Truth is paramount, not the event; principles matter more than individuals. It is not significant who said something or when it was said, but what was said and why. This reflects my perspective on history.
However, this approach provides only a limited understanding of Truth and Principles. Truth, without being embodied in someone’s life, remains an abstract, objective ideal that often leads to utopianism. As it is rightly said, “If you love someone, show it.” Similarly, as Dr. Radhakrishnan remarked in another context, “Show me that you are saved; then I will believe in your Savior.” Truth and Principles gain meaning and appeal only when they are demonstrated through life and action.
This principle is well illustrated in a profound explanation by Mahatma Gandhi. He addressed the misunderstandings that arise when selectively quoting a person’s views—especially when those views concern a follower of another faith. Gandhi’s insight is particularly relevant in the context of interfaith harmony.
During the early period of India’s independence movement, tensions between Hindus and Muslims ran high. Despite repeated efforts by Gandhi to foster unity, these divisions often tested his ideal of Swaraj. Yet, his approach to bridging these divides remains instructive. It is worth revisiting his writings even today, as they continue to resonate deeply, though written nearly a century ago.
Gurukulam, 12-6-2024
239. CHARGE AGAINST MAHOMED ALI
The Maulana, who was asked in a meeting at Lucknow a question on his first speech, gave this reply: “I consider the religious principles of an adulterous Muslim to be better than Mahatma Gan-dhi’s religious principles.” Here the Maulana has not instituted a comparison between “Mahatma” Gandhi and an adulterous Muslim,
(p. 234)
but only between their religious principles. Let us also consider for a while why this comparison was made. The Muslims have charged the Maulana with having become a flatterer or worshipper of Gandhi. To worship Gandhi is to deify Gandhi, that is, to believe that there is nothing higher than Gandhi in this world. This amounts to professing Gandhi’s religion, and that was the charge against the Maulana. The Maulana gave the reply quoted above to meet this allegation of some Muslims. While trying to please the Muslims, did he annoy the Hindus? If the Maulana had uttered the above-quoted sentence on some other occasion, he would not have been criticized at all….Moreover, in his letter to Swami Sharddhanand, he has expressed his belief that “Mahatma” Gandhi is the best man in the whole world. But he has assessed the religious principles of that “Mahatma” as lower than those of an adulterous Muslim. There is no contradiction at all in this. Moreover, almost the whole world recognizes the difference between persons and their principles.
Christian friends close to me regard me as a very good man and yet, because they consider their religion better than mine, pray to God that I may become a Christian. I received a letter two or three weeks ago from one such friend in South Africa, in which he writes:
I was glad to hear that you were released. I always pray for you that God may give you good sense, so that you may start believing in Jesus Christ and His power to effect deliverance. if you do so, your work would soon bear fruit.
Thus, many Christian friends desire me to become a Christian.
What do many Hindus do? Do they not consider the principles of their own religion to be far superior to those of the noblest Christian on Muslim? If they do not, will they give their daughter in marriage to the best Muslim or Christian? Again, they would not give her even to the best among Hindus if he does not belong to their own denomination or sub-caste. What does that suggest? They believe their own religion to be better than any other.
In my humble opinion, the Maulana has proved the purity of his heart and his faith in his own religion by expressing his view. He has, in fact, honoured me in two ways-first, as a friend, secondly as a man. He has honoured me as a friend because he has taken it for granted
(P.235)
that I shall not take it ill at all if he says anything about me, that I shall never put a wrong construction on his words. He has honoured me as a man because, despite the difference in our religions and despite his belief that his religion is better than mine, he regards me as the best among men. What an implicit confidence in me! I can understand people’s superstition which leads them to regard me as a good man, but how strange it is that a friend who has been in close association with me regards me as the best despite seeing the many defects in me!
….Even if it is possible to assess any man as the best among men, it can only be after his death. [Gandhi]
…There-fore, the true definition of swaraj is this: swaraj is control over one’s own self. He who gains such control has gained everything. The saying, “The world is good, if we are ourselves good” is very meaningful. [Swaraj] …I tremble because my friends regard me as the best man. If I (p.236)
come to believe it, it will bring about my downfall, because I have yet far to climb. My aspiration has no bounds. Many are the inner enemies whom I have to conquer. The deeper I ponder, the better I come to realize my drawbacks. As I do so, I wonder what the truly best men will be like. As I ponder over this, I get some idea of moksha and its bliss. Then I get a faint glimpse of Divine Reality. [Gandhi]
… But at the same time, he [Swamiji Sharddhanand] has also made it clear that in the case of his own religion mere principles did not count and that a man was judged by his character. By giving a reply to this, the Maulana has removed even the doubt arising from the Swamiji’s writing. The Maulana does not think that a person who believes in principles need not act upon them. He merely compared two sets of religious principles and gave his opinion as to which was better. He has pointed out in another letter2 of his that, even if the principles in which a man believes are of the best, they will avail him nothing if he does not act upon them.
Hence what Maulana Mahomed Ali has said only comes to this, that to everyone his own religion appears good. Which Hindu can controvert that statement? We shall consider on another occasion how this molehill was made into a mountain and how we can stop recurrence of such misunderstandings. [misunderstanding]
[From Gujarati], Navajivan, 13-4-1924, CWMG, vol. 27, pp. 234-237
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