Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎10r] (21/380)

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secular character. We regarded the Khaldate as a thing which should be settled
\ by Moslems for themselves, and in which neither we nor any non-Moslem Power
should interfere.’’
1 he Aga Khan expressed himself quite satisfied, but asked that, in all communi
cations with the Arabs, His Majesty’s Government’s attitude should be made v ery clear.
A record of this conversation was transmitted to Sir H. McMahon and Sir R. Wingate.
On the 17th November, 1915, after receiving from Sir H. McMahon a revised
summary of the Sherif’s third letter of the 5th November, 1915, the Foreign Office
telegraphed to the former (No. 8S7) 07 :—
“ You will, of course, bear carefully in mind the necessity of avoiding all
possibility of being involved in any questions concerning the C;diphate.”
1 he subject was accordingly ignored by Sir H. McMahon in the subsequent
negotiations.
Sherif Husein, however, gave a clearer indication of his policy on the question in
his letter of the ‘28th December, 1915, to Sir Ali Morghani 83 :—
“ I had not claimed before to be the qualified chief of the Amirs (the Caliph),
but 1 explained to them more than once that 1 was ready to extend my hand to
any man who would come forward and take the reins of authority. I was,
however, chosen in every quarter and even forced to take up the question of their
future prospects; and, therefore, I can see no ground for making (further)
conditions, such as the universal agreement of the Amirs and tribes which were
mentioned, especially the ‘ Shias,’ i.e., the Persians, who lack the necessary
qualifications and every other right (to decide the question of the chosen Caliph
of Islam)” (p. 118).
The above passage lends significance to the declaration contained in the address
presented to Sherif Husein on the 29th October, 1916, by the “Ministers, Notables,
Inhabitants and Ulema of Mecca,” 69 to the effect that “We take the oath of
obedience, loyalty and sincerity to Husein bin Ali, and consider him also to be our
religious leader until all the Moslem world be of one opinion concerning the Islamic
Caliphate.” And Sherif Abdullah emphasised this declaration in his short telegram of
the 29th October, 1916, to Colonel Wilson, announcing the proclamation of his father
as king.
In conversation over the telephone with Colonel Wilson on the 1st November,
1916, 70 Abdullah explained that:—
“His Majesty the Sherif has left the question of the Caliphate to the opinion
of the Moslem world, and, therefore, he declared that there was no pre-suggested
Caliphate, but that the whole question is left to the public opinion of Islam, and
the Ulema of the Qibla decided not to accept the Turkish Caliphate, and the
whole question will come back later on to its origin.”
In a similar conversation on the following day, King Husein himself declared:—
“ I have denied the Caliphate entirely and officially, leaving it to the opinion
of those who know all about its regulations, until all Moslems choose one person
to be their Caliph
“ I repeat that our not declaring the Caliphate will not put us in any
suspicion, until all Moslems are of one opinion, it is a question of dissociating
the Moslems from the Turks.”
On the 6th November, 1916, the Foreign Office telegraphed instructions to
Sir R. Wingate for a reply to Abdullah’s communication 71 ; and in this telegram
His Majesty’s Government’s policy regarding the Caliphate was once more laid down,
as follows :—
“ That it should be strongly impressed on the Sherif that his own interests
require that the question of the Caliphate should be left open until the end of the
war ; that it would be quite impossible for Christian Powers, numbering among their
subjects many millions of Moslems, to expose themselves to the charge of taking
sides in the affairs of Islam and forcibly supporting one Caliph against another,
and that his claims could only be weakened by such support in the eyes of the
Moslem world.”
67 172416/15. 6 » 30674/16.
233117/16; see also 249121/16 (extract from “A1 Qibla ”> 70 242002/16. 71 221869/16.
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