File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎131v] (260/450)

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they cannot help counting them for the time being the pillars of the Khalifate and the
only independent Moslem Power with which they believe it is their religious duty to
sympathise.
But the recent events between Turks and Arabs seem now to puzzle them. Moslem
Egyptians profess to be Arabs and are very proud of their Arab origin. They consider^ I
it an insult to be called the descendants of the Ancient Egyptians like the Copts. But
this feeling is not based on real racial grounds, but purely on religious grounds. They
consider it an honour to be called Arabs, -because the Prophet was an Arab and Islam
had its rise in Arabia, and their sympathy with the Arabs is based on religious grounds,
like their sympathy with the Turks. They admired the Turks for massacring
Armenians, and never sympathised with Syrians who groaned under the Turkish yoke,
because they believed it was only the non-Moslems who suffered. Even when Moslem
Syrians began to complain, they showed themselves against them and with the Turks,
believing it was only a minority of discontented Moslems who complained.
But now that it has been made quite clear to them that it is not a question of
Moslem against a non-Moslem, but a question of the Moslem Turk against the Moslem
Arab, they seem like one who has been taken by surprise and does not know what
to do.
I gather from the many persons who discussed the subject with me both in the
Capital and in the provinces, that they are now in a state of expectation, and have not
yet made up their minds. They still lean towards Turkey because the Khalif is still the
ruler of Turkey, and because he still figures as the most powerful and independent
Moslem ruler. The influence of Germany in Turkey is to them quite different from the
influence of the English in Egypt or the French in Tunis and Morocco. The Sultan of
Turkey is still considered by them outside Christian protection. But the fact that the
Shenf of Mecca is challenging Turkey in the name of the Arabs and of Islam makes
them pause to see if he will prove more powerful than the Turk. If he should succeed
in his cause and should drive the Turks out of his country and show that he is able to
protect Islam, I have no doubt that all Egyptians will lean to him and morally support
him against the Sultan of Turkey.
l^.B.—This report is from a pro-entente newspaper editor who spent the summer
on his estates in the provinces. It represents what the non-intelligent peasant thinks he
thinks, while he is talking to a richer man whom he knows to be pro-British. Had he
been talking to a red-hot Turk his opinions (equally sincere) would have been less
favourable to us. The point is really that the men of this class are painstaking
chameleons, who would not for worlds be thought to have no mind at all, but who
cannot lor long conceal that their main interest is in the cotton worm.
the effect of the attack on the Canal and the rumours to which it has given rise
among large classes of the population may rightly be considered as a subject of ridicule.
The fact that such rumours, however, really obtain credence and are firmly believed, is
not without interest and merits consideration. It proves once again that there are no
bounds to the credulity of an Eastern population.
As regards the Moslem population this credulity, however, is undoubtedly increased
by the “ wish being father to the thought.”
It once again emphasises the fact that, in spite of the recent Allied successes in
Europe and lurkish defeats in Armenia, the Germans and Turks are still firmly held to
be in the ascendant and are stiil the chosen of the Moslems in Egypt. After two years
of war, therefore, there has been no change of opinion, and Great Britain as a military
Power is still considered a negligable quantity 7 .
As to an attempt at concerted action, from within, to aid the Turks, very careful
enquiries were being made during and subsequent to the attack, and as a result it can
be said that there was no trace of any such. There was indeed much activity on the
part of evilly disposed persons who sedulously spread rumours as to the crossing of the
Canal by the enemy, tne capture of Pott Said and Ismaiha, Ac. The only tangible
results they achieved, however, was to succeed in inducing some families to pack up and
prepare tor flight. Hie absence of concerted action last week does not necessarily prove
that the elements that made for concerted action do not exist. For with the enemy
25 miles distant from the Canal (which would be well enough known to those that
meant business) it can hardly be said that the circumstances were favourable.
finally, therefore, what has appeared is: Firstly, that the population has lost
nothing m credulity. Secondly, that this credulity, if things went badly for us, would
easi y ris ^ to a panic. thirdly, that there still exists a good number of evilly
disposed persons ready 7 to exploit both the above, and lastly, that a more determined
effort On uhe part oi “ the enemy in the gate ” to relieve those within the city 7 will be