I To TRH EDITOR OF TUB 'SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—May I be
permitted to say that Canon MacColl in his letter to the Spectator of December 2nd appears to be under some misapprehension regarding Islamic law?
Since 1517 the Ottoman Sovereigns have been Khalifas, having received that title by cession from the last Abbaside Khalifa. That cession became legalised by a fetva given by the Sheikhs of Mecca in the same year. Since then the Sultans of Turkey have been the keepers and guardians of the three sacred symbols of religious headship,—namely, the sealing ring of the Prophet Mahomet, his mantle, and his green flag (the Bariak al Shereef). Islam is not a religion in the Christian sense. It is like Mosalsm, a social status, the religious laws of which are its civil laws regulating all the actions of civil life and all social relation- ship. Its lawyers and Judges are its priests. Neither is there an ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Western sense. The sole hierarchy in Islam is judicial, and its head was first called Imam, then Qazi-ul-Qoozat (Judge of Judges), and at a still later period Sheikh-ul-Islam. Even Mohammed the Prophet consulted his companions upon all matters which were not especially revealed to him, and in regard to the application of the heavenly orders which he received by revelation. That precedent has ruled ever since in Islam.
Ahmet Rifaat in his "Encyclopedia of Islam" cites the follow- ing case :—" Khalif Al Mansour, the second Abbaside planned a punitive military expedition against the town of Mossoul. Before settinc, out, he called together the jurisconsults as the law required' and demanded from them the 'formula' (feted) which should authorise him to undertake that campaign. His reasons were found to be nu/ (batil). The fetwa was rendered consequently in the negative ; the Khalifa submitted to the verdict and the expedition was abandoned." Which distinctly proves that even the first Khalifas were obliged to submit to doctrinal advice. The fetes is the doctrinal advice given by the jurisconsults, and corresponds to the formula of the Roman Praetor. The Arabic word fetes existed long before the time of Mahomet, and was a legal term signifying the answer to a question on a point of law given by a legal authority. The word of the Khourin establishing the form of the fetes begins: " Yesteftooney Kay" (they ask you an advice) " qool-illahou youftikum fil " (say to them God has given an advice on—). The laws of Islam give to the "Nations of the Book" (Christians) a particular position, that they should have freedom in their personal affairs and in the exercise of their religion. The Prophet said : " out rouku hewn vs ma yedinounai" ("leave to them what is theirs" regarding personal status and religious practice). That law makes it evident that the Sultan would not expose himself to the charge of apostasy in giving freedom and pro- tection to his Christian subjects, such as, indeed, they possessed in most parts of European Turkey prior to 1689, when, for the first time, Austria passed the Save and the Danube.
The law upon which the Canon bases his conclusions regarding the necessity of coercion seems to be the Law of Constraint (Tkhrah). If so, I would beg to differ with him on that point, as that law does not admit of the interpretation he gives it. The nature of the Law of Constraint is illustrated by the questions asked and the answers given in 1862, when the French Govern- ment, having subdued Algeria, obtained from the Sheikhs of Mecca afetva permitting Algerian Moslems to accept the French rule.
—I am, Sir, 8cc., LAZA ROVICR.
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