Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/27

 there were many who were following the strange ways of the reformers. Surely these must be headed for Jehannum (the fires of hell)!

Mohammed Beg was amazed to hear from one of the Afghan pilgrims of the efforts made in Afghanistan by King Amanullah to introduce reforms, and how the people would not tolerate them. This bold reformer had tried to do away with the veil, and even his own wife had gone unveiled in the presence of men. He had tried to introduce the education of girls, and the wearing of Western clothes; but the people were too orthodox to stand for such new ideas. They revolted and drove him from his throne, and from his country. And today he lives the life of an exile somewhere in Europe, in company with the former sultan of Turkey and others who have lost their thrones in recent times.

India, of course, Mohammed Beg pointed out, was different. It was ruled by foreign Christians, and Moslems were not able to live there as true Moslems should. Perhaps that was the explanation. However, if they were true Moslems they should leave the country and migrate to some strictly Moslem land where they could practise their religion according to the law of Islam. Mohammed Beg remembered that when he was a child an Indian Moslem family had come to Kashgar. This they had done because agitators had preached against the foreign rule and urged all true followers of Islam to move out of India and seek religious freedom elsewhere.