Nor is it probable that he would have found much religious opposition to
the realization of his scheme from the Turkish Ulema. These, already
alarmed by Sultan Murad's administrative reforms, would hardly have
espoused the Sultan's defence with any vigour; and though Mehemet Ali
himself was open to a charge of latitudinarianism, he had the one great
claim upon orthodox Islam of having delivered the Holy Cities of Mecca
and Medina from the Wahhabis. The house of Othman, indeed, at this time
had begun to stink--not only in the nostrils of the outside world, but
in that of the Hanefite school itself; and as these had formerly
accepted Selim, so they might very well, in 1839, have accepted Mehemet
Ali. But this attempt, too, was stopped by England in pursuance of a
policy which it is difficult now not to regret. The too venturous
Arnaout was sent back to his vice-royalty in Egypt, and the House of
Othman was entrusted with a new lease of spiritual sovereignty, if not
yet of spiritual power.
The reigns of Abd el Mejid and of Abd el Aziz are remarkable with
Mussulmans as having witnessed a complete dissociation of interests
between the Imperial Government and the Old Hanefite school of Ulema.
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