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Confessions Of A British Spy

Muhammad of Najd was the sort I had been looking for. For his scorn for the time’s scholars, his slighting even the (earliest) four Khalîfas, his having an independent view in understanding the Qur’ân and the Sunna were his most vulnerable points to hunt and obtain him. So different this conceited youngster was from that Ahmed Efendi who had taught me in Istanbul! That scholar, like his predecessors, was reminiscent of a mountain. No power would be able to move him. Whenever he mentioned the name of Abû Hanîfa, he would stand up, go and make an ablution. Whenever he meant to hold the book of Hadîth named he would, again, make an ablution. The Sunnîs trust this book very much. Muhammed of Najd, on the other hand, disdained Abû Hanîfa very much. He would say, “I know better than Abû Hanîfa did. In addition, according to him, half of the book of wrong.

Muhammad of Najd was the sort I had been looking for. For
his scorn for the time’s scholars, his slighting even the (earliest)
four Khalîfas, his having an independent view in understanding
the Qur’ân and the Sunna were his most vulnerable points to hunt
and obtain him. So different this conceited youngster was from
that Ahmed Efendi who had taught me in Istanbul! That scholar,
like his predecessors, was reminiscent of a mountain. No power
would be able to move him. Whenever he mentioned the name of
Abû Hanîfa, he would stand up, go and make an ablution.
Whenever he meant to hold the book of Hadîth named he would, again, make an ablution. The Sunnîs trust this book
very much.
Muhammed of Najd, on the other hand, disdained Abû Hanîfa
very much. He would say, “I know better than Abû Hanîfa did.
In addition, according to him, half of the book of wrong.

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French writer Marcelle Perneau, who is famous for his travels<br />

to India in the early twentieth century, gives the following account<br />

in his Notes on My Travel to India:<br />

“I made an appointment with an Indian scholar, who was<br />

widely known in Europe, so much so that he had been granted<br />

professorship by some universities; we decided to meet in a <strong>British</strong><br />

club in India. When the Indian arrived, the <strong>British</strong> did not let him<br />

in, disignoring his fame. It was only after I found out what was<br />

happening and insisted that I was able to see the Indian in the<br />

club.”<br />

The <strong>British</strong> have treated other people with such cruelty as<br />

could not be inflicted on animals.<br />

Their biggest colony is India, where they perpetrated savage,<br />

sadistic cruelties for years; in the Amritsar city of this country a<br />

group of Hindus who had come together for a religious rite did not<br />

pay due respect to a <strong>British</strong> woman missionary. The missionary<br />

complained to the <strong>British</strong> General Dyer. Upon this the general<br />

ordered his soldiers to open fire on the people performing their<br />

rite. Seven hundred people were killed in ten minutes, and more<br />

than a thousand people were wounded. Unsatisfied with this, the<br />

general forced the people to walk on their hands and feet like<br />

animals for three days. A complaint was filed and reported to<br />

London, whereupon the government issued an order for an<br />

investigation.<br />

When the inspector sent forth to India for the investigation<br />

asked the general for what reason he had ordered his soldiers to<br />

open fire on defenceless people, the general answered, “I am the<br />

commander here. I make the decisions about the military<br />

executions here. I ordered so because I considered it right.” When<br />

the inspector asked what was the reason for his ordering the<br />

people to crawl face downwards, the general answered, “Some<br />

Indians crawl face downwards before their gods. I wanted them to<br />

know that a <strong>British</strong> woman is as sacred as a Hindu god, and,<br />

therefore, they have to crawl in front of her, too, let alone<br />

insulting her.” And when the inspector reminded him that the<br />

people would have to go out for shopping and other things, the<br />

general’s answer was, “If these people were human beings they<br />

would not crawl on their faces in the streets. They live in adjacent<br />

houses with flat roofs. They would walk on their roofs like human<br />

beings.” These statements of the general’s were publicized by the<br />

– 76 –

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