ملف ٧٠٥/١٩١٦ الجزء ٢ "انتفاضة عربية: التقارير العربية؛ تقارير السير م. سايكس" [ظ‎‎١‎٩‎٢] (٤٥٠/٣٨٢)

those concerned with family law, should for the future be tried by the “ Mahakem-
Nidhamia,” which practically meant the complete suppression of the power of the
Shaykh-ul-Islam.
This new state of affairs, which entirely annihilated the authority of the Shaykh-
ul-Islam, made the position of Khairi Effendi an impossible one; disheartened and
disgusted he tendered his resignation. The Young Turk Government, in agreement
with the German agents, chose as his successor the advocate Moussa Kadhim Bey, a
politician who had had no religious education and had no acquaintance with the
questions which concern the Moslem religion.
So out-of-place a nomination made a great impression on the religious circles of
Turkey; no one can take the new Shaykh-ul-Islam seriously. The attention of the
Moslem world had for long been drawn to the despotic rule of the actual rulers of
Constantinople ; the circumstances of the resignation of Khairi Efiendi and the
appointment in his place as Shaykh-ul-Islam, of a man possessing no ecclesiastical
qualification for this high post, can only increase the indignation of all believers against
the Young Turk Government.
APPENDIX III.
The Lies of the Young Turk Government.
[From the “ Akhbar-el-Harb ” (Algiers) of the 14th July, 1916.]
STUNG by the Hejaz revolt and the profound impression produced on the Moslem
world by the energetic action of the Grand Sherif of Mecca, who has withdrawn his
country from the Ottoman yoke, the Young Turk Government, in accordance with its
habit, forges lies to create a diversion. For example, in an official communique of the
28th June, it alleged that British ships had bombarded defenceless places on the shores
of the Bed Sea, and had fired on the sacred places, on mausoleums, and on mosques.
This assertion is of course false in every particular. It is, in short, a matter of
common knowledge that the British Government, like the French, has everywhere
shown the greatest respect for the Moslem religion. British ships in the Bed Sea have
never committed any hostile act which was not directed against the military organisa
tion of the Turks.
The Young Turk Government hopes, by its grotesque inventions, to excite the
animosity of the Arabs against Great Britain, and to cover up the horrible sacrilege of
which Ottoman soldiers were recently guilty in Mecca, when they fired on the sacred
temple of the Kaaba ; but these childish falsehoods neither deceive anyone nor effect
any change in the hatred and contempt felt throughout the Moslem world for these
sorry Young Turks, who have nothing of the Moslem about them but their fez.
APPENDIX IV.
Moslems and their Holy Places.
[Article published in the “ Indian Daily Telegraph ” (Lucknow), July 18, 1916.]
NOTWITHSTANDING irresponsible and mischievous writings in certain news
papers, we trust the feelings evoked by the recent events in the Hejaz among the
Mussulmans of India will not be misunderstood. We hope this both in the interests of
the general situation in the country, which has continued calm and unruffled throughout
the crisis of the world-war, and of the peace and contentment of the 70 millions of His
Majesty’s Indian subjects whose loyalty to his throne and person has remained steadfast
and unquestioned. No responsible journalist can, of course, forget his duty to say or do
nothing that might cause the slightest distraction to Government in its supreme task
of organising victory. But it is equally his duty to keep it well and accurately