Mahatma Gandhi Quotes
...I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These, and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble
Although the Muslim invasion converted many with force and coercion (conversion by the sword) and used rape to produce a generation of youngsters who could be brought up as Muslims, many Hindus preferred the now religion for the above reasons. In addition, for all but the highest cast Brahmins, the cast system made Indians ripe for conversion to a religion that preached equality of all Muslims as a fundamental tenet. Islam was a much more modern and egalitarian religion.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian Political and Spiritual Leader, Young India, 1924
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.
