The Message of Pilgrimage

I performed hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) in 1982. My knowledge of hajj prior to this had been limited to what I could gain from books. When at last in that year I had the privilege of performing this religious duty, I felt singularly blessed. Although the rites of hajj are spread over only a few days, as symbolic guidelines they stand a man in good stead for the rest of his life. The message of hajj, as I now comprehend it from the study and performance of it, is that man should make the Almighty the very pivot of his existence, hastening at His call to do His every bidding.

When a man leaves his home and country to go on such a pilgrimage, he brims over with all the emotions aroused by the thought that he is embarking on a course which will lead him directly to God. He is, in effect, sloughing off his own world, leaving it behind him, and reaching out for the world of the Almighty.

He is on his way to the House of God, a place where the great deeds of God’s messengers and their followers have been preserved for all eternity; where we find the hallowed impressions of the lives of those who lived and died for the cause of God. The haji (pilgrim) is then filled with the realization that he is bound for that very destination which God had specially chosen for His Last Revelation. Once launched on this course, the pilgrim is imbued with the awareness of God, His creation plan, as well as the feeling that it is imperative that he become God-oriented. If up till then, he had been self-centred in his thinking, he now turns his thoughts to God, and his entire behaviour is moulded and transformed by these new thought processes.

Once the pilgrim’s train of thought has become Godoriented, he begins to ponder over deep issues: God’s act of creation, particularly His creation of human beings.

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Once the pilgrim’s train of thought has become God-oriented, he begins to ponder over deep issues: God’s act of creation, particularly His creation of human beings. He now realizes how God afforded him diverse opportunities of bettering himself in this world and His very benevolence which makes it possible for him to set forth on this journey to the House of God. The pilgrim also gives his mind to the day when he will meet his death and be summoned to the court of God. This thought turns the physical journey of the pilgrim into an intense, spiritual venture.

When the time nears for his entrance into the haram (sacred territory), every pilgrim divests himself of his clothing in order to don a new kind of ‘uniform’—an unstitched, plain, white garment which serves to heighten his consciousness of entering a new world. The very act of shedding his normal clothes (and with them all signs of status and ethnicity) signifies that he is separating himself from the way of life peculiar to his environment, and is now ready to become suffused with such emotions as are desired by God. In this way, thousands of men, in casting off their hues, take on the hue of the Almighty. After clothing himself in ihram (a specific raiment), the pilgrim finds his tongue of itself beginning to utter these words: Labbayk! Labbayk! And he continues as if hastening to answer God’s call, to repeat the words Allahumma Labbayk, ‘’O God, I am here, I have come!” Labbayk (I am here) does not just narrowly mean that the pilgrim has come to stay in Makkah. It means that in leaving his normal abode, he has cast aside his whole way of life. It means, ‘I am here, at Your command, and, with all my heart and soul, I am ready to obey You.’ While on their pilgrimage, pilgrims simply give utterance to the word Labbayk, but when they return to their own countries, they must put it into practice in their everyday lives.

The pilgrim also gives his mind to the day when he will meet his death and be summoned to the court of God. This thought turns the physical journey of the pilgrim into an intense, spiritual venture.

On reaching Makkah, the pilgrim must perform tawaf (circumambulation of Ka’ba). To do this, he enters the House of God (Baitullah), the great mosque in whose spacious central courtyard stands the Ka’ba, which was erected by the Prophet Abraham in ancient times. Then, he goes round the Ka’ba seven times to demonstrate his willingness to make God the pivot of his whole existence.

After the tawaf, there comes the ritual of sa‘i, which entails brisk walking from the hill of Safa to the hill of Marwa and back again. This procedure is repeated seven times in symbolic enactment of a promise, or covenant, to expend all of one’s energies in the path of God. The form which this ritual takes can be traced back to the Prophet Abraham’s wife, Hagar, running from one hill to another in a frantic search for water for her young baby when they first arrived there.

The most important period of worship during hajj is the day-long sojourn on the plain of Arafat. It is, indeed, an awesome spectacle, with people from all over the world, clad in identical, simple, white garments, chanting, “Lord, I am present; Lord, I am present.” This serves to impress upon the mind of the pilgrim how great a gathering there will be in the presence of God on the Day of Reckoning. Once he becomes aware of its true significance, all his problems fall into their true perspective, and his life cannot but take a turn for the better.

