Pickthall’s Islamic Politics 129
An extraordinary development has taken place. Shaukat Ali, who I
thought had merely come here to cadge money and try to commit the
Nizam politically, really came as a marriage broker on behalf of the ex-
Sultan of Turkey [...] Prince Ahmed Tevhid, the Sultan’s nephew, who was
here the other day and is probably coming back again, has not yet seen
His Exalted Highness [the Nizam].[...] Would you kindly let me know
if there is any objection to His Exalted Highness entering into more di-
rect negotiations with the ex-Caliph. He pays him a pension of course.
He confided in Hydari before he sailed, and I think that Shaukat Ali is on
the same ship.83Pickthall would have accompanied Hydari and Shaukat Ali, making it his
second trip within a year. Though the Political Resident was well informed,
apparently the word had not been passed on to the Foreign Office in London.
It was caught unawares, only realising what was happening after a call in early
October from the Turkish ambassador, Ahmed Ferit Bey:
His Excellency said that Shaukat Ali, who he described as an adventurer
and of Syrian origin, was seeking to invoke a pan-Moslem conference in
Palestine. Part of the programme of this conference would be to choose a
Caliph. Shaukat Ali, the Ambassador said, had had many conversations at
Nice with the former Caliph, Abdul Majid, who now resides there, and it
was Shaukat Ali’s design to link up the Indian Moslem princes and Abdul
Majid.84At the same time, the Political Resident was advising Delhi as follows, “the
Government of India should not put any obstacle in the way of the marriage
is the opinion very strongly held by me as by this the whole Moslem world
would be antagonised”.85 Meanwhile, Hydari and Pickthall were having meet-
ings with Abdul Majid ii’s representatives in London. Both the ex-Caliph and
the Nizam seemed to be entering a business transaction rather than cementing
a matrimonial alliance, with cables exchanged to and fro between Hydari and
83 Ibid., letter from Sir Terence Keyes, Political Resident, to Sir Charles Watson, Political
Secretary, Government of India, Delhi, dated 20 August, 1931.
84 ior, R/1/1/2173 (2), 1931; letter from G.W. Rendel of the Foreign Office to the Under-
Secretary of State, India Office. The Turkish ambassador was ill-informed because Shau-
kat Ali was not of Syrian-origin, but from Rampur in India. Perhaps he was thinking of
Shakib Arslan!
85 ior, R/2/73/101; Sir Terence Keyes to Sir Charles Watson, 3 October 1931.