Hand-painted miniatures of Mecca and the Ka'abah from the Islamic prayer book 'Prayers to Muhammed,' composed by Muhammed b. Suleyman al-Jazuli.
"God (blessed and exalted be He) has vouchsafed the land an opportunity to rise in revolt, has enabled her by His power and might to seize her independence and crown her efforts with prosperity and victory, even after she was crushed by the maladministration of the Turkish civil and military officials. She stands quite apart and distinct from countries that still groan under the yoke of the Union and Progress Government. She is independent in the fullest sense of the word, freed from the rule of strangers and purged of every foreign influence. Her principles are to defend the faith of Islam, to elevate the Moslem people, to found their conduct on Holy Law, to build up the code of justice on the same foundation in harmony with the principles of religion, to practice its ceremonies in accordance with modern progress, and make a genuine revolution by sparing no pains in spreading education among all classes according to their station and their needs."
Excerpt from the June 27, 1916 proclamation of independence by Hussein ibn Ali, the Sherif of Mecca and King of Hijaz. Hussein cites the behavior of the Society of Union and Progress, the party of the Young Turks, as the justification for his declaration. The Party stripped the Sultan of his power, putting command of the Ottoman Empire in the hands of Enver Pasha, Djemal Pasha, and Talaat Bey who were responsible for the loss of the empire's territory and the impoverishment of its people. The crimes Hussein attributes to them include religious offenses, the hanging of 21 'eminent and cultured Moslems and Arabs of distinction,' and the shelling of the Kaaba in Mecca, which set its covering cloth ablaze and nearly struck the Black Stone set into one corner of the structure.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, p. 237, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1916-06-27, 1916, June, independence, Arab independence, Hussein, Mecca, Kaaba
