He had challenged the world to produce a rival, and no rival
had been found--none, at least, which the Hanefite school acknowledged,
for the Sultan of Morocco they had never accepted, and the last
descendant of the Abbasides had waived his rights. In support of the
proposition that the sword could give a title they cited the examples of
Mawiyeh, who thus established his right against the family of Ali, and
of Abu el Abbas, who had thus established his against that of Mawiyeh.
2. _Election_, that is the sanction of a legal body of Elders. It was
argued that, as the Ahl el agde had been removed from Medina to
Damascus, and from Damascus to Bagdad, and from Bagdad to Cairo, so it
had been once more legally removed from Cairo to Constantinople. Selim
had brought with him to St. Sophia's some of the Ulema of the Azhar
mosque in Cairo, and these, in conjunction with the Turkish Ulema, had
elected him or ratified his election. A form of election is to the
present day observed at Constantinople in token of this right; and each
new Sultan of the house of Othman, as he succeeds to the temporal
sovereignty of Turkey, must wait before being recognized as Caliph till
he has received the sword of office at the hands of the Ulema.
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