Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/152

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130
TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL

Legislative Council of the Government of India "to legalise under certain circumstances the remarriage of native converts to Christianity." Much dissatisfaction was expressed among the Muhammadan community owing to the fact that certain provisions of the Bill were regarded as being in direct opposition to the principles of Muhammadan Law. The importance of the changes proposed was much exaggerated among the ignorant classes who came to regard the Bill as a serious attack upon their religion and as an attack upon the sanctity of their women. To counteract this unwarrantable belief Moulvi Abdul Latif convened a meeting of the leaders of Muhammadan society at his own house and as a result a memorial was drawn up and submitted to the Legislative Council, pointing out in respectful terms the opposition that had been aroused, and the objection to the Bill from the Muhammadan point of view. The result was that the Muhammadan community was exempted from the operation of the act, which shortly afterwards became law.

In 1870 the lower classes of the Muhammadan community were again thrown into a state of excitement by the conduct and preaching of the Wahabis who were rapidly becoming a serious thorn in the side of Government. Moulvi Abdul Latif, quick to see the harm that they might do and the retrograde nature of their teaching which was opposed to all his theories of progress and modern advancement,