Oh Hindus and Mussalmans, do you inhabit any country other than India? Do you not both live here on the same land and are you not buried in this land or cremated on the ghats of this land? You live here and die here. Therefore remember that Hindu and Mussalman are words of religious significance otherwise Hindus, Mussalmans and Christians who live in this country constitute one nation.

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"O Hindus and Muslims! Do you belong to a country other than India? Don’t you live on the soil and are you not buried under it or cremated on its ghats? If you live and die on this land, then bear in mind that ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ is but a religious word: all the Hindus, Muslims and Christians who live in this country are one nation." Quoted in Shirali, Aresh (10 August 2017). "The Enigma of Aligarh". Open Magazine.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Syed Ahmed Khan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.