Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/693

 THE ARREST OF THE ALI BROTHERS 60<

give us victory but quiet suffering, the earlier and more certain will be our victory.

I have made your cause my own because I believe it to be just. Khilafat, I have understood from your best men, is an ideal. You are net fighting to sustain any wrong or even misrule. You are backing the Turks because they represent the gentlemen of Europe, and because the European, and especially the English, preju- dice against them is not because the Turks are worse than others as men, but because they are Mussalmans and will not assimilate the modern spirit of exploitation of weaker people and their lands. In fighting for the Turks you are fighting to raise the dignity and the purity of your own faith.

You have, naturally, therefore, chosen pure methods to attain your end. It cannot be denied that both Mussalmans and Hindus have lost much in moral stamina. Both of us have become poor representatives, of our respective faiths. Instead of each one of us becoming a true child of God, we expect others to live our religion and even to die for us. But we have now chosen a method that compels us to turn, each one of us, our face towards God. Non-co-operation presumes that our opponent with whom we non-co- operate resorts, to methods \vhich are as questionable as the purpose he seeks to fulfil by such methods. We shall, therefore, find favour in the sight of God only by choosing methods which are different in kind from those of our opponents. This is a big claim we have made for ourselves, and we can attain success, within the short time appointed by us, only if our methods are in reality radically different from those of the Government. Hence, the foundation of our movement rests on complete

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