arabia has of late years been fully recognized both at Constantinople and elsewhere. ”

“ But the disintegration of the Caliphate was an idea which had as yet hardly entered into the minds of the Faithful. The unity of Islam, established by the precedent of the quarter of a century, was still, and long continued to be, the ruling sentiment of the nation. ”

“ The abolition of the Caliphate has had a profoundly disturbing effect not only in Turkey but throughout the Mohammedan world. There are signs on every hand of the weakening of the social hold of Islam. ”

“ That the caliphate, whether of the Ottoman, Ommiad, or Abbassid dynasties, is in no way comparable with the Papacy is clearly evidenced by the fact that Islam has never in all its history regarded the Caliph as its spiritual head. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Politically Islam was not an advance, but a retrogression{v2-028} from the traditional freedoms and customary laws of the desert. The breach of the pilgrims’ trace that led to the battle of Badr is the blackest mark against early Islam. Nominally Allah is its chief ruler—but practically its master has always been whatever man was vigorous and unscrupulous enough to snatch and hold the Caliphate—and, subject to revolts and assassinations, its final law has been that man’s will. ”

“ Their arrogant and factious spirit had its focus in Al-Kufa and in Al-Basra; in both these cities, indeed, it had already under 'Omar shown itself; for even he had not been able effectually to curb their insolence. The Arabs were impatient of control, partly because the success of Islam was due to their arms; partly because, in the brotherhood of the Faith, all Believers, specially those of Arab blood, stood on equal ground. The power of the Caliph, indeed, as successor to the Prophet, was absolute, uncontrolled by any constitutional authority whatever. ”

“ As a matter of fact, the attachment 201of Mohammedans is to the office of the Caliph rather than to his person, and according to the qualities necessary for the man who holds it, a true Caliph must be a perfect specimen of humanity. If he cannot fulfil the prescribed conditions of the Islamic religious law, that law orders the faithful to depose him, and justifies the election of a proper Caliph. There are not lacking in the history of Islam instances in which the Caliph has been deposed solely on these religious grounds. ”

“ 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 [Pg 32] 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. ”

“ Islam is an Arab religion; the Prophet was an Arab; the Caliph should be an Arab. The Ottoman Sultans are barbarian usurpers, who have taken and hold the Caliphate by force. The Arabs have been ready for open revolt for years, and have only waited for a leader of the house of the Prophet. Their natural leader would be the Shereef of Mecca; and it is understood that the Shereef who has just been deposed by the Sultan, as well as his predecessor who was mysteriously assassinated, was on the point of declaring himself Caliph. The new Shereef is a young man of the same family. ”

“ In pursuance of my remarks on the way in which the Sultan makes use of the influence of the Caliphate for his personal ends, it may perhaps be of some interest if I make some general remarks on the Caliphate, and the influence of the Caliph among the Mussulmans of the world. It must be remembered that Great Britain has under her rule or protection a very large number of the followers of Islam. Some authorities say that her Moslem subjects are five times as many as those who belong to Turkey itself. ”

“ At best the enmity of Islam will make the dream of reconciling the Indian populations to our rule for ever an impossibility. Leaders they will look for elsewhere—in Russia, maybe, in Germany, or even France, jealous of our interests in Egypt—not leaders such as we might have been for their good, but for our evil, and in pursuance of their own designs. The Caliphate is a weapon forged for any hand—for Russia's at Bagdad, for France's at Damascus, or for Holland's (call it one day Germany's) in our stead at Mecca. ”

“ So died Omar, next to the Prophet the greatest in the of Islam; for it was all within these ten years that, by his wisdom, patience, and vigour, the dominion was achieved over Syria, Egypt, and Persia, which Islam has ever since maintained. Abu Bekr beat down the apostate tribes; but at his death the armies of Islam had but just crossed the Syrian frontier. Omar began his reign the master only of Arabia. He died the Caliph of an empire embracing Persia, Egypt, and some of the fairest provinces of the Byzantine throne. ”

“ After some days spent at Rabadza, the Caliph returned to Medîna.
Islam must be reimposed on all Arabia.
The army by this time was refitted. The tithes had begun to come in from many neighbouring tribes in token of submission. Medîna was no longer in peril, and the citizens breathed freely. But a heavy burden still lay upon the Caliph. Islam was to be the faith of all Arabia;—‘Throughout the peninsula there shall be no second creed,’ was the behest of Mahomet on his death-bed. False prophets must be crushed; rebels vanquished ”

