CHAPTER XII.

ISLÂM AS A RULING SYSTEM.

PEOPLE are coming round at last to the doctrine which I have been preaching by speech and writing for the last twenty years-namely, that any project of reform which has for its object the bestowal of any of the rights of citizenship on the nonMusulman subjects of the Porte can never receive the legal sanction of the Sultan without external coercion. The history of Turkey does not supply a single exception to that assertion. And the reason is that the Government of Turkey, like that of every Musulman State, is a strict theocracy. Its civil policy is based on religious dogmas which are unchangeable, and by which every orthodox Musulman is bound, from the Sultan downwards. Any proposal to put the Rayahs (i.e. non-Musulman subjects) on a footing of equality with the Musulmans is, in truth, a proposal to violate a fundamental article of the religious creed of Islâm, which no Sultan can do without apostasy, and consequently without the risk of a Fetva of deposition from the Sheikh-ul-Islâm, who is the guardian alike

Belief as to the Koran

139

Even well

of law and religion in Turkey. educated persons in England, including leading statesmen and diplomatists, have such hazy notions on this subject that it may be useful to give a succinct summary of the facts.

In the belief of orthodox Musulmans the Koran differs from the Bible and all other religious books in one essential particular-namely, that it existed from all eternity in the Arab language on tablets in the highest heaven before the throne of the Most High. From those tablets it was copied by the Angel Gabriel in suras or chapters, and dictated to Mohammed in an audible voice, word for word as occasion required, in the course of twenty years. The revelation of the Pentateuch, on the other hand, was communicated to the mind, not the ear, of Moses through the medium of ideas which he was left free to deliver to men in any form or language which seemed to him good. Moreover, the Mosaic revelation did not profess to be final; on the contrary, it claimed to be preparatory and provisional, pointing explicitly to a greater prophet than Moses and to a future revelation in which the Mosaic dispensation should be developed and absorbed. That prophet was Mohammed, and that revelation the Koran, which is thus the last expression of the divine will to man, and therefore absolutely and eternally unchangeable. This doctrine is laid down in plain terms by Ibn-Khaldun,* the most Proleg. i. pp. 194-5.

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Koran plus the Traditions

learned and one of the most authoritative writers in the realm of Islam. Himself an Arab, he held various offices under the Moorish domination in Spain; then travelled extensively in various Musulman countries in Asia and Africa, where he held converse with the most learned doctors of the law; became the prisoner and then the confidential adviser of Tamerlane; and settled down at last at Cairo, where he held office as Grand Mufti till his death some years afterwards. No higher authority on the doctrines and principles of Islâm exists in the Musulman world; indeed, it would be no exaggeration to say that there is none so high.

But it is not enough to consult the Koran alone for Islamic doctrine and law. You must take the Koran with the Hadis or body of Traditions of the sayings and doings of the Prophet, which are a supplement to the Koran and its infallible interpretation. These Traditions bear the same relation to the Koran which the infallible decrees of Councils bear to the Bible in Roman theology. You don't refute a believer in Papal Infallibility by quoting the Bible, for he believes in the Bible as interpreted by the Vatican decrees. Similarly, Moslem apologists in English newspapers take refuge in an irrelevant sophism when they challenge proof out of the Koran alone for any Islamic doctrine which they may find it inconvenient to acknowledge. For the Sacred Law of Islâm

Disabilities of the Christians

141

rests on the Koran plus the Traditions. Now among the irrevocable doctrines of the Sacred Law are the following:-If the Rayah refuse to become a Musulman he must choose between the cruel alternatives of death or tribute. If he become a Zimmi or Tributary it must be on certain painful and degrading conditions, of which the following will suffice as specimens :-He must pay a yearly capitation tax for the permission to live, and the form of receipt says that the tax is a ransom for the permission to wear his head that year; so that, if he is in arrear with his taxes, as the ruined Armenians are now, his life is forfeited. The Rayah's evidence cannot be received in a court of law against a Musulman. He is not allowed to bear or possess arms. He must provide three days' gratuitous hospitality for every Musulman official or traveller who asks for it. Travelling pashas and their retinue of rapacious servants, the ruffianly police, taxgatherers, Bashi-Bazouks, dirty Dervishes, &c., are thus mercilessly quartered on the wretched Christians of Turkey, whose women (although this is not sanctioned by law) are at the mercy of these unwelcome guests. Should a Christian convert a Moslem to Christianity, both the Christian and the convert must suffer death. The Rayah must build no place of worship. If he obtain official sanction (which he never does without heavy bribes) he may repair or rebuild such places of worship as existed in the country

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Taxation of the Christians

when the Musulman conquerors took possession of it; but it must be on the same plan, sites, and dimensions as the old buildings.

It is sometimes said by persons who know nothing about the subject that the Musulmans of Turkey are more cruelly oppressed than the Christians. That is nonsense, for although Musulmans and Christians are all abominably oppressed under the horrible rule of the Sultan, there is this difference-that the Musulmans are oppressed contrary to law, and the Christians in obedience to the law. The former possess two remedies which are partially effective, and which are denied to the Christians: they possess arms, and can appeal to the law for protection. Moreover, the Christians, in addition to the disabilities which I have described, are subject to many taxes from which the Musulmans are free. I have mentioned the yearly capitation ransom tax. But they are liable to many other imposts which do not touch the Musulmans-for instance, forced labour ad libitum and a tax on every male Christian, from three months old to the day of his death, to provide a substitute in the army, from which the Christians are by law excluded. In brief, the Christians throughout Turkey are obliged-according to the unanimous testimony of British Consuls-to pay in legal taxation 67 per cent. of the produce of their soil and toil. There are, of course, innumerable extortions in addition. So that the wretched Christians could