THE TREASURES OF ISLAM.
Mr. Delaplaine, the Charge d'Affaires of the United States at Vienna, furnishes the following information concerning one of the war resources of Turkey —the so-called " Treasure of Islam :"—The Sheik-uMslam has recentlysent a delegation of doctors of law to the Sheriff of Mecca, a direct descendant of the Prophet, for the purpose of demanding funds to be applied in defence of the Mam faith. Jt I is customary on these solemn occasions for the Sheriff to assemble the college of the elder, charged with the guard of the Prophet's, tombs which will decide upon the appropriate sum to be furnished to the Sultan from the treasure ef Islam, in order to aid him in the war against Russia. This treasure is formed from those annual offerings of the pilgrims which are accumulated in the Hasbah of Mecca. These sepulchres, which serve as offertory chests, are placed within the court of the mosque. Each I pilgrim daily casts into one of the3e a coin as an offering, which constitutes the alms prescribed by the Korin as one of the essential elements of the merit of the pilgrimage which every Mussulman should make at least once in his lifetime to the tomb of the Prophet. Accordingly every year about one hundred thousand pilgrims come to Mecca, who sojourn there a month. Consequently a sum of at least 3,000,000 francs is annually received in these offertory chests. Every pilgrim deposits, in fact, an offering varying in amount according to his means, but which on the average may be estimated as equivalent to 5 francs at least for every day, considering that there are rich Mussulmans whose offerings attain even the amount of 100,000 francs during their pilgrimage. The result is that the Sheriff of Mecca reeeives on the average the value of 15,000,000 francs in annual offerings. One of the offertory chests was opened during the period of the Russo-Turkish war in 18:28. Several large sums were withdrawn, but it was afterwards again closed. A second chest was again opened in 1854, during the Crimean war, but the third has not been opened since 1415, a period of 462 years. Inasmuch as the annual concourse of pilgrims has rarely fallen befow 100,000, it is conjectured that with the most liberal allowances tho accumulation of money in the last-named offertory cannot be less than 250,000,000 francs, and it is fully believed that the total amount of the treasure of Islam will exceed 600,000,000 francs, and even attain a much higher sum.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5185, 3 November 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)
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421THE TREASURES OF ISLAM. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5185, 3 November 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)
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