The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-04


should have administrative ability, should
be a good governor and be able to carry
out DEGREES and to guard the restrictive
ordinances of Islam and TO protect the
wronged against him who wrongs him. AnG
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 enforce them, he is
liable to be deposed.
THE SULTAN'S ADVISERS.
The Sultan Abdul Hamid is in constant
correspondence with the Ameer of Afghan
istan, the Shar of Persia, the Sultan of
Wadai. and other great Mohammedan
rulers. Their opinions influence his deal
ings with Christian nations at crises like
the present. But beyond and above these
temporal 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 religious au-
thority of the orthodox NIohammedans. In
effect he is the Pope of the Mohammedan
world, holding somewhat the same position
toward the Sultan as that which the Popcs
of Rome held toward Christian monarchs
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 personal rights, remove
their civil disabilities and make them equal
would violate the cardinal principles upon
rxI,s@l, Nrn1,o ofx, ilf.o4 ic
based. The Sheikh-ul-Islam probably would
feel obliged to release his subjects from
their allegiance in the name OF religion.
1.-The faith is far stronger than either Sui
tan or Sheikh, and neither can afford to
play with 1t. If they combined to improve
the status of the Sultan's non-Mohamme
dan subjects. they would probably both fall.
The Senussiyah, which stands for orthodox
Northumberland of the old-fashioned puri-
tanical type would attend to that.
Mohammedans do not admit the superior
ity of Western civilization, even when they
have lived under it. They prefer their own
system, and think 1t the better one.
Here is the rationale of Moslem civili-
cation, as it was expounded to an Anglo
Indian woman by an aged Hindoo follower
of the prophet. The old man had known
some of the glores of the last Mogul, be-
fore the English riveted their hold upon
India The woman tried to convince him
that those old days of bloodshed and bril-
gandage were bad days when compared
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
xx-ba inf
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"
EYES," 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 re-
gretful sigh. 'In olden days, before the
Christians came to rule over. US. the beg
gar by the wayside might become grand
vizfer If the King did but smile upon him."
"And equally" she replied, ''his head
might be cut off If he failed to laugh at the
Kings last joke
eve liked to take that chance" said the
Mohammedan.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR TALENT.
There is the secret Of the hold which
the Moslem political system has upon it's
adherents. 1t is an enormous gamble The
career is open to the lucky and the talented
as it is under no other social organization.
Americans are fond of dwelling upon the
rise of poor boys to positions of affiuence
and dignity in the American commonwealth
by sheer force of native merit. There are
a thousand stories in Mohammedan lands
which parallel the progress of Lincoln
from log cabin to White House." But the
possibilities of advancement in Mohamme-
dan civilization UNNECESSARILY surpass those
in America or any other Western country.
Here the truckman may become a million
aire, but there the base-born slave may
become an emperor welding sway over mil
lions of subjects.
The spirit of 1.-The Thousand and One
Nights" dominates the Mohammedan world
to-day. AS if by the rubbing Of Aladdin s
lamp, mans fortune may be changed in
the twinkling of an eye.
Take the case of Rabah, "the Black Ma
poleon of the Soudan." He started life as
a slave of Zebehr Pasha. the great Central
African warrior. He imbibed the spirit of
Mohammedan fanaticism so thoroughly that
his place and WELD absolute sovereignty
over millions of warlike tribesmen. No.
body thought OF saying. why should this
lislave rule over us?" He was the strongest
man In sight, and he naturally ruled in a
democracy of physical force. until eventu-
ally his power was broken by the French
! in West Africa.
| A Mohammedan feels that what Rabah
and dozen men like him have done, he
| may do. There is the chance. In the con-
| ditions under which he lives he may always
have the luck to fight his way to the top,
If he is not summarily extinguished before
| he gets there. 1t Is up to him. He likes
| the gamble. and would not exchange it foI
| the stolid security of Christian government
| There may be million chances to one that
| he will never be anything except peasant
| subject to the rapacity of the Sultan and
| the Vail and the Mutaseriff and the tax
! collector; but he indorses the social system
| under which he has one chance in a million
OF becoming a Sultan.
Copyright, 1903, by T. c. McClure.1
Mysterious Yucatan.
| NJ. II. Saville in Mexican Herald
! present almost completely absorbed in the
I ratfaaG of h.