Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-09-15
The SE,tan's Title.

The idea of united Islam under the
rule of single Caliph being n funda-
mental conception of the Mussulman
religion. is as old as that religion itself.
and was. during more than century.
practically realized. Under the early
Caliphs Islam was not merely an alb
stract religious system hut Il highly Or
ganized social and political community.
with monarchical form of government
which rapidly developed into an unlim-
tied dcspotiSm. The known world was
divided into two parts. the Daru i Is
lam and the Daru u Harb-the land of
the faithful and the land of the inlidel-
and throughout the whole extent of the
former the Ca!iph exercised uncontrolled
temporal and spiritual authority. Such
was the caliphate of the Ommayades.
with Damacus as its capital. With the
fall of that dynasty, about 120 years after
the death of the prophet, the political
unity of Islam came to an end. When
the Abbassides seized the supreme pow
er and removed the seat of govern
ment to Bagdad. the Moors of Spain,
refusing to recognize the usurpa,ion,
elected q Caliph of their own from
among the survivors of the dethroned
dynasty. and at later period a third
independent caliphatc WAS formed in
Egypt by the so-called Fatimite dynasty.
Thus the Mus5ulman world was split
into three parts. and since that moment
it has never been politically reunited
The Western and Egyptian caliphates
passed through many crises and finally
persisted. but the Eastern Caliphs could
not profit by the weakness and disasters
Of their rivals. They were in fact no
longer Caliphs in the old sense of the
term. Ambitious provincial govern
mems and insu5ordinate Tartar chief
tains had created for themselves and
their descendants neutrality-suspicious.
sovcreigntics, and the little central
authority that remained was WELD
ed by 4 band of Pratorians, or
by Fizicr resembling the Mayor of the
palace in the Frankish monarchy. As
successors of the prophet, the Caliphs
continued to en- Joy popular veneration,
and their names were regularly rccifed
every Friday in the mosques; but they
had lost all real power. and their chief
political functions consisted in legaliziny
successful usurpation by performing the
ceremony of inyestiture for those who
had made themselves practically indie.
pendent rulers. The cal;phate had be-
come. in fact, loose confederation of
practically independent States under
the nominal sovereignty of a spiritual
head, and might be compared in some
respects to medieval Christendom I'M
der the spiritual sovereignty of the
Pope. In this etherealized form it has
continued to survive to the present
day. Extingu;shed in Bagdad by ne
great Tartar invasion of the thirteenth
century, it was revived Immediately
afterward in Egypt. A mysterious in
dividual. protesting to be an ADMISSIBLE
who had escaped the massacre of his
family in Bagdad, appeared in Caro-
and declared himself TO be the legiti-
mate Representative of the venerai T.,
dynasty. The Mameluke Sultan of III.
time, pcrceiving the advantages OF hav-
ing Caliph of his own. caused tn,
stranger TO be recognized by the ELENA,
and thus began new series of puppet
Caliphs, calling themselves AhbassidcS.
which lasted for more than two centu.
ries and a half (i250 1910. When
Egypt was conquered by the Turks in
1917. the Sultan Sclim made the puppet
Celiph Of the moment cele 10 him his
caliphate rights. and ever since that
time the Ottoman Sultans. who have no
pretensions to being descendants of the
Prophet, have had the title of Cal;ph.-.
COnStdntiaOpls Cor london Times.
This is one CT the passages whi6 h
the girls sing in the Yale College operet-
ia Ponkeese:'
" We have come to this nook to be taught how
To- cook
AMI to PRACTICE the strictost economy:
We car fry. hoil and bake, and construct wed,
ding-cike,
In the Pen,keesa School Of Gastrohcmy."