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First thus, combines three thematically linked Paris Peace Conference handbooks which had been issued confidentially to the delegates in the previous year: 96a & b. The Rise of Islam and the Caliphate. The Pan-Islamic Movement, 96c & d. The Rise of the Turks. The Pan-Turanian Movement, and 96e & f. Islam in India. Islam in Africa. These texts clearly reflect Western fears over the rekindling of Islam. "Colonial officials widely perceived Islamic renewal movements as a global threat. At the end of the nineteenth century, they became terrified by the perceived dangers of pan-Islamism. Across the world, pan-Islamist agitators spread the ideas of religious solidarity and a united Islamic front against European domination. After the First World War, the British struggled with the pan-Islamic Khilafat movement in India" (Motadel, p. 23). The first named provides "a measure of official understanding within Whitehall" on the central issues (Oliver-Dee, p. 99), and includes a brief history of Islam and chapters on "Islam in Africa", "Muhamaddan Law", Sufism, "Separate Caliphates and Schisms", and "The Ottoman Sultan and the Caliphates". The subsequent handbooks expanding on the central theme of pan-Islamism within the Turkish, African and Indian contexts. With shrewd foresight, in the spring of 1917, the Foreign Office established a dedicated historical section under the direction of Prothero (1848-1922), a former president of the Royal Historical Society. Its intention was to compile handbooks for British delegates attending post-war peace conferences. Some 160 studies were eventually prepared for internal circulation - subsequently published by HMSO in green wrappers for general distribution - each providing information on the history, geography, economy, culture, and present situation of participating countries and their colonies. Assistance with data and maps was provided by the Admiralty intelligence division (naval staff), the war trade intelligence department, and the geographical section of the General Staff (military intelligence division) of the War Office. Fragile and of limited public appeal these handbooks are uncommon, the present volume showing less than 10 locations on Library Hub, no copies traced at auction. David Motadel, ed., Islam and the European Empires, 2014; Sean Oliver-Dee, The Caliphate Question: The British Government and Islamic Governance, 2009. Octavo. Wire-stitched in the original light olive printed thin card wrappers. Wrappers variably sunned, contemporary Foreign Office annotations at head of front cover, title page creased and lightly rumpled, slight bump at head of most gatherings, yet this remains a very good copy.
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