TURKEY’S SULTAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3669, 2 November 1912, Page 3

TURKEY’S SULTAN.

A PIOUS RULER, The most pronounced 'characteristic of Sultan Me limed V., the present ruler of Turkey, is his piety'. The Sultan religiously performs every act of worship prescribed by the Koran, and never omits the proper ablutions. Five times daily he turns his face towards Mecca and invokes the grace of Allah. He is surrounded hv a small army of Moslem priests'who attend to his spiritual needs. When lie became Sultan Melimed made a .vow that he would worship every Friday in a different mosque, in order that all his subjects might have the oppon* tunity of beholding the Paclislnih arid Khalif. He has kept his word, and lias travelled widely from hoary Stamboul to beautiful Scutari, on the Asian shore, where stand famous cypress woods sacred to the worship of God. His favorite place of worship is the shrine at Stamboul, which contains the Prophet’s mantle. Unbelievers are never admitted to that venerated spot. The act of touching the mantle blots out numberless sins and makes"

easy the way to Heaven. During Abdul Hamid’s reign the shrine of Top-Kapou used to be opened only once a year. Melimed visits it frequently. Whenever his spirit craves for special, communion with Allah he retires there to meditate and pray. He does the same whenever there is any accentuation of the never-ceasing troubles of his country. A magnificent barge, a wonderful piece of Oriental workmanship, with seven pairs of rowers, carries the Sultan from his palace to iStamboul and hack again. “All traffic is interrupted,” says the. correspondent of the London “Daily Telegraph” in. describing one of tbeso ■visits. “The steamers in the'harbor stand still. Crowds of people hail their Khalif. His caique .passes the whitp.building of the Parliament. He looks at it with a long, melancholy look, arid sighs. . The caique proceeds swiftly, like a swallow. The Khalif is eager and impatient to worship at the mantle of the Prophet.” Turkey stands in need of the prayers of the Sultan.