Under the Ottoman Government the Hanafi was the established rite, it being to this school that the majority of Turks belong.
Jerusalem, chronologically the first qibleh (point of adoration) of Islam, is almost as sacred in the eyes of Moslems as are Mecca and Medina; and from the early ages of Islam Quds al-Sherif, to give the city its Moslem name, has been a place of pilgrimage for the entire Mohammedan world. According to Moslem belief it is from Jerusalem that Mohammed was translated to heaven. There are in Jerusalem old-established tekyés (convents) set apart for North African, Indian, Afghan, Bokharan, Sudanese and other Moslem pilgrims.
Shrines.—There are three Moslem shrines of the first importance, beside many lesser ones, in Palestine, namely the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque al-Aqsa in the Haram al-Sherif in Jerusalem, and the Mosque of Abraham, which encloses and surmounts the Cave of Machpelah at Hebron. These monuments will be farther described in Part III.
Sharia Council and Courts.—Arising out of a series of conferences of Moslem ʾUlema and notables there was established, by the High Commissioner's Order of the 20th December, 1921, a Supreme Moslem Sharia Council, to have authority over all Moslem waqfs and Sharia Courts in Palestine. The Council consists of a President, known as the Rais al-ʾUlema (Haj Emin al-Huseini, elected in 1922), and four members, of whom two represent the District of Jerusalem, one Nablus, and one Acre. The Rais al-ʾUlema is permanent President of the Council, the four members being elected by an electoral college for a period of four years. Embodied in the High Commissioner's Order are the regulations, drawn up by a Moslem Committee, laying down the functions and powers of the Council.
For details of the Sharia Courts see Part V., Administration of Justice.
Waqfs.—Moslem religious endowments (waqfs), that is, property appropriated or dedicated (by a document called a waqfiah) to charitable uses and the service of God, are
