New Britain herald., 1924-10-22
MECCA IS AGAIN
 A PURITAN CITY
Wahibis Take Over It's Control
 for the Second Time

Washington, D. C., Oct 22,-The
 reported fall of Mecca, holy city of
 the Mohammedan faith, into the
 hands of the Wahabls champions
 of Moslem "Puritanism," has a di-
 rect precedent, for the same sect took over the city in 1908 and kept control for ten years, A bulletin
 from the Washington, D. C., head quarters of the National Geograph-
 ic Sciety tells something of the sit uation in Mecca while it remained in the hands of these reformcrs.
 Practically a century and q quar- ter have passed since the first cap ture of Mecca by the Wahabis," says the bulletin, but time has passed over western Arabia with out leaving any great physical changes. True, news dispatches to- day speak of messages by tele- phone from the captured city and the plight of hospital; but save for few such modern touches the Wahabis of today would enter much the same Mecca as did their an- cestors in 1898. And the sect is it. self little different; still uncompro- misingly for simplicity and against all that smacks of luxury in daily life or superstition in faith.
 Situation Probably Similar to 1903
 That, at least, is the official platform; but because the sect has so many illiterate and fanatical followers, the practice is often somewhat different. Much the same situation, however can be ex- pected in Mecca if the Wahabis ad- minister affairs there, that deyel- oped from 1898 to 1913.
 The Meccans still remember with gratitude writes an English traveller who visited the country a few years later, the excellent dis cipline observed by these wild Wa habis on their entering the town. Not the slightest excess was con- mitted. On the next day all the 1 shops were opened by order of Saoud, and every article which his | troops required was purchased with ready money.
 Abolished Prayers for Sultan
 ""The people of Mecca now be- came Wahabis; that is, they were obliged to pray more punctually | than usual. to lay aside and con- ceal their fine silk dresses, and to desist from smoking in public. Heaps of Persian pipes, collected from all the houses were burnt be- fore Saoud's headquarters. and the sale of tobacco was forbidden. So upright was the Bedouin judge ap- pointed by Saoud that his sentences have become almost proverbial. At this time the players for the Sul- tan. usually recited in the grand mosque, were abolished'
 The Wahabi leader did not pro hihit plgrimages to Mecca, but the huge yearly caravans from Egypt and Damascus no longer made the trip because they were not per lnitted te go armed, Thousands of Pilgrims in small groups and by ship-load continued, however, to journey to Mecca, All were com pelled to observe Wahabi strictrass in faith and in daily life. It was particularly against the excesses that accompanied the pigrimages that the Wahabis had leveled their re- form measures.
 Called Roll in Mosque
 Tn Medina, burial place of Mo hammed where Turkish sympathy and the Turkish mode of life were marked. the Wahabis were more strict even than in Mecca. A list was prepared of all the adult males, and a regular roll was called in the mosque after morning, midday and evening prayers. Those absent were punished. Mohammed's tomb was stripped of offerings that had been made there. The Wahabis regarded as idolatrous any visits, prayers or exclamations addressed to 1t, and | prohibited them,
 ''The Turks made several at tempts to oust the Wahabis from the Mosem Holy Land but failed, chiefly because of the protection afforded by the deserts. An expedi- fion by sea from Egypt finally drove the Wahahis back into the desert in 1913 and their power was broken in 1918. Since about 1924, however. they have been steadily regaining power in the interior of Arabia"