Another practice during hajj is the casting of stone at Jamrat-e-Uqba. This is a symbolic act through which the pilgrim renews his determination to drive Satan away from him. In this way, he makes it plain that his relationship with Satan is one of enmity and resistance. The next step for the pilgrim is to turn his symbolic acts into reality, so that he may be purged of all evils, for all the evils besetting man result from the instigation of Satan.

The day of Arafath serves to impress upon the mind of the pilgrim how great a gathering there will be in the presence of God on the Day of Reckoning.

After this, the pilgrim sacrifices an animal to God, an act symbolizing the sacrifice of the self (This is referred to in the Quran as sha’airullah: signs of God). His faith is such that even if it comes to any kind of sacrifice he will not hesitate to do so in the service of God.

To believe in God is to see the invisible force behind visible objects.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan addressed many press conferences in his lifetime. He also wrote a good deal about the role of media in shaping public opinion. In this article, Maulana enumerates the challenges the media faces. He also provides some guiding principles.

AS part of our mission for constructive work, we seek to communicate our message to every section of the community. Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea that our message gets communicated to our friends of the press as well. For the press is, in our day and age, like the public’s eye with which they see; it is like the public’s mind with which they think.

Although journalism is not very advanced in our country, still—in theory at least—the press is the greatest power in the modern age. In western countries, the press has become an independent force, parallel to governments. If the press in these countries turns against a president or prime minister, then its opposition cannot be ignored. The political eclipse of Richard Nixon in 1973 provides us with an example of the power of the press in western countries.

However, I would like to say that the power of the press has not yet been channeled in the right direction. Man today holds this power in his grasp, but as yet it has not been effectively implemented for the improvement of humankind.

For the media, a piece of good news is no news. A news item has no appeal if it has no sensational value. Modern journalism makes a thing, which in real terms is worthless, appear as if it is of the greatest worth. Steven Pinker is a cognitive scientist and a celebrated author of many best-selling books. Enlightenment Now is perhaps his most famous book. In this book, the author argues on behalf of reason, science, humanism and progress. An adapted article from this book appeared in The Guardian, February 17, 2018.

“News is about things that happen, not things that don’t happen. We never see a journalist saying to the camera, “I’m reporting live from a country where a war has not broken out”— or a city that has not been bombed, or a school that has not been shot up. As long as bad things have not vanished from the face of the earth, there will always be enough incidents to fill the news, especially when billions of smartphones turn most of the world’s population into crime reporters and war correspondents.”

He also writes: “Plane crashes always make the news, but car crashes, which kill far more people, almost never do. Not surprisingly, many people have a fear of flying, but almost no one has a fear of driving. People rank tornadoes (which kill about 50 Americans a year) as a more common cause of death than asthma (which kills more than 4,000 Americans a year), presumably because tornadoes make for better television.”

What we ask of the press is that it should attach importance to real value, not to news value. Attaching importance to real value makes one realistic, and realism is the source of all human virtues. Attaching importance to news value, on the other hand, leads to insincerity, and insincerity is, without doubt, the cause of all human evils.

The press can play an important role in the sincere and constructive society. But at present, it is proceeding in a direction quite contrary to this aim. Islam seeks to train people to attach importance to realities.

Attaching importance to real value makes one realistic, and realism is the source of all human virtues.

While on a foreign trip, I met a gentleman from Canada. He asked me the meaning of Islam. “Islam means realism,” I replied. In fact, Islam is the science of life, and this science is founded on the principle that one should be a realist in this world; in every matter, one should adopt a realistic attitude which is the secret to every success in life, and lack of realism is the prime cause of all failure.

In the present age, there are two departments which are particularly important in fashioning life. These two departments are science and journalism. Science is connected more to the physical world and journalism to the human world. Science studies events in the universe, and journalism deals with the events in the world of man. But the strange thing is that these two departments are at severe odds with one another.

Science is founded fully on realistic principles; it proceeds in compliance with the reality that there is a world outside us that rests solidly on firm laws. Water, for instance, has a law of its own; so does land, and so does the atmosphere. Ships come into being by virtue of conformance with the laws of water; motor cars result from conformance with the laws of the land; airplanes develop from the conformance with laws of atmosphere. This complete conformance with the outside world is what every triumph of science basically is.

But in journalism or the world of man, the very opposite is the case. One chapter of a book I read on journalism showed the principles that a journalist observes when compiling a story. These principles have been illustrated by a special term in journalism: Inverted Pyramid. For instance, a building, 21-storeys in height, is being constructed in town. When a journalist makes a story out of this, his first sentence will be: ‘21-storey building constructed’. Clearly, the 21st storey was the last thing to be built. First, the plan was laid; then the ground was prepared; then the foundations were dug, and construction started from the base until finally the top storey was erected. But, in the news report, it is the 21st storey that comes first.

