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"hooligans". That surely they were not. They were guided
under a thoUght-out plan. They worked more as a battalion
of an organised band of civil-war leaders. And they were all
"Musalmans", let loose upon the "Hindus" !
When the "hooligans" had almost finished the job,
then came one after the other, each punctuated by an
interval of a few days between them, the three public
statements from M. Abdul Kalam Azad, Mr. M. A. Jinnah
and Khan Abdul Chaffar Khan. They must have amused
many, Hindus
and
Muslims, we are sure. They all "con-
demned" alike the "hooligans" for their thousand and one
acts of barbarity, and cruel violations upon humanity they
were carrying on since several days.' And they did so in the
name of "Islam" and appealed to them to desist in the name
of preserving the "honour" of Islam. Honestly, we are not
convinced of the depth of their appeal. And as subsequent
events showed they proved unavailing.
Suppose these "hooligans" luid been at the very begin-
ning, and before they had launched their attack, instructed,
or 'had taken into their head, that what they were about
to do was the real way, the one way with Quranic sanction,
of preserving the "honour of Islarn",—that perhaps might be
one reason why the appeals of these eminent Indian
Muslim leaders did not prove helpful. And, further, there
is yet another pertinent consideration that if these leaders
had in their heart of hearts felt that the Muslim "hooligans"
were killing and burying the honour of Islam, Which they
claim to love with everything most dear to them, including
their very life, would they not have rushed to the spot the
Very moment they heard about it and prevented with their
life-blood, if that was needed, such an injury to Islam ?
Here, again, the fundamental cause is psycholng,ical,
mental prepossessions responsible for cherishing mis-
conceptions of Islamic teachings in the Quran regarding other
religions and their followers. That is the relevancy of our
reference to East Bengal happenings in the present context. To
expose the many fallacies of these misconceptions and bigotry,
and to stimulate inquiry', in 'the '1VInSalman, in whom are
ingrained the ebeliefe" which are product§ of these miscep-
....