First Grain of Sand — Page 90
74 FIRST GRAIN OF SAND I wanted to say, Abdullah Khan spontaneously spoke up saying that he, too, is not afraid of anyone and is ready to sacrifice his life in the cause of this faith should he be required to do so. The new man who had posed the initial question about the Quran quietly returned back to his cell without saying a word, and he did not try to continue a relationship with me from that point forward. On so many occasions, the government's spy, Abdul Qadir, attempted to discover which inmates inside the prison had embraced my ideas. He would often try to spark a debate between myself and two Muslim clerics appointed by the Soviet regime in an effort to create distance between Abdullah Khan and myself and to also turn the rest of the inmates against me. He constantly bothered me so he could discover who supported me. However, having identified what Abdul Qadir was trying to do, I would do my best to bear through it silently with patience. This resulted in moments when some of my cellmates would impulsively speak up, scolding him and stopping him from argu- ing with me. Whenever the intensity of suspicion against me would become excessive and many individuals coming to my cell would quiz me, I would remain as quiet as possible and not say a word so that they wouldn't have the ability to twist my words when reporting back to the government. Instead, I remained busy with my work, while remembering the wisdom that the safety of humankind lies in the protection of the tongue [i. e. watching what we say]. During these days, I spent time reading Maulana Rumi's book, Masnawi, and a couple other books that were given to me. After Abdul Qadir's claim that I am a spy, the State Prosecutor who