CORRESPONDENCE.

PAN-ISLAMISM.

lTo TIM EDITOR or TIM " SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—What is meant by Pan-Islamism ? If by this term be signified a coalition of all Moslems in the world bent on defying and resisting the Christian Powers, then the question, approached from this point of view, should indeed be preoccupying enough to these same Powers, and especially to England and France, countries which own the majority of Moslem subjects, and have the greatest political interests at stake in Africa and the East. As a matter of fact, the term "Pan-Islamism" is a wide designa- tion expressing a number of ideas more or less identified with its actual significance, which is that of a tentative desire to regenerate Islam on an "Islamistic " plan. Now this, it must be understood, means of necessity a hatred of the alien races, and, above all, of the alien religion.

The grave events disclosing themselves at this moment, not only in the East but also in Africa, have attracted the particular attention of the European Powers to the world of Islam. Even one Power which up to this moment has elected to remain in the background, and for whom these questions have appeared to have but little interest, has of a sudden stepped forward into the light and proclaimed herself the protectress of Islam,—I allude to Germany.

Although myself a Moslem, travelling for the past eight years in all the Mohammedan countries, and having held familiar intercourse with other Moslems, both of the reli- gious and political order, having, in short, followed the course of Pan-Islamism according to the ideas of the Khaliph of Islam—or at least of him who proclaims himself such, and who is also thus regarded in Europe—I humbly own that I have never yet been able to get to the bottom of what may be the precise etat d'dme of my co-religionists, or understand what may be their true aspirations. So inconsequent are they as to all their points of view in general that the most penetrating mind would never seem able to arrive at any positive fact. I must indeed hasten to say that my dear co-religionists themselves do not know what they want. They allow themselves to drift with events, and with an admirable unconcern.

All this is the result of lack of education, also of the restricted circle within which they are held confined, and, above all, of the horror they entertain of all innovations. In a word, the degeneration of the people of Islam is at the present moment complete. Were the Prophet himself able to return to this world, he would not hesitate to denounce the Moslems of to-day, and seek to dispel the lethargy into which they have sunk for centuries past. It is painful and humiliating for a Mohammedan to have to own to such a state of things. It is, however, the painful truth.

Under these conditions "Pan-Islamism," as understood by the politicians of Europe, is a mere chimera.

What makes for the strength of Europe is its unity and its solidarity, forces which are unknown to the Moslem people, but which are among the principal causes of their decadence. The sole results which could accrue from Pan-Islamism in the present day would be isolated explosions of fanaticism in divers Mohammedan countries, but never—I repeat and affirm it—never a general explosion of followers of the Prophet the world over.

Further, all the Pan-Islamistic movements which have arisen in certain Mohammedan countries, and to which Europe—still so ignorant in Oriental matters—has attributed so great an importance, will be sterile as to their actual results. The leaders of such movements do not blind them- selves with any false illusions as to the successes they are likely to have. Some get up such movements for patriotic reasons, it is true, but of such, alas ! the number is small ; others—and their name is legion—for what is to be got out of them.

Speculations in land and on 'Change do not suffice, there- fore they speculate on the simplicity of their co-religionists,- it is a cheaper investment, and brings a good return. The people are ignorant, and easily caught by florid speeches and by fine promises, while they are incapable of seeing that they are being duped and betrayed, until the day of settlement comes, when they find themselves paying a pretty high figure for their turbulence. As a matter of fact, the two greatest champions of Pan-Islamism are his Majesty the Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid and the Sheikh Senoussi, chief of that flourishing confraternity of Moslems to which the latter gave his name.

