Page:The Moslem World Vol XI.djvu/211

Rh and blackens and rots the teeth. Many are also addicted to the smoking of bang, a drug made from hemp, the continued use of which seems quite as degrading as the opium habit. The Sarts take full advantage of the lax Mohammedan laws regarding marriage, so the divorces are very common and consequently this and other things lead to extreme immorality. Like other Mohammedans the Turki women are supposed to be veiled in public, but this custom is lightly regarded in Eastern Turkestan; in the west, however, we have seen the Turki priests with whips, beating the women who have ventured to appear unveiled upon the bazaar."

The following is a summarized translation from the Echo de l'Islam (Paris, Oct. 20) dealing with the unrest in Turkey, which is attributed to the Sevres Treaty. The article is signed by Ali Bayrak. He states that the injuries suffered by Turkey are felt and resented in all the Mohammedan world, for they appreciate the fact that in Turkey they lose the most vital defender of their faith. The Moslem world, with the exception of a certain unimportant number, who are mainly in the pay of the English, see the necessity for the upholding of the Ottoman Caliphate. He goes on to say that even the Arab tribes, who under the dominion of the Turks were in constant revolt against the authority of Constantinople, are now ranging themselves on the side of the Caliphate. India and Central Asia are aroused; Egypt rejects the proposals of the Milner Commission; Mesopotamia is in revolt; Kurdistan will accept no government other than that of the Sultan; Asia Minor is all against European Imperialism. In face of all this one can scarcely regard such a movement as factitious or superficial. With regard to their grievances the writer says: "What the propaganda of the Young Turk Movement had failed to attain, the Greeks—in his opinion the last nation in the world to whom such concessions should have been made—have been able to carry through." He points out in proof the presence of the Greeks in Asia Minor and especially Smyrna, which since the earliest periods of history have been the inviolable home of the Asiatic races. The occupation of Adrianople—the Holy City—regarded as the last fortress of the Khaliphate; the fact that the Sultan Khalif is to all intents a prisoner, while the heir apparent is literally confined to his palace, where he is ever watched; all this has resulted in binding together more firmly than ever Moslem interests and concentrating all the hatred of the East toward the West.

Although still in its youth he is very hopeful of the success of the Pan-Islamic movement and he warns us that the day will come when the world will be forced to acknowledge its strength. The seed is sown, "le temps fera desorlais son oeuvre."

He pleads that the Moslems are not asking for anything that is contrary to the principles and ideals which the Entente Powers have called forth and have themselves inspired, since it was these very ideals that the Moslems have fought for during the last fifty years all over the world and especially during the recent war. They say: You have promised that you would not touch our Khalifate and the Khalif is today a prisoner of your troops in Constantinople. You have promised to respect our sacred places; but Mecca, Medina and Kerbala, which should be under the protection of the Khalif—the Servant of the Holy Places —