We must never forget that news items not only shape our opinions, but they also affect our mental health. Sensational or negative news items produce many untoward traits in humans.

One can say that if science attaches importance to real value, then journalism attaches importance to news value. This contradiction in the two major departments of life has caused chaos on earth. The principles which we adopt in science with successful results, we fail to adopt in the rest of our lives; here, we put the contrary principles into practice. The result of this contradiction is that the success which we have obtained in science, we have not been able to obtain in ordinary life. We can, by scientific means, construct a superbly planned town, but in this same town, we cannot live superbly planned lives. Science has enabled us to manufacture machines which work with technical perfection, but we cannot make man fulfil his duty with the same technical perfection.

The thing which is flashed most in the newspapers is that which has the most news value. The most successful press conference is one which is convened on some major public issue. We would like this situation to be changed. We would like to see the same realistic posture that is adopted in the world of physics, adopted in the world of man also. We must never forget that news items not only shape our opinions, but they also affect our mental health. Sensational or negative news items produce many untoward traits in humans.

Steven Pinker enumerates these effects: “Consumers of negative news, not surprisingly, become glum: a recent literature review cited “misperception of risk, anxiety, lower mood levels, learned helplessness, contempt and hostility towards others, desensitization, and in some cases, complete avoidance of the news.”

Islam holds that the Quran is God’s light to man, guiding him on the path to this life of realism. The summary of its teachings is that man should adopt the religion that the whole universe has adopted.

Cutting Man to Size

ON April 8, 1984, Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian spaceman, gave an interview from space which relayed from the mission control centre in Moscow. It was telecast live on the national Indian TV network. Part of the conversation went like this:

Question: How do you pass your time when there is no work?

Sharma: I just peep through the window and watch the timeless space.

Question: Don’t you feel like a tiny human being up there, dwarfed by the endless space?

Sharma: Certainly, it’s mind-boggling.

Humility is the greatest quality that man can have, and arrogance is undoubtedly the worst. Humility is the result of realistic thinking; for it is a fact that man is an extremely small and insignificant part of an extremely vast and fathomless universe.

Arrogance, on the other hand, is the result of superfluous thinking, for when one thinks of the tiny place one occupies in the universe as a whole, there can be no room for arrogance.

Humility is the greatest quality that man can have, and arrogance is undoubtedly the worst.

Thinking of oneself in relation to other men might lead to arrogance, for one may be better off than them; one might hold a higher status in life. But when one thinks of oneself in relation to the vast universe, arrogance disappears, for one sees how small and insignificant one is. God has created the universe so that we may observe and ponder over it; so that realization of its greatness may lead us to a realization of what a small part we occupy in it; so that we may be imbued with the quality of humility, which is the greatest and most realistic quality that man can have.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s writing career spanned about seven decades. His early writings date back to 1955. Promulgating the eternal teachings of religion, providing divine guidance from the Quran and the Hadith for the ever-changing world and academic discussion of the teachings of religion were his main concerns. Through this column, we take our readers across memory lane to read the timeless wisdom of a revealed religion through his writings. He wrote this article in 1984. It calls for total dedication of the members of CPS towards the Mission. It also enumerates the qualities of a CPS missionary.

A GRAND ADVENTURE

“MEN wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” —Sir Ernest Shackleton

This is an advertisement published in The Times, London, 1900, by Sir Ernest Shackleton. He required a team for exploration of the Antarctic. As a result of this advertisement, Shackleton’s epic voyage to within 100 miles of the South Pole (1907-1909) took place. No commercial stunts or slogans, just a few lines of type pulled applications that far exceeded the requirement, so Shackleton had to make a selection from among them in order to form a team.

It was neither the subject of the advertisement nor the personality of the advertiser which produced such a great response; it was the nation to whom the appeal was made. It is a historical fact that during the 19th century, the British nation was the most ambitious and adventurous in the world. On account of this, it established an empire which extended over such a vast portion of the globe that the sun never set on it. Indeed, it was not only for the Antarctic exploration but for any adventure whatsoever, that this nation could produce highly dependable people. Nothing great was ever accomplished without making sacrifices.

