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 36 the unbelieving Karmathians, when again they submitted to the heretical Fatimide-Caliphs, when all relations with the seat of the Caliphate were suspended, when the Wahhabis drove the Turks from the Holy Land; on none of these occasions did it occur to a single Moslem to question the right of the Caliph to his dignity. The Caliphate and the Holy Land have, more than once, existed independently of each other.

Quite apart from high political aspirations, there are reasons enough which might have excited Husein to renounce obedience to the Turk. It is well known that the relations between Sultan-Caliph and the Shereef have been perfunctory and never cordial. The Shereefs have invariably felt the protectorate as an oppressive bond, and the Turks have never been able to appeal to the population in the name of the blessings that