Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Revolt in Arabia (1917).djvu/42

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The Revolt in Arabia
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governor after another had to yield, and had to sit in his shadow. Ahmed Ratab alone succeeded in holding on from 1892 to Aun's death in 1905, by shutting his eyes to the Shereef's ill deeds and contenting himself with a share in the profits that accrued from the malfeasance in office. Aun's brother, Abdullah, then living in Constantinople, was appointed his successor but died before he began his journey to his native land. Then the Sultan appointed Shereef Ali, a nephew of Aun, as "Amir of Mecca." Such was the title given to these princes by the Turkish chancery, out of respect for a possible sensitiveness on the subject.

Both Shereef Ali and the governor, Ahmed Ratib, succumbed when the great Turkish Revolution broke out in 1908. Ratib had to submit to financial extortions and to exile, while the deposed Shereef settled down in Cairo. His cousin