He sent for
the chief Ulema and asked them if all he heard was true; and, when he
found their ideas to be entirely in unison with the advice just given
him, he commissioned the Sheykh el Islam to push forward the doctrine of
his spiritual leadership by all the means in his power. Missionaries
were consequently despatched to every part of the Mussulman world, and
especially to India and the Barbary States, to explain the Hanefite
dogma of the Caliphate; and though at first these met with little
success they eventually gained their object in those countries where
believers were obliged to live under infidel rule, so much so that in a
few years the Ottoman Caliphate became once more a recognized "question"
in the schools. They were aided in this by a powerful instrument, then
first employed in Turkey, the press.[12] A newspaper in Arabic called
the _Jawaib_ was subsidized at Constantinople under the direction of
one Achmet Faris, a convert to Islam and a man of great literary ability
and knowledge of Arabic, who already had views on the subject of the
Caliphate; and this organ henceforth consistently advocated the new
policy of the Ulema.
The official clique in Stamboul were, however, at that time still intent
on other projects, and only half understood the part to be played by
religion in their scheme of administrative reform for the Empire.
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