This might be still further enhanced by the very simple
measure of collecting and transmitting officially the revenue of the
Wakaf property, entailed on the sherifs, in India. This is said to
amount to half a million sterling, and might, as in Turkey, take the
form of a government subsidy. At present it is collected privately, and
reaches the sherifs reduced, as I have been told, by two-thirds in the
process of collection, so that the mere assumption of this perfectly
legitimate duty by the Indian authorities would put a large sum into the
hands of those in office at Mecca, and a proportionate degree of power
into the hands of its collectors. This, indeed, would be no more than is
being already done by our Government for the Shia Shrines of Kerbela and
Meshed Ali, with results entirely beneficial to English popularity and
influence.
With regard to the pilgrimage, I will venture to quote the opinion of
one of the most distinguished and loyal Mohammedans in India, who has
lately been advocating the claims of his co-religionists on the Indian
Government for protection in this and other matters. Speaking of Sultan
Abd el Hamid's Pan-islamic schemes, which he asserts have not as yet
found much favour in India, he continues, "I may, however, add that by
far the most formidable means which can be adopted for propagating such
ideas, or for rousing a desire for Islamic union, would be the
distribution of pamphlets to the pilgrims at Mecca.
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