The transfer of the seat of spiritual power from Constantinople to Mecca
would be an easy and natural one, and would hardly disturb the existing
ideas of the vulgar, while it would harmonize with all the traditions of
the learned. Mecca or Medina would, on the extinction of Constantinople,
become almost of necessity the legal home of the Ahl el Agde, and might
easily become the acknowledged centre of spiritual power. All whom I
have spoken to on the subject agree that the solution would be an
acceptable one to every school of Ulema except the distinctly Turkish
schools. Indeed "Mecca, the seat of the Caliphate" is, as far as I have
had an opportunity of judging, the cry of the day with Mussulmans; nor
is it one likely to lose strength in the future. Like the cry of "Roma
capitale," it seems to exercise a strong influence on the imagination of
all to whom it is suggested, and when to that is added "a Caliphate from
the Koreysh," the idea is to Arabs at least irresistible. How indeed
should it be otherwise when we look back on history?
For my own part, though I do not pretend to determine the course events
will take, I consider this notion of a return to Mecca decidedly the
most probable of all the contingencies we have reviewed, and the one
which gives the best promise of renewed spiritual life for Islam.
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