Centre for Peace and Spirituality (CPS) through its periodicals Spirit of Islam, Al-Risala Urdu and Al-Risala Hindi breathes the same spirit as the above advertisement. Our appeal, then, is addressed to those who have the same spirit of adventure and self-sacrifice as those who responded to Shackleton’s appeal. Our aim is to form a team which will set out, as Shackleton’s team did, on a grand adventure requiring self-denial and courage. This team, however, will have its sights set not on any worldly goal but on an eternal cause: it will strive to communicate the true message of Islam a religion of nature to the people of the world. The Muslim world today is engaged in all manners of activities, but it has neglected this all-important task.

This is a mission which demands highest level of sacrifice; it calls for suppression of desires and ambitions; it requires one to rise above the thoughts of visible gain in this world for the sake of invisible gain that is promised in the life to come, for God has promised Paradise to those who come forward to serve His cause. Eternal blessing and eternal comfort: they are there for the asking. Will anyone come forward?

The Greatest Motivation

A creeper growing in a courtyard once had the misfortune of having its roots and branches buried under mounds of earth and rubble when the house was undergoing repairs. Later, when the courtyard was cleaned up, the owner of the house cut away the creeper, which had been badly damaged, and even pulled out its roots so that it would not grow again. The whole courtyard was then laid with bricks and cemented over.

A few weeks later, something stirred at the place where the creeper had been rooted out. The bricks heaved upwards at one point as though something was pushing them from below. This appeared very strange but was dismissed as being the burrowing of rats. The riddle was solved when some of the bricks were removed, and it was discovered that the creeper had started growing again, although in a sadly distorted form. As it happened, not all of its roots had been pulled out, and when the time of the year came around for them to grow, life began to stir within them and they pushed their way up through the cement to the sunlight. It is one of nature’s miracles that these tender leaves and buds, which can be so easily crushed to a pulp between finger and thumb, can summon up such strength as to force their way through bricks and cement.

The owner of the house then regretted having attempted to take the creeper’s life. He remarked, “It is just as if it were appealing to me for the right to grow. Now I certainly won’t stand in its way.” And so saying, he removed some more of bricks so that it would grow unhindered. In less than a year, a fifteen-foot creeper was flourishing against the courtyard wall at the exact point from which it had been so unceremoniously ‘uprooted’.

Life-force is the great moving force in this world. The sense of being alive is the greatest motivating factor for any person. A person should never lose hope despite any shortcoming and hurdles. If one is alive, this is motivation enough to succeed.

mountain, despite its great height and girth, cannot remove so much as a pebble from its flanks. But these tiny, tender buds of the tree can crack a cemented floor and sprout up through it. Whence such power? The source of its energy is the mysterious phenomenon of our world called life. Life is an astonishing, ongoing process of this universe—a force which will claim its rights in this world, and, even when uprooted, it continues to exist, albeit dormant, at one place or the other and reappears the moment it finds the opportunity. Lifeforce is the great moving force in this world. The sense of being alive is the greatest motivating factor for any person. The above example makes it quite clear that a person should never lose hope despite any shortcomings and hurdles. If one is alive, this is motivation enough to succeed. Precisely when people have come to the conclusion that, because there is nothing visible on the surface, life must be at an end, that is the moment it rears its head from the debris.

Substance over Shadow

“HERE are my entire life’s savings.” So saying, an elderly scholar, who had spent his whole life reading and writing, in the utmost simplicity placed a cheque for Rs. 10,000 in the hands of his newly-wed daughter and son-in-law. He explained that he had been able to save this amount out of his meagre income by living frugally and never wasting anything. “I could have spent all this on lavish wedding celebrations,” he added, “but I preferred to hand it over to you young people so that you could make a good beginning in life.”

The young couple were extremely grateful for this decision and lost no time in investing the money in a small business. To begin with they had to work very hard to make a success of it and passed through various difficult stages. But they never lost courage, and a time eventually came when they had considerably increased their profits and were able to live a happy, comfortable life, knowing, too, that their children’s future was assured. But without the scholar’s initial providence, foresight and courage in resisting public opinion, they might never have had the wherewithal to make a start in life at all and might well have ended their days in penury.

