First Grain of Sand — Page 58
42 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND authorities that they have not committed any crime and, as such, should be released. This would be superior to creating social unrest and rebellion. I impressed upon the prison officials that adopting a dignified method to achieve lawful goals is the mission of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which is why we not only stop ourselves from actions that disturb the peace of a country but also stop others from doing the same. For this reason, I will not adopt this method now. The Russian government itself considers those who do this and their supporters to be rebels. Thus they dislike this act. The next time I faced a prison official during an interrogation after this episode, he asked me if I had also signed the starvation petition with the other prisoners. When I said no, he asked me why I did not join the movement. In response, I told him that was a rebellious method, and based on the teachings of the Quran, our Community does not consider such a method appropriate. I said that the underlying intention is to gain freedom, but the starvation method is contradictory to freedom because starvation leads to death. The commanding officer was so drawn to my rea- soning that he recommended to the prison's senior leader that my remaining clothing items in their possession should be returned to me. Even a box of Lipton tea that I had brought was also returned to me. When the Soviet government received the large petition from the prisoners, the prison's senior leader gave the order for an immediate transfer of the prisoners' barracks in order to break the unity of the inmates towards a collective movement. Therefore, all prisoners were moved to different wards of the prison. I, too, was moved to the cell in front of my previous cell that was