We desire to express ( ur agreement with a weighty
and well-reasoned leading article in the Times of Wednesday dealing with the deputation representing the Mohammedan community throughout India which is to wait on the Viceroy on Monday next. We trust that Lord Dilute will make it clear to the deputation how entirely the British Govern- ment has the interests of its Mohammedan subjects at hearts
and how strongly determined it is to hold the balance evenly between the various sections of the Indian population and not to allow an unfair dominance to any one race or creed. The dangerous and disingenuous policy adopted by the Sultan of Turkey in his relations with Egypt has made it necessary for us to take a firm stand against a Sovereign whom Mohammedans throughout the world regard with reverence on religious grounds. But this opposition to the Sultan on the part of the British Government does not involve, and was never meant to involve, the slightest hostility to Islam in any part of the world. It is therefore of the first importance to make it clear that not only are we not hostile as a nation to the Mohammedan creed, but that, on the contrary, we, as the greatest of Mohammedan Powers, hold it a duty to respect the rights of Islam, and to confirm those rights wherever they are legitimately exercised.
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