Even independently of considerations of race as
between Turk and Arab, I believe that the fall of the Mussulman Empire,
as a great temporal dominion, would relieve Islam of a burden of
sovereignty which she is no longer able in the face of the modern world
to support. She would escape the stigma of political depravity now
clinging to her, and her aims would be simplified and intensified. I
have already stated my opinion that it is to Arabia that Mussulmans must
in the future look for a centre of their religious system, and a return
of their Caliphate to Mecca will signify more than a mere political
change. It is obvious that empire will be there impossible in the sense
given to it at Constantinople, and that the display of armies and the
mundane glory of vast palaces and crowds of slaves will be altogether
out of place.
The Caliph of the future, in whatever city he may fix his abode, will be
chiefly a spiritual and not a temporal king, and will be limited in the
exercise of his authority by few conditions of the existing material
kind. He will be spared the burden of despotic government, the odium of
tax-gathering and conscription over unwilling populations, the constant
struggle to maintain his authority in arms, and the as constant intrigue
against rival Mohammedan princes.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195