on as that upon which is based the
title of Caliph. The Prophet himself said, and the accepted law repeats,
that the Imam-ul-Mussilmin must be of the family of Koreish. The Ottoman
Sultans belong not only to a different family, but to a different race.

With this evident weakness in their title to the Caliphate, and the
accompanying rank of universal Imam, it is a question of interest on
what grounds the doctors of Mohammedan law have justified their claims,
and how far these have been recognized.

In addition to the rights said to have been conferred by the Caliph
Mohammed XII. and by the Shereef of Mecca upon Sultan Selim I., and by
him transmitted to his posterity, the Mohammedan doctors make use of a
very different argument. They say--

"The rights of the house of Othman are based upon its power and
success, for one of the most ancient canonical books declares that
the authority of a prince who has usurped the Caliphate by force
and violence, ought not the less to be considered legitimate,
because, since the end of the perfect Caliphate, the sovereign
power is held to reside in the person of him who is the strongest,
who is the actual ruler, and whose right to command rests upon the
power of his armies."

This statement presents the real basis of the claims of the Sultans to
the Caliphate. It is the right of the strongest. Any man who disputes
it, does so at his peril; and, since 1517, the Ottoman Sultans have been
able to command the submission of the Mohammedan world. Their title has
not been seriously disputed.

But the title has this weak point in it. It is good only so long as the
Sultan is strong enough to maintain it. It has not destroyed the rights
of the family of Koreish. It only holds them in abeyance, until some
one of that family is strong enough to put an end to the Turkish
usurpation. The power of the Sultan does not depend upon the title, but
the title depends upon his power. This is a point the political
importance of which should never be overlooked.

We come now to our second question. How far is the claim of the Ottoman
Sultans to the Caliphate now recognized in the Mohammedan world? Except
with the Shiites, who have never acknowledged it, there is no open
rebellion against it. But the decay of the Ottoman Empire during the
last hundred years has been obvious to all the world. Not only has it
been gradually dismembered, not only have many of its Moham