THE INDIAN MUSSULMANS.
(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPICTATOB." J
SIR,—In your "News of the Week" in your last issue you quote the Nawab of Dacca as speaking of a " noisy majority of other races,"—that is, races other than Mohammedan races. The Nawali, of course, did not mean that some races in India were Mohammedan and some not Mohammedan. But unless warned in time, your readers might gather from what he says that the Indian Mussulmans are a race, differing from their non-Mohammedan neighbours in blood as well as in religion. This is not so. To speak of a Mohammedan race in India is as misleading as to speak of a Roman Catholic race in Europe. The Indian Mussulmans are the people who profess the Mohammedan religion. They are of many races, generally of the same race as their non-Mohammedan neighbours. I pointed this out in a letter you were good enough to insert in your issue of October 13th last. It is of very great importance that people in this country should clearly understand that the cleavage is not racial, but religious. —I am, Sir, Ac., OLD LIBERAL.