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Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [9v] (20/380)
The record is made up of 1 file (187 folios). It was created in 1 Jul 1916-7 Dec 1918. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
18
on that event, telegraphed in Husein’s name to Colonel Wilson at Jeddah, conveying*
thanks to His Majesty’s Government “ which once addressed him as Caliph.” ,, • 1 Wher^fc
pressed on the point by Colonel Wilson, Abdullah admitted over the telephone that no
letter was ever addressed to Sherif Husein as Caliph, and quoted the text of Lord
Kitchener’s message with sufficient accuracy/’ 4 '
That message, did not, of course, commit His Majesty’s Government to more than
the pious hope that the question of the Caliphate would be dealt with in a certain
manner by the Moslems themselves. But the incident mentioned above shows how
dangerous even the most guarded reference to the Caliphate by His Majesty’s Govern
ment may be, and it is a danger that will increase as we approach the peace settlement.
Any possible ambiguity in Lord Kitchener’s message was removed by His Majesty’s
Government’s more detailed declaration in the same sense, conveyed in the Foreign
Office Telegram No. 173 of the 14th April, 19 lo, to Sir H. McMahon:—
“ His Majesty’s Government consider that the question of Khalifate is one
which must be decided by Mohammedans themselves without interference of non-
Mohammedan Powers. Should the former decide for an Arab Klmlifate, that
decision would therefore naturally be respected by His Majesty's Government, but
the decision is one for Mohammedans to make ” (p. 30).
This declaration evoked an important memorandum, dated the Gth M ay,
from Sir Ali Morghani, Grand Kadi of the Sudan, in which he argued that Sherif
Husein was the most suitable candidate for the Caliphate, and that if he received
unobtrusive support from His Majesty’s Government, he had good prospects of obtaining
recognition from a majority of Islam, (pp. 32 scqq.)
In July 1915, in his first letter to Sir H. McMahon, Sherif Husein demanded that
“ England should approve of the proclamation of an Arab Caliphate of Islam ” (p. 40).
In this he was no doubt encouraged by Lord Kitchener’s message, and stimulated by his
own ambition for the office, but it appears that he was also prompted, as he was on the
boundary question, by the Nationalist Committee at Damascus. Faroki, in his statement
at Cairo in October 1915, 65 mentioned that when he was stationed at Damascus
(apparently early in the winter of 1914-15, before the first Turkish attack on the
Canal) he found that the civilian committee there “ had already paid allegiance to the
Sherif of Mecca as Caliph and renounced allegiance to Reshad the Sultan of Turkey.
Our first action, therefore, after joining that society was that we sent an officer to the
Sherif of Mecca, and he paid him allegiance on behalf of all the officers in our party and
renounced our allegiance to Reshad.”
He further stated that one of the formal aims of the Arab Party was that “ Sherif
Husein of Mecca should be Caliph and Sultan of the new Empire.”
In conversation with General Clayton he added that:—
“ The members of the Society have taken a solemn oath on the Koran that
they will enforce their object and establish an Arab Caliphate in Arabia, Syria,
and Mesopotamia at all costs and under any circumstances, sacrificing for this object
all their efforts and property and, if need be, their lives.”
The fact, which thus seems established, that Sherif Husein, before opening
negotiations with us, was offered the Caliphate by an organisation which might reason
ably claim at that time to represent the Arab nation in the Ottoman provinces, at any
rate in Syria, may be of some importance when the question comes up for settlement.
On the 30th August, 1918, Sir H. McMahon, in his first letter to the Sherif,
answered the latter’s demand regarding the Caliphate by repeating Lord Kitchener’s
message to Abdullah. He interpreted this as “ approval of the Arab Caliphate when
it should be proclaimed,” and added: “ We declare onee more that His Majesty’s
Government would welcome the resumption of the Caliphate by an Arab of true race ”
<p. 4 3).
On the 2nd November, 1915, 66 the Aga Khan called on Sir E. Grey and protested
against the idea of an Arab Caliphate in the name of the Indian Moslems, and Sir E.
Grey gave him an assurance in the following terms :—
“ I said that we were prepared to favour an independent or autonomous
Arabia in the country inhabited by the Arabs; but anything that we promised to
/' the Arabs, or any action that we took to support them, would be of a political and
224419/16 aud 224579/16. 64 226649/16. 65 157740/15. 68 164776/15.
About this item
- Content
This file contains correspondence, memoranda, maps, manuscript notes, and other papers relating to the political and territorial settlement of parts of the Middle East following the First World War. Many of the papers were collected for the attention of the Middle East Committee (later named the Eastern Committee, following the mergence of the Foreign Office's Russia Committee and the interdepartmental Persia Committee) of the War Cabinet. Contributors include officials from the War Office, Foreign Office, Admiralty, and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , as well as indivduals such as Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Correspondence comes from representatives of the French and Italian governments as well as British officials in Cairo and other parts of the Middle East.
The papers deal with plans for the region presuming and following an Allied victory in the First World War and take into consideration the imperial ambitions of the victorious European Powers (France, Italy, Russia, Britain, and the United States) and the multitudinous commitments made by the British to various groups. The plans are based on evolving agreements rooted in the Sykes-Picot, or Asia Minor, Agreement between the British and French of 1916. Regions under consideration include the Hejaz (sometimes written Hedjaz), Syria, Northern Iraq, Southern Iraq, Palestine, Armenia, Turkey, the Idrisi state, Yemen, Persia, and Afghanistan. Various matters are covered in the file, but particular focus is given to plans for the Sherifian family of the Hejaz, led by King Husein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], which impacted upon policy in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula. Other matters include the situation between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, wartime commitments to ruling shaikhs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the French position in the region, and desiderata of the Government of India for any peace settlement.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (187 folios)
- Arrangement
The file is arranged in chronological order from the front to the back.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front first page with 1, and terminates at the inside back last page with 187; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/277
- Title
- Papers on British policy and the Arab movement
- Pages
- 1ar:1av, 1r:14r, 14r:14v, 14v, 22r:59v, 62r:98r, 99v:120v, 125r:133v, 136r:165r, 166r:167r, 167av, 168r:173r, 175r:176v, 178r:187v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence