Treasure Of Islam
Mr. Delaplaine, the Charge d' Affaires . oí the United States ut Vienna, furnishes :o the Depnrtinout ol Stnte the following ( íterestiug information ooneeming a rennu'kable war resource oí Turkey - tho so-called "Treasiire of Islam:" "Tho Sheik-ul-Islam has recontlysent ,1 clrlegntion of doctors of the law to the Sherif of Moooa, a direct desceudiint of the i'rophet, for the purpose of demanding fuuila to be applied iu defense of the Islam fait!;. It is custoniary on these solemn occasjoüflfor theSherjf to assemble the College of the Elders eharged with the guard of the Prophet's tornb, which will decido pon the appropviate sum to bo furnished to the Sultan frorn the treasure of Islam in order to aid him iu the war against Russia. This treasure is formed from those anmtal oft'erings of the pilgrims which are aceumulated in the Kasbah of Mecca. These sepulchers, which serve as offertory chosts, are placed within the couvt of the niosquc. Each pilgrim daily orate into one of these a coin as an olFeriug, wliich constitutes the alrnsprescribed by the Koran as one of the essential elementa of the merit of the pilgrimage, which every Mussulman should make, at least once iu his lifetime, to the tomb of the Prophet. Accordingly every year about 1(K),ÜOO pilgrims come to Mecca, who sojourn there a mouth; consequently a snm of at least 3,000,000 francs are annually received in the ofifertory chests. Every pilgrim deposita in fact an oiïering varyiijg in nmount according to his means, but which in the average may be estimated as equivalent to 5 francs at least for every day, considering tliat there are rich Mussulmans whose offeriugs attain the amount of 100,000 f ranee during thcir pilgrimage. It results hereby that the eilief of Mecca receives on the average the value of 15,000,000 francs in annual offerings. One of the offertory chests was opened during tlie period of the Busso-Turkish war in 1828. Several large sunis werc withdrawn, but it was afterward again closed. A sncond chest was again opened in 1854 during the Crimean war, but the third has not been opened since 1415, during a period oí now 462 years. Inasmuch as the anuual concourse of pilgrims has i-arely fallen below 100,000, it is conjectured that witli most liberal allowances the accumulation of money in the last-named offertory ehest cannotbe lessthan 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 amuch higher sum. "
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Michigan Argus