The Ulema, indeed, such as were
Hanefites, admitted him to be legally Khalifeh; but many of the Shafite
school denied this, pleading still that as an alien to the Koreysh his
claim was illegal, while to the ignorant mass of the people out of his
dominions his spiritual title remained almost unknown. The Sultans
themselves were doubtless to blame for this, seeing that the spiritual
functions of their new office were left almost entirely unperformed. For
it cannot be too strongly insisted on that the assumption of the
Caliphate was to the house of Othman only a means to an end, viz. the
consolidation of its worldly power upon a recognized basis, and that,
once that end obtained, the temporal dignity of Sultan was all that they
really considered. Thus they never sought to exercise the right
appertaining to the Caliphal office of appointing Naibs, or Deputy
Imams, in the lands outside their dominions, or to interfere with
doctrinal matters at home, except where such might prejudice the
interests of their rule. With regard to these, the theologians of
Constantinople, having satisfactorily settled the Caliphal dispute, and
pronounced the house of Othman for ever heirs to the dignity they had
assumed, were recommended by the head of the State to busy themselves no
further with doctrinal matters, and to consider the _ijtahad_, or
development of new dogma, altogether closed for the future in their
schools.
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