practically disappeared even before the war by the work of the Arab secret Revolutionary Committee, which, in Syria and elsewhere, laid the foundation of the Arab military successes of the past two years." To the practiced ear, there is a marked difference between the two speeches. In the intervening time, Mecca as well as Jerusalem had heard from London.
Whatever the immediate decision as to the territories controlled by the Hejaz Sultan, his spiritual position is a portent for the future. The present Sultan still calls himself the Caliph, the "Successor of the Prophet," but he is now completely discredited. Historically, his title was of more than doubtful legality, and he was accepted only because Turkey was the one important Muslim power. Muslim publicists have of late challenged his title anew and the strong protest of the Meccan Ulema, perhaps the most respected body of theologians and jurists in the Muslim world, closes with the sinister request that their opponents consider this question: "What is the Caliphate and what are its conditions? … As to the question of the Caliphate, in spite of all that is known of the deplorable condition in which it is situated at the present moment, we have not interfered with it at all, and it will remain as it is pending the decision of the whole Muslim world." The significance of the last few words cannot well be exaggerated.
Meanwhile, the Sultan of the Hejaz is the most observed of all Muslims. Thus far, his actions have been such as to secure the respect and admiration of all who fight for freedom. For the first time in centuries, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca has been conducted without robbery and slaughter on the road. Mecca has at last something like modern sanitation, and travellers need no longer hasten to reach rail head before the coming of the pilgrim caravan and the concomitant cholera. Public schools, public works, a newspaper, the use of foreign and Christian agencies, even to the Red Cross, all are to be noted.
In the last analysis, it is still the Golden Rule which measures a man and a religion. We all know how "Christian" Germany was responsible for the murder or deportation of millions of unfortunate Armenians. On the borders of the desert east of Palestine, Faisul, son and general of the Hejaz Sultan, found some of the unfortunates the Young Turk had left to perish. He freed them, aided them to the best of his ability, and sent out of the country such as wished. An Armenian Pasha in Egypt sent him this telegram: "Every Armenian throughout the world is today the Ally of the Arab movement." To similar words of
11
