The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-27
cHEroLAn. Ulster county, n. Y, June %.
sU1rAN AND sHEREEF OF MECCA.
The Latter Said to he merely q Very Humble
Servant OF the Former.

Tho Latter Said to he Merely q Very Humble
Servant OF tho Former.
To THE EDITOR OF THE SUS-Si-: Mr..
Thomson's interesting volume, The Outgoing
Turk" reviewed recently by THE Sun, states
that the Shcreef OF Mecca Is practically indie
pendent Of the Sultan. and could at any mo-
ment. II he chose. throw off allegiance i, him.
In which case the Sultan would infallibly lose
his position as the spiritual head OF Islam. So
far from being independent. the Grand Shereefs
of Mecca are to-day less powerful than they
have ever been. their authority even in the
town Of Mecca itself is on the wane. and they
are nothing but very humble servants of the
Sultan. appointed and dismissed at his good
pleasure. The Turks have during the present
century, through clever policy and by utilizing
the jealousy OF the various tribes, reduced the
Shcrecfs to mere Insignificant figure heads,
while the actual power in Mecca is being con.
ccntrated in the hands Of the Turkish Vail Gov.
ernor-Gencral).
The Shcreefs are the descendants Of Hassan,
the grandson OF the Prophet Mohammed. and
form the aristocracy Of the country. Their
number is legion, and their different tribes have
ever been fighting for supremacy among them.
selves. Tho head of the Shereefs is the Grand
Shereef, whose official title is Emir tprince) OF
Mecca. Formerly the Emir was practically
King of the whole OF northwcs: Arabia, and at
times he even exercised his authority over tho
coast towns on the African side OF the Red Sea
Massowah and Suakin>.
The Turkish policy has consisted in Diminishing
Grand Sherecfs who showed inclination to indie
p%endence and appointing either relatives Of
those dismissed or Shcreefs OF other tribes to
the dignity OF Emir of Mecca. thus creating civil
wars among the Shcreefs and their Bedouin fol-
lowers. The Turks assisted their nominees with
their own troops, and the Rcdouins. with their
sist the regular Turkish troops. who were we'll
armed and had artillery besides. During the
sshcrccfs only from the two foremost ossa and i most
import1nt tribes of S%hcrccfs tho ncvi Zed and
Pry Mo A ! Was THU d n tGf ;Gs1 G MSTIa s She r mr.! And
dignitary, Ann Fl, Rcfiz. Is an Ahadila. BY not
Leaving any tribe long in office, the Turks have
thcm TO thcir present absolute insignifcancc.
The actual position Of n Grand Shereef and the
entirely on the sort of aforementioned tho
Turks have In Mecca. This GovcrnorGeperal,
manderin.chic Of the Turkish troops in the
yilayct, exercises with the Slercef n sort OF CO.
dominion dIas1Iy the scd limits q Tbs the G rowsr sS of neither 20 be,
orally understood to be the ruler and supreme
judge OF tho Bedouin tribes in the Hediaz. and
Mecca: but since the Grand shereefs have be-
come mere tools IN The hands of the rapscious
less set Mt my time, have almost entirely cast
Of their alleEiancc, and hayc Otter, dehcd the
| SnsTctlS OIFnlN. As ~ 'nt 'rTN1H SnpTccT 4 nt-
thority in Mecca and the other towns of the
Iithl, this depends. as already stated, entirely
on The temperament and energy Of the Turkish
Vail. About n dozen years AGO Gilman Pasha
Soori. tho then Turkish Vail, drposed the
Grand Shcrcef Add FL MOtallcb and imprisoned
him. because no triod 10 have his own will.
The Sultan appointed Ann FL Retiz a Shereef
of the rival tribe of the Abadila to be Emir of
Mecca in his stead.
when he was appointed. his brother Abdillah
and other members OF thenow Emir's family had
to go to Constantinoplc whore they arc kept as
to this very day.
The new Grand Shcrccf could not get along
with the energetic aforementioned any moro
than his predecessor. The Vail took The Sherccf's
negro body guard from him talthough they were
his slaves and therefore his property and he
sides intcrfered with all and everything that
YVES considered tho Sherecf's business.
Tho friends of anybody. imprisoned by the
Shcreef's order. had only to claim the Wallis pro-
not on the merits, but because the Vail wished
to show the population thar there was only one
authority In the land. tho Osmanli's.
Things grew so bad that the Shcreef escaped
to Medina; from there he complained so long to
COnstantinople that tho Vail was re,Rlled.
Since then n dozen Wallis have followed each
other, some meek and some energetic, and tho
Shcreef's importance has varied according to tho
measure of authority these men would allow
him TO have,
But. even at hest, the Sherecfs have been moth.
dismissed. imprisoned and exiled whenever
they failed to please their master.
When last year the British ViCe-Consul In
Jeddah was Killed and several COnBuls wounded