I think that an attempt will not be made to set up a Caliphate, Professor Arnold Toynbee, Director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said when he lectured last night to the Anglo-Palestine Club on Palestine and the Caliphate.
this idea has definitely been given up, he declared, but I do believe that there will be an attempt towards co-operation by Moslems in the way that Jews and Christians achieve co-operation, that is by way of congresses and meetings. While the Caliphate idea has broken down it must not be inferred that the idea of consolidation of Islam has broken down too. it will not break down, so long as Moslems consider themselves the under-dog.
the Caliphate idea is the expression of this feeling of being the under-dog. it is an idea which in its intention is to transcend race and nationality. the nationality idea is
inimical to it, as it undercuts unity. the Turks have gone in head over heels for Western nationality, which is inimical, as I say, to the Caliphate idea, and the question is whether this example is going to be followed by other nations of the Islam world.
in Palestine the Arabs feel themselves doubly weak because they have not only Christians to deal with, but also the new Jewish situation. it is therefore not surprising that the last Islam Congress was held in Palestine, because if people think that in solidarity there is strength they mobilise their forces in support of this idea where their security is felt to be much threatened.
If you look at the composition of the last Congress, Professor Toynbee said, you may not think it was very representative or that the delegates had credentials. but in my view the Congress did largely represent the feeling of the masses of the Islam world.
While in his view, even the Moslems who were not nationalists thought that the Caliphate idea was an out-of-date method of effecting unity in the Moslem world, Professor Toynbee added, the movement towards consolidation by way of Congresses was not purely an artificial agitation. I think it is a genuine movement, he said, and not likely to decay. Referring specially to the Arab countries around Palestine, he said, that he thought that unity was a possibility on account of identity of language, increased transport facilities and newspapers. The movement for solidarity is real, and not artificial, and quite genuine, he declared.
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