Allah Kerim: God is merciful."
El Husseyn's successor, the man for whom room was made, and who knew
beforehand that it was to be made, was none other than the aged and
twice deposed Abd el Mutalleb, the son of the Wahhabite Ghaleb, the
fiercest fanatic of the Dewy Zeyd.
I have not room here to describe in detail the effect of this coup de
Jarnac on the political aspect of Hejaz. For the moment the reactionary
party is in power at Mecca, as it is at Constantinople. Abd el Mutalleb
is supported by Turkish bayonets, and the Aoun family and the Liberals
are suffering persecution at Mecca, while the Sherifal Court, which had
hitherto been most friendly to England, has become the focus of Indian
discontent. Outside the town all is disorder. It is sufficient for the
present if I have shown that there is in Hejaz an element of spiritual
power already existing side by side with the Sultan, of which advantage
may one day be taken to provide him with a natural successor. If no new
figure should appear on the political horizon of Islam when the Ottoman
empire dies, sufficiently commanding to attract the allegiance of the
Mussulman world (and of such there is as yet no sign), it is certainly
to the Sherifal family of Mecca that the mass of Mohammedans would look
for a representative of their supreme headship, and of that Caliphate of
which they stand in need.
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