Soon after his accession to the throne, the Sultan of Turkey, upon the advice of his councillor, the Sheikh Said Abd-ul- Houda, chief of the sect of the Rafai, a society very numerous throughout India, thought of reviving the ancient Khaliphat, and thus grouping about his throne the entire Moslem population of the world. It was formidable, this weapon he wished to forge in order to serve him against Europe. To these ends he neither spared, nor spares, time or money. I am not exaggerating when I say that half his revenues are annually spent on matters closely touching Pan-Islamism. In speaking of revenues I should say that I mean those belonging to the Civil List. Secret missions and funds are continually being sent to the different Moslem countries ; rich gifts reach the chiefs of religious sects and the Holy Places ; pensions are bestowed on the descendants of the Prophet, &c. All the malcontents in countries under European rule are received by the Sultan with open arms, who relieves them, employs them, grants them concessions of land, and exempts them from military service and from taxation. He acts thus to those who expatriate themselves in order that they should act as intermediaries between him and their compatriots at home. Turkish diplomatists in foreign countries, although they will not give moral and material help to their own countrymen, yet exert themselves in every way to be of service to Moslems who are not Turkish subjects, and eagerly embark in intrigues with such gentry.

So great is Abd-ul-Hatnid's belief in Pan-Islamism that at the time of the last naval demonstration convened by the Great Powers on account of the Macedonian question, his reply to the Ambassadors advising him to accept the financial control of the European Governments was that he could not accede to any such proposal, and that he declined any responsibility for the discontentment which would be manifested by the* Moslems in the face of the attack thus made on the Khaliphat by Christian Europe.

Up to the present, the Pan-Islamic policy of Abd-ul-Hamid has succeeded nowhere but in Egypt, and there only in part. To-day the entire Ottoman Empire is stirring. By reason of his pernicious mode of government, by his cruelty, and by the dishonesty of his officials, the Sultan has alienated all, and the temporal as well as the spiritual power of Abd-ul-Hamid wanes day by day. The Arabs of Yemen, of Hidjaz, and of Hauran are in open revolt against Turkey, while she is impotent to reinstate her authority. The Bedouin chiefs are determined to make the Ottoman troops evacuate the whole of the Yemen territory, as well as that of Hidjaz, and to pro- . claim as Khaliph of Islam the Imam Mahmoud Yahia, having his residence at Mecca. The realisation of this scheme is nearer at hand than may be imagined.

To repeat, the dominion of Turkey in Medjed, in Yemen, in Hidjaz, and in Mesopotamia is seriously threatened. The rising of all Arabia has almost annihilated the Pan- Islamic projects of Abd-ul-Hamid. As a consequence,. the sole qualified representative of Pan-Islamism is the Sheikh Senoussi. This chief, whose fame rests on a solid basis,, is redoubtable enough to merit the most serious attention on the part of all.

The founder of the sect, Sheikh Sidi Mohammed Ben All Senoussi, was born at Tlemcen (Algeria). He left his native country at the age of about twenty-four, and went to the University of Fez, then at the heyday of its glory, to complete his theological and legal studies. He then left Morocco for Egypt, where he commenced preaching his ideas. It should be said that Senoussi presented himself to the world of Islam not as a reformer nor as an innovator, but simply as a regenerator. He desired to revive and stereotype the religious principles in such fashion as obtained in the days of the Prophet, whose descendant he was. Jealous of the influence he was getting over the populace, the Ulemas launched an anathema against him, which obliged him to lake refuge in Mecca, where he met with the same reception as .in Egypt. It was at this point that he sought a refuge with the Bedouin of Hidjaz, who received him with great respect.

After a short stay at Hidjaz, and having founded the monasteries of Mecca, Medina, and Jedda, he turned his steps towards Tripoli, which he traversed from end to end. While on his travels he preached to the people who flocked to him from all sides, bidding them unite as well as observe the principles enjoined by the Koran rigorously. He estab- lished himself in the fertile lands of Cyrenaica, and there founded the city of Djayhboub [? Jarabubl, where at the present day may be seen his tomb.

At that period the inhabitants of the country lived in a state of complete barbarism, being Moslems but in name. Sheikh Senoussi founded Islamic monasteries, of which the Superiors were at the same time Judges and Governors of the surrounding districts, and who made it obligatory for the population to send their children to them to learn the Koran and to study theology.

Djayhboub thus became both a political as well as a religious centre, and Senoussi sent missionaries to all parts of Northern Africa to sow the good seed and to found monasteries. Everywhere these special envoys met with a warm reception, and gifts flowed into Senoussi's capital.

