[79] Nothing shows this more plainly than the Fatva pronounced by the Council of the 'Ulama in July 1879 anent Khair-ud-din's proposed reform, which would have placed the Sultan in the position of a constitutional sovereign. This was declared to be directly contrary to the Law. Thus:-- "The law of the Sheri does not authorize the Khalif to place beside him a power superior to his own. The Khalif ought to reign alone and govern as master. The Vakils (Ministers) should never possess any authority beyond that of representatives, always dependent and submissive. It would consequently be a transgression of the unalterable principles of the Sheri, which should be the guide of _all_ the actions of the Khalif, to transfer the supreme power of the Khalif to one Vakil." This, the latest and most important decision of the jurists of Islam, is quite in accordance with all that has been said about Muhammadan Law. It proves as clearly as possible that so long as the Sultan rules as Khalif, he must oppose any attempt to set up a constitutional Government. There is absolutely no hope of reform. [80] It is instructive to compare the words of the Christian poet with the Sufi idea of absorption into the Divine Being. "That each who seems a separate whole Should move his rounds, and fusing all The skirts of self again, should fall Remerging in the general soul, Is faith as vague as all unsweet: Eternal form shall still divide The eternal soul from all beside; And I shall know him when we meet." Tennyson's "In Memoriam." [81] "Le spiritualisme des Sofis, quoiqu'il soit le contraire du materialisme, lui est en realite identique. Mais si leur doctrine n'est pas plus raisonnable, elle est du moins plus elevee et plus poetique." Poesie Philosophique et religieuse chez les Persans, par M. Garcin De Tassy, p. 2. [82] Kaf--a chain of mountains supposed to encircle the earth. [83] 'Anka--the Phoenix. [84] "Ils pensent que la Bible et le Coran ont ete seulement ecrits pour l'homme qui se contente de l'apparence des choses, qui s'occupe de l'exterieur, pour le _zahir parast_, comme ils le nomment, et non pour le sofi qui sonde le fond des choses." La Poesie Philosophique et religieuse chez les Persans, par M. Garcin de Tassy, p. 13.