First Grain of Sand — Page 161
STRENGTHENING MY RESOLVE 145 Бога нет. Все мы товарищи. [pronounced: Boga nyet. Vse mi tova-rishi. - ‘There is no God. We are all comrades. ] During my time in the Tashkent prison, I was told that when the Lenin government came to power, he executed many religious clergy while many other clergy fled the country. This is because Lenin believed the unrest in the country during the Czar's regime was masterminded by priests who were destroying the peace of the country under the guise of religion. Thus, after the Czar, a law was passed in the Soviet Union forbidding the open preaching of any religion. For this reason, in the Tashkent prison, some political pris- oners kindly advised me not to mention God so much. They would tell me that this government not only denies religion but also completely dislikes religious publicity and people. However, every time I was punished in any way, it only emboldened me and cultivated bravery and courage within me. These poems of Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih II, became the power of inspiration for me and strengthened my passion for believing in the One God. One of those poems always stuck with me in my heart. During the early 1920s, Gandhi's movement established a superficial unity between Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. At that time, the Aryah Samaj leader, Shraddhanand-who was an enemy of Islam and the Prophet Muhammadsas—had begun the Shuddhi move- ment [a socio-political movement with the aim of conversions to Hinduism] in Agra against Muslims. Yet, despite his antagonism against Muslims, it was the Muslims themselves who invited him to deliver a speech in the pulpit of the Jamia Masjid in Delhi. Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih II was greatly pained from this move by