Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 380
380 other Muhammadans will permit themselves to say anything derogatory to the honour of the Hindu scriptures and the Hindu rishis after the compact has been made. But in order to make the agreement strong and sure, it will he necessary that it should be signed by at least 10,000 intelligent men on both sides. Dear countrymen; there is nothing like peace. Let us become one nation and one people by means of this compact. You see how much discord there is in the land and how greatly the country has suffered on account of this mutual refutation. Come, and try even now how great are the blessings of mutual approbation. This is the best means of bringing about a recon- ciliation. To try to have peace by any other means is like leaving alone a sore which is bright and smooth from outside, but ^ is inwardly full of foul and putrid matter. I need not stop here to discuss that the disunion that is daily increasing in thisland is not solely due to religious differences, but that it is also due in part to worldly considerations. The Hindus, for instance, have always been desirous of having a share in the government of the country or of having at least their opinion consulted on important political matters, of bringing their grievances to the notice of the Rulers and of being admitted to the higher posts of the administration like the Europeans. The Muhamrnadans made the mistake of keeping aloof from the Hindus in their endeavours to attain this object. They thought that as they were less in number than the Hindus, it was only the latter that were to reap the fruit of these exertions and so they not only held themselves, aloof from the Hindus, but they even opposed them and acted as a hinderance in their way. The result was that the ill-feeling that already existed between them was much aggravated. I admit that these causes have also added to the original enmity between the two races, but I cannot believe