Only they insist that these should be legally effected, not
forced on them by an overriding of the law.
What they want is _a legal authority to change_. Now, no such authority
exists, either in the Ottoman Sultan, or in the Sherif, or in any Sheykh
el Islam, Mufti, or body of Ulema in the world. None of these dare
seriously meddle with the law. There is not even one universally
recognized tribunal to which all Moslems may refer their doubts about
the law's proper reading, and have their disputes resolved. A fetwa, or
opinion, is all that can be given, and it applies only to the land where
it is issued. The fetwa of this great Alem in one Moslem state may be
reversed by the fetwa of another in that. The Sheykh el Islam at
Constantinople may be appealed against to the Mufti at Mecca or Cairo,
or these again, it may be, to Bokhara. None absolutely overrides the
rest. Thus while I was at Jeddah there came a deputation of Mussulmans
from Bengal, being on their way to Mecca to ask a fetwa on the disputed
point whether believers were permitted or not to use European dress. A
previous fetwa had been asked at Constantinople, but the deputation was
dissatisfied, alleging that the Sheykh el Islam there could not be
trusted and that they preferred the Meccan Mufti.
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