Chief Ulama Dilam spoke as well.
"Great Sultan, you cannot let a band of infidels defend our sacred land. They are the greatest blasphemy against our holy war!
If our Muslim brothers who have sacrificed themselves for the faith learned that we were relying on infidels' swords to protect our land, what a monstrous humiliation that would be!"
Murad V, however, asked unconcernedly in return.
"Esteemed Sheikh al-Islam, do you not know that we have always relied on infidels' funds to keep ourselves afloat? Have you ever refused donations from infidels?
Without those infidels' money, we could not even scrape together uniforms and weapons for our soldiers.
The Prophet, too, formed alliances with infidel tribes in times of hardship. Our purpose is to protect Allah's world, and Allah will forgive us."
The Chief Ulama dared not deny anything the Prophet had once done.
(Sheikh al-Islam was an honorific title for the Chief Ulama. This position was highly unusual, similar to the Pope of the Ottoman Empire, but wielding far greater real power in judicial, administrative, and political affairs.)
Murad V turned to Sadiq Pasha again.
"Does the Ottoman Empire currently have any force that can be called elite? A well-trained, well-equipped force is far superior to the raw recruits we hastily conscripted."
"Elites are forged through trial and tempering. As long as you give us time—"
Before Sadiq Pasha could finish, Murad V cut him off.
"Do we still have time? The Russians could come crashing down on us at any moment! Where would we find the time to train recruits?
We are using money to buy time. Do you understand?"
Sadiq Pasha and Chief Ulama Dilam were left speechless.
Grand Vizier Omar had no objection to this. After all, in a sense, he himself was a foreigner.
"The Sultan