File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎246v] (501/834)

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published in Paris in 1788 and following years, he discusses
“ The Pontiff of the Moslems ” and “ The Priestly Authority
of the Sovereign.” This is not the place to enquire into the
reasons of the misunderstanding; the principal one is that of
language, owing to a mistake in the meaning of the Arab word
Imam ; another reason may have been political, which led
D’Ohsson into this serious mistake, in contradiction to the
Arab texts, which he himself translates in other places. The
worst of it was that this first mistaken theory had serious
effects on the policy of European States.
CHAPTER III.
The End of the True Caliphate. The so-called
Ottoman Caliphate. The Origin of the Myth of
the Caliph’s Spiritual Power.
The Caliphate definitely ceased to exist in 1258 a.d when
Hulagu Khan and his Tatars conquered and laid waste Baghdad.
They ended the Caliphate of the Abbasids whose race was
destroyed. From this moment the Caliphs ceased to exist in
word and deed. 1
None the less, four years later, in 1262, there appeared in
Egypt an individual of dark complexion who declared he was a
member of the Abbasid family and had escaped the massacre
of the Tatars. The Egyptian Sultan, Baibars I (al-Bunduk-
dari), of the Circassian or Bahrite dynasty of Mameluks, decided,
for his own ends, to believe this individual in spite of the im
probability of his story. 2 He solemnly recognised him as
Caliph and obtained from him the investiture of Sultan of
Egypt. 3 In this way Baibars hoped to be condoned by public
opinion for having ascended the throne by murdering his pre
decessor with his own hand. He also hoped to increase his
personal dignity in the eyes of other Mohammedan princes,
who no longer received their power at the hands of a supreme
authority. Thus arose in Egypt an ephemeral Abbasid Cali
phate, which was, however, purely nominal; since, in addition
to not being recognised by the majority of Mohammedan
sovereigns, it delegated all its power to others. This Caliphate
did not even mint coins in its own name, whereas this is one
of the most important emblems of sovereignty among Moslems ;
it only retained the payment of certain subsidies and the in
vestiture of all new Sultans of Egypt. In time some princes
outside Egypt appear to have asked for their investiture at the
hands of this debased Caliph, but he never possessed any religious
character, or moral or material authority among the ulema.