Islam would hardly obey another
Caliph who was himself obedient to Christendom; and the same causes
which have ruined the House of Othman, would also ruin him. A Caliph, as
things stand, cannot legally govern, except by the old canon law of the
Sheriat, and though a lapsus from strict observance may be tolerated in
an ordinary prince, or even in a well established Caliph, a new Caliph
putting forward a new claim would be more strictly bound. How could
Mohammed Towfik's necessity to Islam be reconciled to his necessity to
Europe? Between the two stools he hardly could avert a fall.[15]
Unless, then, some unexpected religious hero should appear in Eastern
Asia, of which as yet there is no sign, we are driven to Arabia for a
solution of the difficulty where to establish a Mussulman theocracy, and
to the Sherifal family of Mecca itself for a new dynasty.
The family of the Sherifs has this vast advantage over any other
possible competitor to the supreme title of Islam, that it is of the
acknowledged blood of that tribe of Koreysh which Mohammed himself
designated as his heirs. Amongst many other passages of authority which
bear upon the rights of the Koreysh the following seem to me the most
explicit and the best worth quoting: "The prophet," says a tradition of
Omm Hani, daughter of Abutaleb, "exalted the Koreysh by conferring on
them seven prerogatives: the first, the _Nebbuwat_ (the fact that they
had given birth to a prophet); the second, the _Khalafat_ (the
succession); the third, the _Hejabat_ (the guardianship of the Kaaba);
the fourth, the _Sikayat_ (the right of supplying water to the Haj); the
fifth, the _Refadat_ (the right of entertaining the Haj); the sixth, the
_Nedwat_ (the right of counsel, government); and the seventh, the _Lewa_
(possession of the banner, with the right of proclaiming war).
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