would hardly obey another Caliph who was himself obedient to Christendom; and the same causes which have ruined the House of Othman, would also ruin him.  A Caliph, as things stand, cannot legally govern, except by the old canon law of the Sheriat, and though a lapsus from strict observance may be tolerated in an ordinary prince, or even in a well established Caliph, a new Caliph putting forward a new claim would be more strictly bound.  How could Mohammed Towfik’s necessity to Islam be reconciled to his necessity to Europe?  Between the two stools he hardly could avert a fall.[15]

Unless, then, some unexpected religious hero should appear in Eastern Asia, of which as yet there is no sign, we are driven to Arabia for a solution of the difficulty where to establish a Mussulman theocracy, and to the Sherifal family of Mecca itself for a new dynasty.

The family of the Sherifs has this vast advantage over any other possible competitor to the supreme title of Islam, that it is of the acknowledged blood of that tribe of Koreysh which Mohammed himself designated as his heirs.  Amongst many other passages of authority which bear upon the rights of the Koreysh the following seem to me the most explicit and the best worth quoting:  “The prophet,” says a tradition of Omm Hani, daughter of Abutaleb, “exalted the Koreysh by conferring on them seven prerogatives:  the first, the Nebbuwat (the fact that they had given birth to a prophet); the second, the Khalafat (the succession); the third, the Hejabat (the guardianship of the Kaaba); the fourth, the Sikayat (the right of supplying water to the Haj); the fifth, the Refadat (the right of entertaining the Haj); the sixth, the Nedwat (the right of counsel, government); and the seventh, the Lewa (possession of the banner, with the right of proclaiming war).”  The prophet also, according to another tradition, said, “As long as there remains one man of the Koreysh, so long shall that man be my successor;” and as to the Arab race, “If the Arab race falls Islam shall fall.”  All the world knows these things, and to the popular mind, especially, the Sherif is already far more truly the representative of spiritual rank than any Sultan or Caliph is.

The vast populations of Southern and Eastern Asia send out their pilgrims, not to Constantinople but to Mecca, and it is the Sherif whom they find there supreme.  The Turkish Government in Hejaz holds a comparatively insignificant position, and the Sultan’s representative at Jeddah is hardly more than servant to the Prince of Mecca.  It is he who is the descendant of their prophet, not the other, and though the learned may make distinctions in favour of the Caliph the Haj only hears of the Sherif.  Even at Constantinople, by immemorial custom, the Sultan rises to receive members of the sacred family; and at Mecca it is commonly said that should a Sultan make the Haj in person he would be received by the Grand Sherif as an inferior.  The Sherifal family, then, is surrounded with a halo of religious prestige which would make their acquisition of the supreme temporal title appear natural to all but the races who have been in subjection to the Ottomans; and were a man of real ability to appear amongst them he would, in the crisis we have foreseen, be sure to find an almost universal following.