Islam's Reformers .pdf

Belgrade. The fountain was crowded with soldiers performingablution and filling their containers with water. The priest of achurch nearabouts made up and dressed beautiful girls. Hegave them a bucket each and sent them to the fountain. Thepriest watched secretly from behind the window. As soon as thegirls approached the soldiers moved aside. The girls filled theirbuckets easily and went back to the church. The priest, uponseeing this beautiful moral behavior, virtue, decency and mercyof the Islamic soldiers, sent a message to the crusaders’commandant, saying, “This army will never be overcome. Don’tshed your blood in vain!” I wonder if this Egyptian writer makesa mistake by supposing that the Ottoman victories werebarbarian invasions like those of the armies of Attilla? If he hadread the British Lord Davenport’s book, he would know aboutthe truth: “Islamic armies took with them justice, virtue andcivilization whereever they went. They met the defeated enemywho would surrender always with forgivingness,” and he wouldbe a little well-behaved in his writings. Those who made Islamiccaliphs lead a dungeon life and who usurped their rights ofcaliphate from them after ’Abbâsids were shameless enough tocall themselves “Sultân al-Haramain” in khutba. When SultanYavuz Selim Khan conquered Egypt and rescued the caliphatefrom slavery in 923 A.H. (1517), he silenced the orator who alsocalled him “Sultân al-Haramain” in khutba customarily, and said,“For me, there cannot be a greater honour than being a slave ofthose blessed places. Call me Khâdim al-Haramain!” It iswritten in history books. It may be understood now whether theEgyptians or the Ottomans froze Islamic morals. During thereign of (the Ottoman empire) Sultan Abdulhamîd Khan II, asecretarial position in the royal palace was reserved to beawarded annually to the best of the graduates in PoliticalSciences. The Sultan had established this to encourageyoungsters to work and study. Es’ad Bey, who was assigned asa clerk, says in his book Hâtirât-i Abdulhamîd Khân Thânî, “Ata midnight I enciphered a message and took it to the Sultan’sroom for his signature. I knocked at the door. It was not opened.I knocked once again. It was not opened this time, either. I wasabout to give it a third try, when the door was opened and therewas the Sultan, drying his face with a towel. ‘My son,’ he said.‘I’m sorry for keeping you waiting! I was up with your firstknocking. I knew you were here for an important signature, at- 291 -