“ While the armies of Islam were advancing triumphantly to the conquest of the world, this sickness of civil war smote at its head. What was the rule of Allah in the world to Ayesha when she could score off the detested Fatima, and what heed were the Omayyads and the partisans of Ali likely to take of the unity of mankind when they had a good hot feud of this sort to entertain them,{v2-027} with the caliphate as a prize? The world of Islam was rent in twain by the spites, greeds, and partisan silliness of a handful of men and women in Medina. ”

“ The true history of the Caliphate has been pub [Pg 93] lished and set side by side with that Turkish history which the ignorance of a previous generation had come to confound with it. At the present day nobody with any instruction doubts that Abd el Hamid and his house might be legally displaced by the first successful rival, and that the only right of Constantinople to lead Islam is the right of the sword. As long as the Ottoman Empire is maintained and no counter Caliph appears, so long will the Sultan be the acknowledged head of religion ”

“ Christian, formed an integral of the Arab race and as such fell within the immediate scope of the new Dispensation. When, however, these came into collision with the Muslim columns on the frontier, they were supported by their respective sovereigns,—the western by the Kaiser, and the eastern by the Chosroes. Thus the struggle widened, and Islam was brought presently face to face in mortal conflict with the two great Powers of the East and of the West. ”

“ The Sherif depends upon the Sultan [Pg 109] because he needs a protector, and needs his Wakaf. The Sultan depends upon the Sherif, because recognition by Hejaz as the protector is a chief title to his Caliphate. Mecca, in fact, is a necessity to Islam even more than a Caliph; and whoever is sovereign there is naturally sovereign of the Mussulman world.
Outside Hejaz the Sultan holds what he holds of Arabia merely by force. I have described already the growing power of Ibn Rashid, the Prince of Nejd ”

“ The pro209vinces of Mecca and Medina have ever since that time formed an integral part of the Ottoman empire. A Caliph must be an independent ruler, and must in particular be ruler over those holy places. It would certainly never do if an Arab were appointed as the spiritual head of Islam by a Power of alien faith. Such mischievous suggestions are merely an expression of the political hostility which is often shown by some individuals in England to the Turkish Caliphate. ”

“ Thus Sir William Muir says, “That the heritage of Islam is the world, was an afterthought. The idea, spite of much prophetic tradition, had been conceived but dimly, if at all, by Mahomet himself. His world was Arabia, and for it the new dispensation was ordained. From first to last the summons was to Arabs and to none other.... The seed of a universal creed had indeed been sown; but that it ever germinated was due to circumstance rather than design.” (The Caliphate, pp. 43–4.) Caetani is the latest exponent of this view. (Annali dell’Islām, vol. v. pp. 323–4.) ↑ ”

“ It was indeed a thing of which the brave old Caliph might proud. ‘The Arabs,’ so the tradition runs, ‘were on all sides rising in rebellion. Apostasy and disaffection began to raise their heads; Christians and Jews to stretch out their necks; and the Faithful were left like a flock of sheep without a shepherd—their Prophet gone, their numbers few, and their foes a multitude.’ It was in face of all this that Abu Bekr sent off beyond recall his only force, and left Medîna open and, to the outward eye, defenceless. ”

“ Such, then, was the magnificent province lying between the Desert and mountain range of Persia—the cradle of civilization and the arts—which now attracted the Muslim arms. The first to oppose them was Hormuz, Satrap of the Delta, a tyrant hated by his Arab subjects. To him, as master of the tribes gathering in front, Khalid addressed a letter in the haughty type of Muslim summons: "Accept the Faith and thou art safe; else pay tribute, thou and thy people; which if thou refusest, thou shalt have thyself to blame. A people is already on thee, loving death even as thou lovest life2." ”

“ Wherever Arabs went they formed a class apart and dominant,—the nobles and rulers of the land. Subject peoples, even if they embraced Islam, were of a lower caste; they could aspire to nothing higher than, as "clients" of some Arab chief or tribe, to court patronage and protection. Thus the Arabians set themselves apart, as a nation militant, for the sacred task of propagating Islam. Even after the 150
new-born zeal of the Faith had evaporated, the chivalry of the Arabs as a race wholly devoted to arms, was, owing mainly to 'Omar's foresight, maintained in full for two centuries and a half. ”