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and his ridicule of the religious minded, lent support to public suspicion. Nor did the facts that the water-supply of some mosques was cut off, their electric light was discon- nected, and some religious places were allowed بر باد رفته to fall into a state of dilapidation, help تخفیف دادن to allay the rumours. Some stupid officials publicly declared that Qoranic laws had become obsolete and were no longer suited to modern conditions. Such acts helped to stir the smouldering fire of public indigna- tion into a general conflagration until it assumed the dreadful form of a religious war, not so much a rebellion against a king, as a Jehad against an infidel. 14