(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The Syrian Press comments widely on the coming Congress which is to be held at Cairo in May for the purpose of electing a Caliph of all the Moslems, a post which, except for the ill-fated proclamation in 1924 of the ex-King Hussein who was forced to abdicate soon after, has been vacant since the Turkish Government at Angora abolished the Caliphate.
The present state of Syria, the Press complains, makes it impossible for the Syrian Moslems to participate in the Congress as at present arranged. The Congress should therefore, be postponed until conditions in Syria have returned to normal. In any case, it is objected, the Caliphate Congress ought not to be held in Cairo because there it will be under British influence. The idea of electing King Fuad of Egypt as Caliph should be abandoned, because King Fuad would as Caliph not be in a position to carry out the prime function of the Caliphate — the conduct of a policy of union of all Moslems throughout the world, because that would be against British interests.
When conditions in Syria are again normal, the papers states, the All-Islamic Congress should be called in Mecca, where it would be free from foreign influence.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
