Unearthing Marmaduke Pickthall’s Appeal to British Regarding the Ottomans and Muslim States

This is so correct, it seems to deserve the term ‘prophetic’.

To the Right Hon. A J Balfour, O.M, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
1. Sir – Referring to our memorial of Jan 1 respecting Constantinople, Thrace and the homeland of the Turkish nation, we beg to observe that we refrained from expressing our opinion with regard to the other parts of the Turkish Empire, reserving it for a further representation to his Majesty’s Government, as we were not acquainted at that time with the suggestions before the Peace Conference for their ultimate disposition.

2. We now learn from the Press that it is proposed to form them into self governing States, under the protectorate of one or other of the Allied and Associated Powers. As there is no Mohammedan representative on the Conference to place before it the opinions of his Majesty’s Mussulman subjects concerning the vast problems affecting the whole Islamic world which form the subject of consideration by the Conference, we venture to take the only constitutional course left to us for acquainting his Majesty’s Government and the Allied and Associated Powers with our views – viz., to submit those views in this memorial.

3. We welcome the proposal to create self-governing institutions in the occupied Provinces of Turkey and in Armenia under the guarantee of the League of Nations, but we most strongly deprecate the suggestion to sever them absolutely from the Turkish Empire. Our reasons for this submission are not sentimental; they are founded on grounds of expediency and policy which we respectively venture to think deserve the serious consideration of his Majesty’s Government and the Allied and Associated Powers. The evidence as to the depth of feeling, not only among the vast Mussulman population of India, but also among the Afghans and the frontier tribes (who form the bulk of the Mussulman element in the Indian Army) against the dismemberment of Turkey, and in favour of the preservation of her prestige, is accumulating day by day.

4. We hope that, with the disappearance of the two Empires that had hitherto exploited Asiatic unrest and misgovernment to their own advantage with a view to final political or economic absorption, the new peace would assure the pacific development of Western and Middle Asia on durable lines. We have no hesitation in expressing our conviction that Turkey, under a Government such as she has now been fortunate enough to obtain, with her prestige among Mussulmans of the world, would be an immense source of strength to England and the Allied Powers who rule over large masses of Moslems.

5. We fear, however, that the complete and absolute severance from the Turkish Empire of the provinces whose future status is under consideration will give rise to a rankling sense of injustice.

6. In any event, we venture strongly to urge that these proposed new autonomous States should not be withdrawn from the spiritual suzerainty of the Ottoman sovereign as Caliph. Our reasons for making this submission are based, firstly, on our desire for the peaceable development of Western Asia; and secondly, on the necessity, in our opinion, of an endeavor on the part of his Majesty’s Government to meet, so far as possible, the wishes and legitimate feelings of the Mussulmans, who form fully one-fourth of the population of the Empire.

7. Under the Sunni system of jurisprudence, the investiture of a new ruler by the Caliph, the Chief Pontiff, regularizes his status in the eyes of his people and makes any rising against him illegal ; it gives him prestige in the Mussulman world, and places him in an unimpugnable position. This was the reason that led the Mussulman sovereigns of India, before the rise of the Shiah Empire, which divided them from the Western Sunnis, to apply and obtain investiture from the Chief Pontiff. In our opinion, therefore, if the Peace Conference were to leave the Ottoman Sovereign or Caliph with the prestige of conferring on the rulers of these propose autonomous States on their accession to their respective thrones the usual investiture, it would not only conciliate Mussulman feeling, but would add to the guarantees of peace and pacific development among the people of those countries. To sever them altogether, both secularly and religiously, from the Ottoman State would, in our opinion, lead to constant trouble, and leave behind, as we have already ventured to submit, a legacy of bitterness which we humbly think might be avoided.

8. With regard to the suggested creation of a Jewish State in Palestine, we desire to observe that if the Peace Conference were to decide to create that province into a self-governing State, the entire Mussulman world would resent its being placed under any but a Mussulman ruler, whatever other form the Government may take. Not only is Jerusalem intimately associated with the Mussulman religion and Mussulman religious traditions, but in the long course of fourteen centuries the land has become covered with the memorials of the Mussulman faith. To convert it into a Jewish State or to place it under a Jewish ruler would be most repugnant to Mussulman feelings, especially as only one-seventh of the population of Palestine is Jewish. History proves that the Jews can live in the closest amity with their Mussulman fellow-subjects under Moslem rulers, and enjoy exceptional privileges not conceded to them even now by many European nations.

9. Finally we venture to appeal once more to his Majesty’s Government and the Peace Conference that, in devising the new form of government for Armenia, the rights and interests, together with the religious institutions and places of worship, of the large Mussulman population inhabiting that province (who in many districts form the majority) should be safe-guarded and that they should be protected from persecution, and that they should be placed on an equal footing with the non-Moslem population in the enjoyment of all civil rights and privileges – We have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient and humble servants.

Shaikh MH Kidwai of Gadian
Khwaja Kamalud Din
Marmaduke Pickthall
S H Kidwai of Rampure
Ibrahim S Haji
Aga Khan
Ameer Ali
AA Baig
MH Ispahani
AA Mirza
A S M Anik
(Twenty other signatures)

(ref: Samuel Marinus Zwemer, “The Moslem World” (1919), Harrisburg, Pa)