Abd el Hamid would
then be legitimately deposed and disappear, for it is unlikely that he
would find any such protector in his adversity as the legitimate Caliphs
found in theirs six hundred years ago. So fully is this state of things
recognized by the Ulema, that I found the opinion last year to be nearly
universal that Abd el Hamid was destined to be the last Caliph of the
House of Othman.
It becomes, therefore, a question of extreme interest to consider who
among Mussulman princes could, with any chance of being generally
accepted by orthodox Islam, put in a claim to replace the Ottoman
dynasty as Caliph when the day of its doom shall have been reached. It
is a question which ought certainly to interest Englishmen, for on its
solution the whole problem of Mussulman loyalty or revolt in India most
probably depends, and though it would certainly be unwise, at the
present moment, for an English Government to obtrude itself violently in
a religious quarrel not yet ripe, much might be done in a perfectly
legitimate way to influence the natural course of events and direct it
to a channel favourable to British interests.
Is there then in Islam, east, or west, or south, a man of sufficient
eminence and courage to proclaim himself Caliph, in the event of Abd el
Hamid's political collapse or death? What would be his line of action to
secure Mahommedan acceptance? Where should he fix his capital, and on
what arms should he rely? Whose flag should he display? Above all--for
this is the question that interests us most--could such a change of
rulers affect favourably the future thought and life of Islam, and lead
to an honest Moslem reformation? These questions, which are being
cautiously asked of each other by thoughtful Mussulmans in every corner
of the east, I now propose to consider and, as far as it is in my power,
to answer.
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