Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-10-25
BR|TA|N'S PROGRAM
FOR ISLAM UPSET
Plans for Dominating Intel
IectuaI Elements Disiointed
by Puritan Arab.
BY LOUIS EDGAR BROWNE.
BY Cable to The Star and Chicago
Daily News. Copyright. 1919.

PARIS. France. October 22.-British
plans for dominating the intellectual
elements of the Mohammedan world
through the shifting of the moral
forces of Islam from the Ottoman
caliphat to the sheriff of Mecca have
| been rudely Gisjointed by virile re-
| ligicus revival led by a Puritan
| Arab. Ebin Sooud. to whom three
quarters of the Arabian tribes have
already sworn allegiance. 1t is re-
ported that his military forces. large
ly armed by the Turks, have swept
through various GASES of the Arabian
desert and conquered and obtained
1 the allegiance of the provinces of
Yemen and Aser as well as the north
ern half of Hedjas. 1t also is said that
the city of Mecca itself is about to be
beSieged.
Hussein Supported by British
Sheriff Hussein was supported in his
movement to break away from Con-
stantinople by the British. The in
dependence of the kingdom of Hedjas
of which he is temporal and spiritual
head was strongly aided by certain
British colonial pioneers. who UNI
doubtedly saw in the maneuVer pos
sibility of controlling the Mohamme-
dams of the world as well as pro-
tecting the Suez canal and the route
to India. Though it was the British
who brought Emir Fetal, son of
Sheriff Hussein. to Paris to make his
plea before the peace conference Tor
an Arabian confederation in the OF
toman empire. certain Arab and
Turkish intellectuals believe that
Great Britain's policy regarding
Arabia was created to Offset trouble
! among the spearatists in British
Mohammedan colonies.
TN@,- 1Dv1 limo a
that England has been having trou-
BILE with her 60.o0O000 Mohammedans
in India and the millions of Moham-
medans in Egypt. Certain grabs and
Turks say the British charge that this
trouble is not due to misrule, but to
Vaccinations of the Ottoman sultan,
the committee of union and progress
and. in general, the new Persian
movement. They declare that to de-
stroy this spiritual influence over the
unruly Mohammedans in the British
colonies the English foreign policy
has sought to discredit, ridicule and
destroy the power of the Turkish
caliphat and to upbuild in it's place
the caliphat of Mecca, over which
Great Britain herself could hold vir-
tual power of dictation.
Methods Adopted by Ebin Sooud.
While Ebin Sooud is not allied or
subservient to the Turkish govern
ment-as a matter of fact. he Is hos
tile to it--he has made this argument
to discredit throughout the Arabian
peninsula England and Sheriff Hus-
sein simultaneously. Millions of
proclamations have been printed and
distributed alleging the above sup
position to be fact. These procla-
accuse Hussein of being moth
ing mode nor less than hireling. a
British agent. scoundrel and trail
tor who sold his country for a GER
tain stipulated quantity of British
gold per month.
Whether the assertions of Ebi9
Sooud regarding the British-Arabian
intrigue are true or not. it makes
little difference, because the accusa-
tons have been published broadcast |
Many Arabians believe them to be |
true. and consequently the number of !
to Ebin Sooud's movement |
is increasing by leaps and bounds.
Advocates Religious Reform.
In addition to the patriotic appeal |
to his country to save Arabia from |
becoming a Nassal state of England, !
Ebin Sooud had adopted formula of |
religious reform. Turks and Arabs ]
with whom I have talked in the orient |
say that his movement corresponds |
largely II the early Protestant move |
ments in Christianity. These Turks |
and Arabs alike hope that the move |
ment will result in the publication |
and simplification of Islam which will |
give it renewed life and vigor