Evening star., 1924-03-12

4 the conclusions of conventions and
treaties of peace. the call for the de-
| fense of the country, belong to the
grand national assembly"
/ Article 3: In his capacity as re-
\ ligious adviser to the sultan. Sheik
| ul Islam (chief priest) stands at the
head of the courts of the cheri. The
| highest court is the houzour, composed
of several religious functionaries and
presided over by the Sheik ul Islam.
| 1t is predicted by New Turks and
others who know Turkey that the
lam caliph, under .dictation of the
| assembly, which will seek to retain
| the power 1t has usurped from the
| old caliph
The election would not be partici-
pated in by the other Moslem peoples.
Il may receive the tacit support of
Great Britain, which is jealously
| guarding the route to India No cleo
| ton will be welcomed by communist
Russia, whose propaganda is extreme
ly active in denouncing all religions.
| The Young Turks are not devout;
| they follow Mohammedan rules, but
| care little for worship. They are.
| listening to soviet Russia's commu-
| nism and atheism, yet they will seek
| to support the Sheik ul Islam as caliph.
| to retain the center of Mohammedan-.
/ ism in Turkey, and to fight the King
of Hedjaz. the real candidate of the
British influence.
| + +
The King OF Hedjaz is seeking the
lcaiiphate because he is directly de-
scended from Fatima, the daughter
of Mohammed, who married Aoli, the
fourth caliph. He is king over the
holy city of Medina, the birthplace,
and Mecca, the sacred burial place, OF
the prophet. He is supported by
Great Britain with a subsidy of s4oe,-
900 a year. His son is King of Meso~
potamia, and already Turkey is whis>
pering of a coming war with Mesopo-
tamia. II
and argues that Bagdad is the geo.
| graphical center of Islam-euually,
| distant from the Pacific and At
lantic. 1t has in times past been the
is descended from the uncle of Mo-
! manned.
Then there is King Fouad of Egypt.
He wants to beat the King of He'd
JAZZ. his rival. He wants to be elected
caliph because he is an Egyptian pa
triot and desires to make 1t the cen
ter of Islam, for the very special rea-
son that this will necessitate COM
plete freedom from Great Britain. No
caliph can live on land he does NOT
wholly control. The British are only
nominally freeing Egypt The cali
phate would bring all Islam tt
Egypt's defense and drive out the
''idolaters' of England. The treas.
ures of the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen
| will finance the Egyptian caliphate.
No calfph can be ordained without
7 possessing the sacred turhan. flag
and sword of Mohammed. Alas, these
! symbols boil ht.M
president of the Turkish grand as
sembly. Turkey holds the key.
The deposed caliph- sultan On
charged with having engaged in plot
was I'm Constantinople Switzerland
is bothering him about his few wives,
and he would go to Paris. but no
caliph could function there, even Ii
the PariSfanS consented to his haIerl,
for he would not be in control. He
would join the Moslems in Morocco
or upon some island of the Mediter-
ranean. but there are too many ne
cursed them by making them black.
1t has been dream of caliphS for
centuries-indeed prophecy-that
some caliph would conquer the world.
but the world war witt. its gas aud
, bombs and airplanes convinced Ca
. liph Medjid that with himself on q
yellow camel and his followers armed
with curved knives he could ue"er
conquer the modern world. The
dream is but a vanished vision Yet
the Koran plainly teaches warfare
and murder against the idoiators who
refuse to accept the true faith Hear
its words:
"And when the months wherein ye
! are not allowed to attack them shall
lie past, kill the idolator.s wherss..-
ever ye shall find them, and lay wait
for them in every convenient place.
\ II Is a tradition among the ignS-
rant, Turks that for every seven
Christians or Jews one kills there
will be 500 more wives given him In
heaven. They Kill only men, but
marry their widows AMI daushters.
The general beIief that Turks are
pre- chibitionists and teetotat.srs is con-
trs dicted by George NJ. i.ainsa.
Il For thirteen centuries the Moharn-
metan religion prohibited the max
Il ing of wines and .iquo =. and for cen-
turies the Mohammedans have care
4 fully obeyed the law. However. the
Turks actually drink liquors more
| than do the .Armenians and Greeks.
4 Though they never . nanufactare
/ them, they claim :hat 1t Is no. sinsIto
l;buy them from otherS. The maJotity
II drink secretly and drink from Icov-
cred cup that they might not see It %
Copyright. 1924. By Paul v. ColinsAa e.