Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/29

 Consequently, we have what may be called an annual insurrection in or near Sana.

It was not, however, at the hands of the Imam that the Turks suffered their big defeat in the early part of June of last year. The victor at that time was Mohammed bin Ali Idrese, whose headquarters are within thirty miles of Hodeidah. Something like a dozen years ago the Idrese was one of the most loyal supporters that the Turkish Government had in the Yemen. His grandfather had come over from Africa and settled in a small town called Sabya, about twenty-five miles from Hodeidah, and there before long he acquired the reputation of being a saint, which gave him considerable influence over the people. That influence descended from the father to the son and then to the grandson, who augmented it very considerably by spending several years at Al Azhar University in Cairo. While there he seems to have greedily imbibed the teaching of the famous Koranic School, and consequently on his return to Sabya he began a reform movement for the purpose of reviving the ancient customs of Arabia, and promulgating those laws both civil and religious which Mohammed gave to Arabia. His zeal, too, in propagating his faith led him to remember Africa, and it is said that he has sent back some of his slaves to Africa to tell the story of Islam and win the tribes to the allegiance of God and His prophet. Naturally, those doctrines imbibed at Al Azhar were not acceptable to the more enlightened Turkish Governors who came to rule the Yemen, but a little diplomacy on their part might have smoothed matters over and have won for their empire one who is now its formidable foe.

I was in Hodeidah at the time when the rupture took place between Mohammed Ali Idrese and the Turkish Government. At that time the town was swarming with time-expired men waiting for a steamer to take them back to their homes. News, however, was brought in that the Idrese was marching to attack Hodeidah, and these poor soldiers, despite their protestations that their time for soldiering was over, were quickly armed and sent out to stop his advance. They managed to do this,