History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c10.157

c10.157

held it was looked upon with profound reverence by the Muslims. A distinguished authority on Islam writes: ‘The oath to the elected Khalifah possessed a sacramental virtue and imparted a sacredness to his personality of which we in these times can have but little conception. And this sacredness was enhanced and accentuated by prayers offered for the accepted pontiff in the mosques of Medina and Mecca. It was a fresh enunciation of the saying *vox populi vox dei*.’⁹⁸ According to the same writer the sacramental virtue attached to the biat (بيعت) was based upon the idea that all the rules and ordinances which regulated the conduct of the general body of Muslims were the utterances of the voice of God. When a spiritual leader is chosen by the consensus of the people a divine sanction is imparted to his authority and he becomes the source and channel of legitimate government, the only authority who has the right of ordaining deputies entitled to rule, decide or lead at prayers.