Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/212

 also be made for increased voluntary contributions, emphasis being laid on the great reward that hereafter awaits those who have sacrificed life or property for the holy cause. But the troops must refrain from levying contributions on the villages in whose neighbourhood they are encamped, for on such acts no blessing can rest.

The manner of distribution of the spoils is also strictly defined in the law; disregard of these regulations will render the offenders liable both to defeat at the hands of their enemies and also to the visitations of God's wrath.

Finally there can be no success where small bodies of troops act without central organization. There must be leaders to supervise the whole and keep a watch over the faith and all who hold thereby in the beleaguered land.

The Raja of Acheh is almost a negligable factor so far as the position of his country is concerned. The ulèëbalangs, the true chiefs of the country, indolently shut themselves up, each within his own landmarks, and are incapable of united action. The leaders of the bands of volunteers fall short of the conditions which must be fulfilled by commanders in the holy war. Thus, say the ulamas, it is on us that the duty rests of regulating the conduct of the jihād.

Such and the like was the train of reasoning on which was based the development of the power of Teungku Tirò and his coöperators or rivals. Their influence grew little by little, but if asked to name a starting-point we should say that the period of the ulamas began with the so-called policy of concentration of the Dutch. Hitherto they had remained somewhat in the back-ground; hence forward they became the real leaders of the war.

It was then that their voices were raised more audibly than before in reproach of the ulèëbalangs for their inaction and of the people of the gampōngs for setting the earthly reward above the heavenly, for being backward in the work of reform and for lending but little assistance to the fighters. "Your former pretext" said they, "of the difficulty of contending against a superior force has now proved itself a mockery."

Each energetic ulama travelled to and fro in the sphere where he possessed or hoped to acquire influence, proclaiming with renewed vehemence the principles of the holy war. The better to prepare for the great work, ruinous mosques were to be repaired, religious worship held in