Arizona republican., 1900-12-15
IS ISLAM RENTING :?
A Census Shows I76, 900, 900 MuSsuImanS in the World.
They Are Divided Into Two Sects Which Have Lately Been Draw ing Closer for Sul ltan's Late Activity.

London, Dec. 14.-It comes rather like a revelation to find that the Turk ish government, or, perhaps, it might be more correct to say the sultan has been engaged in collecting statistics showing the Mussulman population in various parts of the world. The result has been just published, and in view of the possible object of the undertaking IS Of considerable interest In the do- mlnions under the personal rule of the Sultan, the Mussulmans are stated at 1S,OOO,OOO; while in the contiguous states and territories in Asia, including Persia, Afghanistan, Beloochistan. h. dia, Russian Turkestan and China their numbers are estimated at 99 900 900. Africa, where the Mohammedan relig- ion has made great strides in the last halr or the century, is credited with 365OO.OOO followers of the prophet, and 23,OoO,OOO are described as inha biting other countries and the islands of the eastern seas. It does not appear that the total of these figures, 176, 500, 900, is exaggerated, as recent estimates have paced the Mussulman population of the world alt close upon 200, ,OOO, 900.
 The Islamic world, however is di- Nlded religiously into two sections. the vast majority being Sunnis, and the Shlahs. who hold more or less aloof rom the Sunnis, of whom the Sultan ol turkey IS the nominal head as the Cailph or Islam. The Mussulman pop ulation of India under the political rule or the British government and in the native states may be set down in mn hat- far the greater part of these are Sum his, as are aslo the Afghans and the Turcomans. The Chinese Mohamme- dams. who are mostly found in Kash- garia, Mongolia, Yunnan and Kansuh. are very variously estimated. some au- dhorities, passing their calculations on dat furnished by Chinese officials for the whole empire, placing them as high as 2OOOO,OOO. These, like all the other followers of Islam belonging to the Sunni section, are in direct communi- cation with Mecca, though having lit tie political affinity with Constantino- pie. This is due in great part to the lethargy of the Turkish character and the internal troubles of Turkey that caled for the concentration of the Sul- tan's attention on his own home affairs But recent events have enabled him to look somewhat outside the immediate circle of his own dominions, and among the things he has done has been to take stock of the forces which in Cer- some control.
 It Is now little time since he en- tered into a kind of an alliance with the Senoussi, who holds sway in the General Soudan, and quite recently there has been remarkable exchange of amenities between the Sultan and the Shah of Persia, whose territories march side by side for several hundred miles in Asia. With the Mussulmans of India and Russian Turkestan, close relations have existed for several years and friendly intercourse is kept up wlth Kabul, the development of the Russian railway system in Asia bring ing the most remote communities with in easy reach of the political and reIig- ious centers of their faith, For a num- Der of years the British government has kept a wa.tchful eye on the grow ing intimacy of the relations between the Mussulmans of India and Constan- tinople, and on one occasion the pres ence of some Turkish emissaIies in h. dia was the occasion of a sharp pas sage at arms between the British repre- sentative at ConStantinople and the Sultan. The Russian government also last year found itself suddenly con fronted with a threatened rising of it's Mussulman subjects in eastern Turke- stan, but 1t was quickly suppressed. The source of the trouble was never accurately ascertained. some of the Russian papers ascribing it 10 Constan- tinople and some to Simia.
 Connecting the two important facts of the comparative energy with which the Sultan is pushing on the construc- iion of the railway through Palestine to Mecca, and his recent census king of the Mussulman world, it is quite evil dent that he is watching events and getting ready, in his way, for eventual ities. The aggressivenes of the Chris tian governments and missionary or SaniZationS in all non-Christian coun- tries, is no doubt one of the animating causes of the Sultan's action. He de- sfres to concentrate in bis own hands as far as it is possible, the power of resistance contained in the mass rep resented by 176, ,5OO, 900 of Mussumans, and by means of the railway to Mecca he proposes to retain the permanent control of the holy places of Islam on which his authority as Caliph is based. Amid the general uncertainties of the general political condition of Europe, he may think he discerns an oportun- ity to enable Islam to rcascrt itself, and is preparing accordingly.
 
 THE RHINE'S DEVTOTrS COTTPSE