File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎240r] (488/834)

law of Islam, Sultans, Kings, and Emirs are only legitimate
if the ruling Caliph has delegated authority over a certain region
to them, that is to say, has invested them with temporal or
feudal power.
In the extract from el-Nasafi, quoted above, it is clear
that two requisites are indispensable, according to the Sunnis,
for a Caliph; first, that he should be descended from the
Koreish tribe, and secondly, that he should be capable of govern
ing. On the latter requisite depends the condition that he
should be of age which, according to the Moslem law, coincides
with puberty, a boy being considered legally incapable of
o-overnment. The second condition also implies that he should
be physically capable, that is to say, that he should not be
blind or deaf, and that he should be sound of mind and of sufficient
education. ETNasafi does not mention the other indispensable
conditions, namely that he should be Moslem and that he should
be a free man ; but this would, in reality, have been superfluous,
it being an axiom in the law of Islam that no non-Moslem or
slave can exercise power (ivilaya, imperiuni) over the Faithful.
It may be worth adding that jurists consider the elevation
to the rank of Caliph a contract between the individual and the
Mohammedan community. I his cannot be perfect without
the baia or presentation of homage by the representatives
of the community. 11 The appointment may take place
by election, if a vacancy has occurred, or by the Caliph
designating an heir to the throne during his reign; but even m
the latter case the individual designated must already be a
major and must have formally consented. The presentation of
homage by the representatives must also have taken place.
Even during the periods when the Caliphate was hereditary,
namely in the dynasties of the Ommiads (661-750 a.d.), and
in that of the Abbasids (750-1258 a.d.), it was always considered
to be a form of true election on the part of the representatives
of the community, or a designation of an heir to the throne
previously approved by the community. Minors were always
excluded,' and eldest or other sons, brothers or other relations
were freely chosen.
To render clearer what I shall have to say later on, I will
add here that one of the outward and visible signs of sovereignty
is the invocation of the blessing of Cod on the name of the ruling
sovereign of Islam during the khutba, or Friday prayers,
which are held in so-called “ Cathedral ” Mosques. In failing
to name the Sovereign towards the end of this khutba when
the preacher calls down the blessing of God on all Believers,
rebellion is proclaimed against him, and the history of Moham
medan peoples goes to show the very real effect in theory and