The Hand

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 28, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 47.

Constantinople, by its very location on the Bosporus, facing two continents and two great civilizations, will always be of political and commercial importance. All other factors which add to the glory of this metropolis are insignificant in comparison with its politico-religious importance in relation to the Moslem world. The position of Turkey and of the Ottoman Empire is unique among the Moslem countries of the world.

For centuries it has stood before the world as the one great temporal power of Islam, with its laws and usages built upon the tenets and traditions of the prophet. Here is the residence of the calif, the imam el Muslimin, the supreme pontiff of the church-state called Islam. The sultan of Turkey as the calif of the Moslem world is the custodian not only of the sacred cities, but of the sacred relics of Islam. In the hall of the Holy Garment on the Bosporus are kept the mantle of the prophet Mohammed, his staff, his saber, and his standard; and altho all Moslems pray toward Mecca, the vast majority of the Moslem world pray for the calif who resides at Stamboul.