Page 281 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

The Fall of Mecca
Kl-:v. Cl. J. I'lCNNINliS

U NCHANCiINCj" is the popular conception of the East. How­
ever, there are some scholars who strenuously deny the truth
of this characterization and maintain that though in some
superticial aspects certain tilings may have remained the same
for a long time, change is as much a characteristic of the East as of
the West.
Certain it is as we look back over the history of Arabia for the span
of the short sixteen years since first I landed there, that it cannot be
*aid that lack of change has been one of its attributes. There have
been tremendous changes, not only political, though mostly so, but also
religious. At that time the Turks were in possession of the populous
oasis of Hassa, the fertile district of Yemen and the religiously im­
portant province of the Hedjaz, with its sacred cities of Mecca ami
Medina. As to Oman in the southeast, that was under the nominal
control of the Sultan of Maskat, while the vast interior was divided
between the two rival houses of Bin Saoud at Riadh, in Central Arabia,
and that of Bin Rashid, at Hail, farther north.
Such was the status then, but the entire complexion of things has
completely changed in these last brief years. First of all, about a year
before the war Bin Saoud ousted the Turks from Hassa, with its popula­
tion of some 200,000, and added that territory to his own. Then during
the war, still greater changes occurred, so that its end found the former
jbareef of Mecca on the throne as King of the Hedjas, while an inde-
i.cndent sheikh, Imam Yahya, ruled over Yemen. As to Oman, the
tribes rose in rebellion against the nominal control of the Maskat Sultan,
and became entirely independent under their own sheikhs or Sayyeds.
Hut al about this time a profound religious movement swept over the
tribes of Arabia, which was in part responsible for more recent political
I changes. The strict Wahabites had for the last few decades been con- i' •
1 lined to cities of central Arabia. The Bedouins wandered over the
deserts, ignorant and careless both of religion and religious observances.
The town-dwellers felt themselves constrained to do some missionary
work among them, to teach them at least the rudiments of religion. In
this they succeeded beyond their expectations. Within a comparatively
jhort space of time the careless Bedouins had been transformed into a
horde of dour fanatics, who fairly longed to die in the path of their
religion. This at once united the scattered Bedouins and gave them
ihe necessary fervor to make an effective army. With its help Bin
Saoud was able to subjugate Hail and thus bring the whole of central
Arabia under his sway.
And now only a few months ago came the astounding news that Bin
Saoud had entered the holy land of the Hedjaz and had taken the
ncred city of Mecca. While fighting with the tribes of the interior, his
doings were a matter of small concern to the rest of the Mohammedan
norld. But Mecca occupies such an important place in the history and
religious observances of Islam that he has focused upon himself, by
this act, the eyes of the entire Moslem world. Because of the importance