, having sent a surrah, or bag of gold, to the Sherif to
be distributed in alms, received from him the title of Khaddam el
Harameyn, servant of the two shrines; and the gift being continued
annually by the Ottoman Padishahs may very likely have paved the way to
their recognition later as Caliphs.
It would seem singular at first sight that the Sherifs, being
themselves of the sacred family whose special inheritance the Caliphate
was, should ever thus have recognized a stranger as its legal heir. But
the political weakness of the Meccan Government in the sixteenth century
must be taken into account as the all-sufficient reason. The Grand
Sherif could hardly have stood alone as an independent sovereign, for he
was continually menaced on the one side by the dissenting Omani, and on
the other by the unbelieving tribes of Nejd, against whom his frontier
was defenceless. He could not, with his own resources, protect the
pilgrim routes from plunder--and on the pilgrimage all the prosperity of
Hejaz depended. It therefore was a necessity with the Meccans to have a
protector of some sort; and Sultan Kansaw having fallen, they accepted
Sultan Selim.
The Ottoman Sultans then became protectors of the Holy Places, and were
acknowledged Caliphs without any appeal to arms at Mecca and Medina.
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