The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-04

and we cannot go back of it,"

a United States vice consul in Tur-
key, in one of his official reports.
which will never alter unless the
whole fabric of their religion passes
away and another institution is plant-
ed in its stead. have opened the sub
ject before the doctors of the law, and
they assert: These are religious dog
mas based on religious principles and
if His Majesty, the Sultan, wishes to
order anything contrary, the Moham-
medan population collectively will not
obey him. And they might have adj
ded, that such a step might bring on
an instruction
What the faith prescribes must be
obeyed. Outside of that, the Moham-
medans claim they are remarkab y
tolerent, especially in the Turkish DO
minions. Copts and Marconites.
Druses and Greek Christians are all al
lowed the free exercise of their differ
ent religions, and no Mohammedan
would dream of molesting them or in
sulting them while they were assem-
bled to worship their God in their own
way. His mental attitude toward in
fidels' is curious. If a 'jihad" (holy
war; were proclaimed, he would be
ready enough to slay them, but if, in
his path of massacre. he came upon a
Christian at prayer he would hold his
ished the act of worship. His in
stinctive reverence for any kind of re-
ligious manifestation would check his
lust for blood.
1t is usually assumed by Western
statesme n and Western newspapers
that the Sultan of Turkey is an auto
crat who can rule as he wishes, whose
fat means the slaughter or the sparing
of Christian villages and Christian
peoples within his domain. Nothing is
farther from the fact, says the Moham-
medan. 8
In theory. the Sultan may be, des-
potic. though even that is doubtful in
the light of Moslem civil and religious
law. In practice, he is even more ham
pered by ecclesiastical bureaucracy
than the Car of Russia is. And pub
lie opinion is a more powerful force in
Turkey and other Mohammedan coun-
tries than it is in the Western civiliza-
tons. The Sultan dare not move a step
without the sanction of his myriad CO.
religionists and his fellow rulers of the
Mohammedan world, He may be the
Caliph of Islam, the theoretical head of
the faith, but he only holds that po-
sition while he pleases Islam.
The Mohammedan conception of an
acceptable ruler is very different from
that of the Westerns. The articles of
belief composed by the Sheikh Najm
Ad-Din Abu Hafs Umar ibn Moham-
med ibn Ahmad an-Nasnfii, a famous
Mohammedan theological, say that the
Moslems must have a leader who
shall occupy himself with the enforc-
ing of their decisions"
1T is not a condition" says the gen.
tleman with the long name, that he
should be protected by God from sin,
nor that he should be the most excel
lent of the people of his time, but it is
a condition that he should have adj
miniStrative ability, should be a good
governor and be able to carry out de-
crees and to guard the restrictive ordi
nances of Islam and to protect the
wronged against him who wrongs him.
And he is not to be deposed from the
leadership on account of immortality
or tyranny"
The restrictive ordinances" are
those which deny civil rights to the
Christian. If the Sultan does not en-
force them, he is liable to be deposed.
The Sultan Abdul Hamid is in con-
slant correspondence with the Ameer
of Afghanistan, the Shah of Persia,
the Sultan of Wadai. and other great
Mohammedan rulers. Their opinions
influence his dealings with Christian
nations at crises like the present But.
princes, he is forced to consider two
spiritual monarchs-the Sheikh-ul-Is-
lam and the mysterious head of the
| great secret order of the Senussiyah.
The Sheikh- ul-Islam, who lives in
Cairo, is practically the supreme re-
ligious authority of the orthodox Mo
| hammedans. In effect, he is the Pope
of the NIohaf11medan world, holding
somewhat the same position toward
he ae xxrI,io h.
Rome held toward Christian mon
archs in the Middle Ages.
If the Sultan were TO extend real
reforms, in the Western sense of the
word, to the Christian peoples under
his rule; if he were to give them per-
onal rights, remove their civil dis
abilities, and make them equal with
Mohammedans before the law, he
would violate the cardinal principles
upon which the Mohammedan civili-
cation is based. The Sheikh- I'LL Islam
probably would feel obliged to release
his subject from their allegiance in the
name of religion. THE faith" is far
stronger than either Sultan or Sheikh,
and neither can afford to play with it.
If they combined to improve the status
of the Sultan's non Mohammedan sub
jects, they would probably both fail.
The Senussiyah, which stands for 9TH
odox Northumberland of the old
fashioned puritanical type, would at
tend to that.
Mohammedans do not admit the
superiority of Western civilization,
even when they have lived under 1t,
They prefer their own system, and
think it is the better one.
Here is the rationale of Moslem
civilization, as 1t was eXpounded to
an Anglo-Indian woman by an aged
Hindoo follower of the Prophet. The
old man had known some of the glories
of the last Mogul, before the Eng
lish rivited their hold upon India.
The woman tried to convince him
that those old days of bloodshed and
brigandage were bad days when COM
pared with the present era of peace
and liberty under British rule
Nowadays" she said, you can
reap that which you have sown. You
can gather your wheat into your
gamers. You do not fear that your
wife will be stolen from you, or your
children slain while you work in your
fields. Your homes and occupations
are secure now"
Yes" he replied. there is all that"
And what is there not? What is
lost which you regret?"
There is no longer a chance for a
man." said the old Mohammedan,
heaving a regretful sigh "In olden
days, before the Christians came to
rule over us, the beggar by the way
side might become Grand Vizier If
the King did but smile upon him.