File 3846/1910 'Mesopotamia: Baghdad affairs. Miscellaneous.' [‎253r] (514/536)

well-known Muhammad Shaukat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , but it is understood that the latter was
not on good terms with him and will not resent his removal.
(6) One of the first acts of Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was to send for and consult a number
of his chief administrative subordinates. Among those so honoured were the
Wali of Basrah, who arrived at Baghdad on the 11th May and remained until the
30th May ; the Mutasarrif of Karbala ; and the Mutasarrif of 'Amarah.
An impression is current here that the relations of the two Walis were con
siderably less friendly at the time of their parting than of their first meeting: and
this is attributed to differences of opinion between them in regard to the policy to
be pursued in the Basrah Wilayat. If I am not mistaken, Sulaiman Nazif Bey is
somewhat hot-headed, and in that case the policy of conciliation which Nazim
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. evidently intends to follow in the first instance with the Arab tribes must
necessarily be repugnant to him.
All Mutasarrifs, Qaim-Maqams and even Mudirs in the Baghdad Wilayat have
been ordered to report daily by telegraph the state of their districts. This arrange
ment can hardly be intended to be permanent.
(7) The question of tribal management is being vigorously grappled with by
the new administration.
A number of Arab chiefs who were detained at the Baghdad fearai have been
released on merely giving their word of honour to be obedient in future to the
Turkish Government. Local Shaikhs are being summoned to Baghdad from
every side, to pay their respects to the Wali and receive injunctions from him re
lative to the maintenance of order.
A novel departure on the part of Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. has been the reference by him
to the principal religious authorities in the country of the two following theological
questions :—
(a] ) Whether the murders and robberies of travellers and others frequently
committed by the tribes can be considered “ Ghazu ” or “ Holy
War, ”— a ground on which it has sometimes been sought to excuse
them; and
(b) Whether the Turkish Government may justifiably punish the tribes for
such acts and for rebellion.
The decision under Sunni law has been delivered by a committee of scholars
presided over by the Naqib and Mufti of Baghdad ; and it is hardly necessary to
say that it is emphatically in the negative on the first question, and in the affirma
tive on the second.
Among the Shi’ah doctors consulted, Saiyid Muhammad IsmaTl (Sadr), the
principal Muitahid of Karbala, Saiyid Muhammad Baqir (Tabatabayi) and Shaikh
Muhammad (Mazandarani), also of Karbala, have replied that murder and robbery
are not “ Ghazu, ” and that whoever can prevent such acts is bound to do so.
Muhammad (Qazvinizadah) has answered that, in case of one Arab tribe com-
m it tine aeeressions on another, they should be dealt with first by remonstrance,
then by threats, and only in the last resort by force. The Fatwa of Mulla Muham
mad Kazim (Khurasani) and Shaikh 'Abdullah (Mazandarani) is to the effect that
murder and robbery are not “ Ghazu," and that the slaying of Muhammadans by
Muhammadans is a heinous crime. Other Mujtahids were probably consulted;
w t hev did not reply, or their answers were not considered useful for
publication by^ the Turks. " The decisions quoted above have been communi-
cated to all tribal authorities in the W ilayat, accompanied by letters of exhorta
tion and advice from the W ali.
Proceedings such as these have sometimes been suggested in India with the
. There also described as/ Ohaza “ by those object of putting a stop to fanatical out-
who commit them. rages*agamst Europeans on the North-W est
Frontier * but they ha-vc never been put into effect, so far as I am aware, probably
from a feeling on the part of our officers that they would be both futile and undig
nified It has possibly escaped Nazim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. that the Shiah Fatwas to which he
has given publicity are somewhat evasive in their terms, particularly that from