Although ambitious, he was at the same time a man of intelligence and an excellent organiser, and instead of squandering the incoming funds, as is generally the case with almost all other religious confraternities of Moslems, he put them to use in supporting the students arriving from all parts of the country and in building more monasteries. In a very few years Tripoli, Egypt. and Hidjaz were inundated with these monasteries, while the founder's might and influence increased daily.

At his death Sidi Mohammed Ben Ali Senoussi left two children, Sidi Sherif and Sidi Mohammed El Mandi. It was the latter who, although the younger, was chosen to carry on his father's work under the intelligent guidance of his parent's old comrade, Sidi Ahmed Era', who up to this day directs the external policy of the sect, doing so with the most consummate skill. Sidi El Mandi adheres strictly to his father's policy. He attaches particular importance to the organisation of a sure and rapid "system of intelligence" which serves to keep the monasteries in touch one with the other. ,It was he, also, who introduced a form of Freemasonry into the confraternity, and who brought about the remarkable solidarity existing amid the Senoussi.

It is about ten years since he left Djayliboub and settled at Gouro, a point between Wadal and Bornou. He left the management of Djayhboub, and of all the Tripolitan monasteries, as well as those in Egypt and at Hidjaz, to his brother-in-law, Sidi El Madani, who is still living. Two years after his departure to Gouro it was noised abroad that he had died. Great was the consternation in the Moslem world, par- ticularly among the members of the sect. Sidi El Mandi had indeed been regarded as the " Moslem Messiah " who was one day to rid Islam of the Christian yoke, rendering the Moslem faith master over the entire world. In a word, the majority of Moslems refused to believe in this unexpected misfortune, and last December a letter signed by the chief of the actual sect, Sidi Ahmed Sherif, nephew of the Mandi, brought tidings to the Mussulman population, as well as to the Sheikhs of the monasteries, to the effect that Sidi El Mandi had been seen about the neighbourhood of Abecha. L? A.beshr j, the capital of Wadal, garbed as a dervish and living amid a flock of gazelles. The letter added that now that no one was any longer bound to secrecy, it might be made known that Sidi El Mandi had not died as reported, but had merely been engaged on a secret journey. This strange missive ended with the announcement of the approaching joyful time,—that the hour for ridding themselves of the Christian yoke was at band. The letter was read publicly, and great rejoicings were held in honour of this apparition of the Mandi. Moslems are actually convinced that Sidi El Mandi will shortly appear at the head of a great army to wage the Holy War.

Bizarre as this news may appear, it nevertheless merits the attention of all the Powers who have interests in the East and in Africa. A general coalition of Moslems comprising the inhabitants of Tripoli, of Egypt, and of Hidjaz, Utopian as it may appear, is yet possible. It must not be forgotten that the Senoussi possess an actual political organisation, that they are well posted as to all movements, that they have a very considerable supply of magazine rifles, and that they are aided in their crusade by the heads of the Moslem States, and even by a great European Power, of whose assistance the Senoussi avail themselves, but with whom, like all their co-religionists, they nevertheless have no sympathy whatever.

To sum up, therefore, every hope of the Pan-Islamists lies with the Senoussi, who, I repeat, are far from being a foe to be despised. In my humble opinion, the Pan-Islamists do more harm than good to their co-religionists. What Islam should do is to range itself frankly on the aide of modern ideas, putting aside religious ones. One may be a true believer without nourishing hatred for all others and refusing to be associated with their works. The emancipation of the people can only be won by science and progress. Barbarism and a clinging to ancient ideas will but hasten the end and bring complete disaster. Islam has but to make her choice between her emancipation and her ruin.—I am, Sir,

[We publish the above with all reserve, though we do not doubt the sincerity of the writer, who lately visited England. He is a member of the sect of the Senoussi, and in the spring made a journey from the hinterland of Tripoli into Upper Egypt, passing from one monastery of the Senoussi to another. These monasteries, or rather habitations of warrior monks, are stretched within a day's march of each other across the desert. —En. Spectator.]