The forthcoming visit to Europe of the King of Afghanistan
is a remarkable event. It is a deliberate part. of the King's policy ; he desires to modernize his fanatical country. His passing through India was the occasion of unprecedented incidents. For example, last week he preached in the principal mosque in Bombay. Before the sermon he received several addresses. One was from the Caliphate Committee, who, in spite of the obliteration of the Caliph by Turkey, cling to the idea . of the Caliphate as the focus of Islam. The Committee can hardly have approved of the King's reply, in which, speaking in his capacity as a modern ruler, he emphasized the virtues of tolerance. He. declared that, for his part, he never distinguished between his Moslem and Hindu subjects. He ascended the pulpit as Imam, and again appealed for tolerance of other faiths than Moham- medanism—a pronouncement which cannot often have been heard in a mosque.
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