Evening star., 1914-11-15

ticipa ton of any great numbers VI
the followers of the standard Oh na
homet ,known as the Majestic Cypres
of the Garden of NictoryD Will ho'
take place.
II is pointed out that if the knailla
had been attacked, instead OF at'acN
ing. it might then have been possi'i'
TO cause a great Moslem uprising. 1us-
suf Fey. the special Turkish ampassa-
dor is reported, in Copenhagen uis
match, to have said in recent pupIie
address to a Berlin crowd that |''-
900 900 Turks, 300,000,0OO Mohanlhe-
dams and the entire 1slamlc Worlo VIII
now rise and place themselves at "e
manys side in the world war
Ru> in striking contradiction TO TINS
declaration. the Turkish charge d al
faires in Petrograd, himself. is quoted
,s renudiating his country's action IN
bombarding Black sea ports without
.ry decIaration of war. Il should De
bannv." he is reported to have SAID,
so follow the example of Gen. Radko
Dimitrieff. the Bulgarian minister 10
petroerad and enter the Russian
service.
No standard in the world is of great
er interest today than the green ma OF
Islam. about which so little Is known
While tourists delight TO eApatiate
mon the marvels they have seen IN
,ronstantinopie, and to give graphlc ac-
counts of the sacred belongings OF the
prophet carefully preserved In the fiti!
OF the Holy Garment, "thlrkau schefli'
the well informed Traveller is not de-
csived.
students OF Turkey and the best m
formed authorities are alike unapIe 10
10 more than repeat, Tor ~n'tt the9 are
worth the stories of the nag hearu SO
often that they have acquired some
c~cdence. 1t is safe to declare that no
intiGel ever has seen the sacred nag
Of the prophet, ana that the many
h4uuers described as the standard are
simply Turkish banners of one Hlnd
or another, entirely without the su-
pr,tue importance of the unseen ana
unisnown symbol of ISLAM
All that actually is known Is that the
sacred standard is green. Even why
green was chosen as the color OF the
prophet as only conjecture. lae story Is
told that. being an Arabian by bifth'
Mohammed, like others OF his country
men. wore Il turban. Arabian headS"ar
was then, as now, of various hueS, a!t
It is believed that Mohammed showed
| preference for turbans and trousers
of a green shade, and hence green be-
came the sacred color OF Islam.
Another story relates that Mohamined
chose green because II is the universal
|
color of his standard which was to rep
resent the universal faith.
The most holy spot in Islam is the
Eaaba at Mecca. This kaaba is a stone
building erected in the center of the
great open inclosure in the sacred
mosque of Mecca, called El-Haram (the
Inviosable) Even to pious pilgrims the
Kaaba is open but once or twice u year,
and no infidel at any time is ever per-
mitted even TO approach it.
Those best informed regarding the
mysteries of Mohammedan matters and
customs are of the opinion that the
prevalent belief OF the Moslems them
selves is true that within some holy of
bolies, never touched or even looked
upon by any living soul but the grand
high priest, the supreme Imam of Nee
ca is Sacreuly preserved the mystic
standard. The banner is believed TO
have been borne by the prophet in the
battle of Beuer, in 623 AID, the first of
the long series of battles in the orig.
inal holy war, by which the faith of
Islam was established.
What the ark of the covenant was to
the Jews, the Kaaba at Mecca contain
ing the sacred banner of the prophet
always has been, and is to the Moham-
simply be a plain green silk flag, or it
may have embroidered upon IL, as it is
claimed. the great tenet of Islam:
There is no God but God, and Mahom-
ct is his prophet" worked in white silk
in Arabic. Texts from the Koran
worked on silk in beautiful Arabic let
tering are frequently displayed in all
Moslern countries. and this very text is
known to be the most sacred of all
those prominently placed in St Sophia
so it may also be most appropriately
inscribed on the banner of Islam.
1t is known, however, that if for
due cause the great imam should brin g
forth the sacred standard from its
place of concealment and declare by his
own ''fetva" the call for holy war it
would shake Islam, and the Christians
Of the world would be imperiled
Should the sultan and his Sheik- ul-
Islam (elected by him to be the head of
khe church-not for Islam. but in Tur-
key) be able to induce the great imam