File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎40v] (78/450)

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regard to the Arabs, of their overweening pride, and of their carefully piepared plans
for the utter destruction of the Arab national spirit. 7111 Dr oDosed in
At the time when El Sayyed Kassim Zemal the deputy or JeddA pr^sed m
Parliament: (1) the establishment of primary schools m whl f
instructed in the Koran and learn to commit it to memory ; and M th ^
Arabic as the official language in Government departments he ^ ^PP°f f ^
the Arab deputies and even by some of the moderate Tur s. _ e ej ’ i ’
stirred to its depths; there was tumult among the Unionists; and their spo^man
Hussein Jahid, made a most arrogant retort: “ bpeak not of the Arabs, nor mention
here their language or their books. Let them not think that they are anything but a
negligible quantity. Let every Arab deputy know that what the Committee of Union
and Progress does not decide upon the Mejliss shall not decide upon. is ec ara 1
provoked loud and indignant protests on the part of three prominent Arab deputies—
they have since been hanged in Syria—and the incident would undou e y aye en e
in a scuffle had not the president hastily closed the debate and adjourned the sitting
That same evening a deputation from the Unionist Club, headed by Hussein Jahid,
proceeded to the residence of Sherif Abdullah ; and there a discussion took p ace which
was of such a momentous character as to make the meeting an event 01 real hisforica
importance. This may be seen by the following translation of a letter sent by the
Sherif Abdullah to his father, the Grand Sherif :—
“ Had I known, 0 my father, that the Arabs were ‘ a negligible quantity,’ as
I have heard to-day in Mejliss-el-Mabouthan [Parliament], I should have far
preferred staying in ftabegh or Yambo and the primitive tent life of the deserp to
living in your sumptuous palace dominating the hill of Buyukdere, and spending
one minute in the hall of the Mejhss to hear what every Arab soul must abhor.
Who ever thought that I should hear from Hussein Jahid and his compeers words
of threat and intimidation on ancount of certain legitimate demands laid before the
Mejliss by the the deputy for Jeddah? The fact of these demands being purely
Arab made the Unionists By into a rage and foam; and you will realise the
gravity of the situation when I tell you that the session was adjourned on account
of the heated discussion and dispute that ensued.
“ You can imagine my state when Hussein Jahid, accompanied by his clique,
actually said in my own house : £ You Arabs shall not be able to revive your
tongue in the Ottoman Empire so long as the Unionist Government is at its
head. And the book which you so extol, and of which you are so proud, on
account of its Arab origin, shall unfailingly be translated into Turkish, so that
Turkish eyes shall no more pass over Arabic sayings.’ What would you do, oh my
my father, when I tell you what Hussein Jahid said about you on Anwar’s
[ Enver’s] behalf : ‘ The voice of the Arabs was low before your father succeeded to
the emirship of Mecca ; but as soon as he took up the post this voice began to
grow louder and louder, until it almost stopped the progress of our programme.
But we have taken our precautions and the necessary measures for stifling it ;
because if the Arab traitors were to be allowed power in the empire, then all our
hopes and our people would be consigned to perdition ? ’
“ All this I heard, by thy truth, oh my lord and father, from Hussein Jahid,
and I do not wish to repeat further sayings—which would only stir thy anger and
and provoke thy displeasure—uttered by those traitors who, but yesterday, were
holding up their arms to implore our help, and who now, through the power of the
Committee Club, have risen to the might of a Sultan. It is my wish now to retire
from this Mejliss. In reply to all those foolish and deluded utterances I only said
that the Arab nation does not need to resort to the exercise of power to regain its
rights, and has too much sense to afford you an occasion that you have been seeking
all along. We the Arabs, are persuaded that if our pacific endeavours shall not
prove sufficient to make us regain our usurped rights, Allah will be the guarantor
thereof at the very end. For to Him the unknown is an open book.
“ Your obedient son,
“ Abdullah.”
After this moving missive was gone through his Highness passed to the reader
a copy of the paper “ A1 Islah ” (Reform), which used to be published in Jeddah, and
which was suppressed simply because, following this incident, it made some outspoken
comments on the Unionists and the declaration of their spokesman that what the
Committee does not decide the Mejliss shall not decide.
[The “Near East,” 15th December, 1916.]