File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎441v] (887/1240)

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All roads to Mohail and Qunfudah were then open and
Aii rudua ^ -..p pas ilv. The latter town these
Ebhah obtained supplies q } , suburbs included
officers estimate to contain about 400 houses, suburbs included.
They travelled thence to Mecca m fifteen days They confirm
our belief that the Abdul Aziz .bn Ham,d who was reported
some time ago to be leading a force of As,r r.besmen nord. ward
to ioin the King of the Hejaz, ,s the bhahran chief of the
Misheit house. He is about sixty years of age a good Turk-
hater, and a friend of King Huse.n, but he ,s said to t.pple. Our
informants regard the Ghamid and Zahran as^ independent
tribes, owing allegiance to no one, whether he be Turk, Idris or
TTmii* nf \T prra.
The C.U.P-, the Sheikh el-lslam, and the Efkaf.
The French Ministry at Berne reports that, at the C.U.P.
Congress held at Constantinople last October under the presi
dency of the Grand Vezier and Talaat, it was reported that the
Sheikh el-lslam had been relieved of practically all his temporal
duties, e.g. his guardianship of orphans, control of schools, and
executive functions in regard to sentences passed by the Sheria
Courts. These courts are in future to be under the Ministry of
Justice, while the primary schools, hitherto maintained by the
Efkaf, are to be transferred to the Ministry of Public Instruc
tion, together with the special funds allotted to them. To
preclude any agitation which might be caused among the ulema
by this measure, most members of that body had been removed
from Constantinople previously to its promulgation.
This step has been taken, in the opinion of the French
Minister, as a result of the notorious disaffection of the ulema
and in anticipation of an assumption of the Caliphate by the King
of the Hejaz. In the latter eventuality, the C.U.P. is not sure
of the attitude of the ulema, and, therefore, wishes to reduce
their power and influence in good time.
[Note by Arab Bureau. —In any case, this measure
marks a definite resumption of the C.U.P.’s original secularizing
programme, intermitted in 1909. The Neo-Turanian movement
has strengthened its hands since then. We doubt if any con
sideration of the Caliphate has really influenced the C.U.P. in
this connection.]
Euphrates Intelligence.
Late in December last Ajaimi Saadun was said to have been
greatly shaken in his pro-Turk policy by two things, first, the
news of the Turkish successes at Hillah, and second, Ibn Baud’s
letter urging him to break with the Turks and Ibn Rashid.
With the last he is said to be, in any case, not on cordial terms
at .present. His brother, Dhamir, who is pro-British, seems
to expect that Ajaimi may ultimately change sides.
Rashid Ibn Lailah’s mission to Hail, undertaken for the
Turks who had become alarmed at the continued success of