ملخص الجهاز:
88 In 1907, Sheikh Rashid, Rafiq al-'Azm and others established in Cairo a political organization called jam'iyat al-Shura al-'Uthmaniyah (The Ottoman Consultative Society); its purpose was to fight the tyranny of Sultan 'Abd al-Harnid's government.
'" During a formal day of celebration in Cairo, Sheikh Rashid expressed his feelings aS follows: "This day is a holiday for Ottomans in general and for Muslims in particOlar, it is a celebration for a consultative government which Islam established according to the word of God: 'Their affairs being counsel between them' (Qur'an 42/38.
" (III/103) After a short discussion of disputes between brothers, friends and neighbors, concluding with the advice that these could be most fairly resolved through negotiation, Sheikh Rashid analyzed the relationship between the Arabs and the Turks: "The Arabs and the Turks are twin brothers of the tree of the True Religion,* full brothers of the Ottoman Union, and two strong pillars of the Islamic caliphate structure, so the bond between them is worth maintaining forever, as Kamal Bey 32 Ibid.
As reflected in al-Manar as well as his other major works, Islam, to Sheikh Rashid was a religion and a nationality; he considered himself and the Arab peoples as religion and a nationality; he considered himself a Muslim first; then an Arab.
Sheikh Rashid was alarmed when he learned of the Turkish attempts at Turkicization of the non-Turk elements in the Empire, especially of the Arabs, because he believed that the destruction of the Arabs would inevitably lead to the destruction of Islam.