First Grain of Sand — Page 146
130 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND he saw me offering my Prayers. In the morning, he then asked me “Богу молитва?' [pronounced bogu molitva], meaning, 'Are you praying to God?' I told him yes, I was offering my Prayers. As he himself was a Tatar Muslim, he would be quite happy about my praying efforts and, in fact, sometimes requested the food servers to give me good food. All prisoners sharing a room had the same time appointed during the day when they were to be taken to relieve themselves outdoors, and they would all openly take off their pants together without hesitation in order to relieve themselves. I, however, cov- ered myself carefully with a sheet before sitting to relieve myself. Observing my actions, the others collectively mocked me as being a fool since I cover myself while using the toilet in front of others. When done, they cleaned themselves with scraps of newspapers, whereas I used water from a kettle, which became another reason for them to mock me. For a few days in the Moscow prison, I was placed in the same room as a few political prisoners. After these few days, I was taken into solitary confinement on the fourth or fifth floor of the prison. Then, for a few days, they put me as usual—in a room with a Russian spy posing as a prisoner. Then he also left, and for over another month, I was kept alone in a cell. Finally, I was summoned for the first time to give a statement in front of the Moscow prison's Colonel. In that interrogation, he said to me he suspects that I am a spy for the British government despite my declarations that I am a religious missionary sent by the Ahmadiyya Movement without a passport to spread the mes- sage of Islam. He said in their law, entering their country without