After 1877-78 Ottoman Russian War, the secession of 5.5 million Christian subjects from the empire due to the loss of Balkan territories had transformed the empire into an overwhelmingly Asian and Muslim state. This transformation prevented sultan Abdulhamid II to cling on to liberal/Ottomanist policies which rested on confidence towards the west and the Christian elements. Only an absolutist/pro-Islamist policy could keep the remaining pieces of the Empire together. Islam began to assume a different function in this policy in comparison to the Tanzimat era. The Sultan embraced the Asian and Muslim identity of the state. The previous attempts of reformist state officials in promoting secular Ottomanism as the ideological glue holding the empire together was thus replaced by an Islamist one. In line with such a policy, Muslim clerics were venerated, new mosques opened and Islam incorporated more into the education system. The relations with Muslim countries were ever closer, clerics were sent to Islamic countries to promote the office of the caliph, pro-Islam newspapers were subsidized, and closer ties were forged with religious orders, with the overall aim of making the Y?ld?z Palace the Vatican of the Islamic world. Europe interpreted sultan Abdulhamid II’s relations with the Muslims of the world underpinned by the common denominator of religion as 'panislamism' and was intimidated by this policy. However the sultan, a ruler who was fully aware of the limits of his power, pursued the policy of maintaining the status quo would obviously not try and rally all Muslims of the world round his political leadership. So what did the Caliph intend to do? Von der Goltz Pasha, who apparently analyzed Abdulhamid quite well, responds to this question as 'to conquer from within.' The sultan, by boosting his reputation and hence strengthening the office of the caliph, was trying to keep the Muslim elements of the empire together. Put differently, the purpose was to prevent the virus of nationalism from infecting non-Turkish Muslims. The Sultan, intent on preventing the expansion of the Arab nationalist/secessionist movement, allocated a larger share of the state budget to Arabia and began to recruit more Arabs to the state administration as a countermeasure. The Tribal School established to educate the children of Arab notables and the construction of the Hejaz Railway were two such measurees to intgerate the Arabs into the Ottoman system.