Page 161 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

! A XliGI.lit'T 1:1) ARABIA
As to llu.* nature of the office so much that is aside the mark
has been written that the truth is very much obscured, f irstly, the '
office has no spiritual attributes whatevei. What the term 'Spiritual"
in Moslem lenniiiology iniglu mean is hard «i sav. The t ’liri.'linn
background of that word is entirely larking in Islam ami there is
no term such as temporal or worldly to pul over against it. If it is
meant for "religious” either it means nothing at all. for every phase
of life in Islam is religious, or it it means that the caliph is the
preserver of the doctrine and ritual of Islam, then nothing could be
more false and contrary to the entire spirit of the religi • 111. It is
the L’lema, the doctors of theology who are "the heirs of the
JTophet,” and it is they and they alone who have elaborated the
dogma, the ritual and the canon law of Islam. The office is not legisla­
tive nor is it judicial, hut u is executive, and being Asiatic m origin,
autocratic. This statement can he hacked up effectively by quoting one
of the most widely used creeds of Islam, the one also prescribed officially
m the schools of Turkey for the past decades, viz., that of. Xa>ali (Abu
Hals Omar an-Nasart, d. 1142 A.lA).
"Moslems must have an Imam (head, leader) who sees to it
that the regulations of Islamic law are observed, that the punish­
ments prescribed in the Koran are carried out, that the frontiers art
defended, that the armies are ready for action, that the Islamic tithe
is collected, that rebels, robbers and brigands are brought to
obedience, that the public prayers of Friday and the other festivals
are celebrated, that controversies between parties are decided, that
evidence in matters of right are heard, that provision be made for
the marriage of minors of both sexes who have no guardians, that
war-booty be justly divided and suchlike matters.”
It i> .-eeu that these duties are all temporal and executive. The
nearest that a caliph came to being a spiritual or religious head ui
Islam was when (if he chose to do soj he led the I\ida\ prayers ai
Imam, hut then the imams are never priests, there is no such ;
tiling as a priestly function in Islam and there is no way «»i under- !
standing the phrase "spiritual caliphate." The one feature that j
distinguishes a caliph from sultan, king, or ameer is that lie is or
should he sovereign of all Moslems and his mission is to conserve
the political and territorial unity of the dar el Islam and to brin^
lo submission the states of the Infidels.
And secondly, the office has been non-existent lor centuries. It
suited the Sultans of Turkey to keep up the fiction of tlu* caliphate
and their propaganda was quite successful, too, in a I'»« ul
Moslem territory as among the Christian nations, 1 U quote ihe
creed of Nasafi again tor an authoritative statement: “The muai
excellent ol mankind after the prophets are Abu Bekh • Omar
Olhiuau . . and Ali. . . Their khalifaio were iq
this order and the khaliiale extended to thirty years; then alter
them came kings and princes.” That is, a fundamental difference i*
held between the first lour caliphs and the succeeding ones and tlu»
difference may be stated thus: The "four rightly guided" ruled b