Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Revolt in Arabia (1917).djvu/64

 Rh within the Court. They also showed their guilt when they hanged in one day twenty-one of the most honourable and enlightened of the Moslems, among them Emir Omar el Jazairi, Emir Arif el Shahabi, Shefik Bey Moayyad, Shukri Bey el Asli, Abdel Wahab, Tewfik el Bassat, Abdel Hamid el Zahrawi, Abdel Ghani el Areisi, and their learned comrades. To destroy so many, even of cattle, at one time would be hard for men void of all natural affection or mercy. And if we suppose they had some excuse for this evil deed, by what right did they carry away to strange countries the innocent and most miserable families of those ill-fated men? Children, old men, and delicate women bereft of their natural protectors were subjected in exile to all foul usage and even to tortures, as though the woes they had already suffered were not chastisement enough. Did not God say: "No punishment shall be inflicted on anyone for the sins of another? …" Let us suppose they found for themselves some reason for ill-treating the harmless families of their victims; why then did they rob them of their properties and possessions, which alone remained to keep them from