One’s wedding is a very serious event in life, not just an occasion for senseless showing off. It is rather a day to shoulder life’s responsibilities as mature, grown-up people and future parents. It is a day for a man and a woman to enter into a ‘firm contract’ (4: 21), not just an opportunity to impress friends, neighbours and relatives with one’s spending ability. It is at all events advisable that the marriage ceremony should be simple and straightforward, thereby avoiding pointless expenditure. Before anyone spends his entire life’s savings on gaudy displays—for money, after all, is hard-earned and difficult to accumulate—he should reflect seriously on the above-mentioned incident. All things considered, would it not be better to avoid ostentation altogether and to think of how best one can help the young couple concerned? If this practice were to become widely adopted, it would not only benefit young people in general but would actually make a positive contribution to national construction. The millions of rupees which are habitually lavished on short-lived magnificence could then be channelized into areas of the national economy which are at present unfairly neglected, thus creating favourable conditions for general economic uplift.

Be Ready to Lose Yourself in a Great Cause

THE people of this world can be divided up into two distinct categories. On the one hand, there are those who want an immediate reward for all that they do, with their recompense exceeding the work they have put in. Then there are those who are not out to get any material reward at all. Just the knowledge that they have contributed in some way to a worthwhile cause is sufficient reward for them. If they receive no recompense for their efforts, it does not cause them concern or arouse their anger. They play their part, but forget about their personal contribution, so engrossed are they in the cause for which they are working.

Outwardly, both groups appear to be the same, but, in reality, there is a world of difference between the two. The first group, one might say, keeps the markets of the world turning over, while the second group turns over new pages in human history. Such is the extent to which the two differ.

It is the second group who make meaningful, valuable contributions to the betterment of humanity, for it is they who are able to join in a common struggle, without which no worthwhile work can be achieved in this world. Whenever a number of people work together for a common goal, it is inevitable that some should receive more credit than others.

Some are hailed for their achievements, while others are denied all recognition. This is true of all movements, whether popular or prophetic in nature. There is only one way for a common effort to prosper, and that is for people to forget about their rights, and remember only their responsibilities.

Unless there is a spirit of selfless struggle among those participating in a common cause, it is not only those who receive no recompense who will feel ill-treated, even those who are rewarded for their contribution will feel that they have not been done justice. Seldom does the reward a person receives for his efforts live up to his expectations. It is a case of either being satisfied with nothing, or never being satisfied at all.

Those who are destined to perform great deeds in life are those who do not seek any reward for what they have done; the very fact that they have done something worthwhile is sufficient reward for them. The knowledge that they have played their part is enough to make them content, even more so than those who have been abundantly rewarded for their efforts.

Sense of a Mission

A book published in America in 1986 entitled Peak Performers: The New Heroes of American Business makes a study of the lives of a number of individuals in modern America who played a heroic role in business. The writer Charles Garfield especially emphasizes on the point that sense of a great mission can trigger in man the powerful urge towards superior effort which ultimately leads him to exceptional achievement.

America sent its first manned spacecraft to land on moon in 1967. The launching of the rocket had been the result of the combined efforts of a large number of experts who had been engaged to work for this mission. One of this team, a computer programmer, said that something extraordinary began to happen as the work got under way. Thousands of ordinary men and women, who were working to make the space programme materialize, had all of a sudden been transformed into super achievers. They had started performing with an efficiency that they had never in their whole lives been able to muster.

What inspires a man more than anything is to have a great mission before him. This arouses a man’s hidden potential and makes him capable of all manners of sacrifices.

Within the short period of 18 months, all of the work had been accomplished with exceptional rapidity.

“Want to know why we’re doing so well?” our manager asked me. He pointed to the pale moon barely visible in the eastern sky. “People have been dreaming about going there for thousands of years. And we’re going to do it.”

It is an undeniable truth that what inspires a man more than anything is to have a great mission before him. That is what arouses a man’s hidden potential and makes him capable of all manners of sacrifices. It makes him, in short, a peak performer.

Nothing is achieved out of fear. A man who is satisfied no longer strives, he does not dream, he does not create. Great success awaits those who are propelled to go an extra mile in anticipation of something bigger than themselves.

CPS International aims to promote and reinforce the culture of peace through mind-based spirituality. It is engaged in promoting peace and spirituality through interfaith efforts.

Drawing inspiration from the Quran, and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, the Centre seeks to share the spiritual principles of Islam with the world and to reveal its true face, based as it is on peace, tolerance and coexistence. We present a selection of CPS activities during May-June, 2021.

1. Four English books of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan released: Spirit of Islam, Ramadan: A Month of Purification, Re-planning of the Islamic Mission in Modern Times, and Realization of God.

2. An Urdu book of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Paighambar-e-Inquilab has been released.

3. Bimonthly digital magazine Al-Risala Hindi launched by Mr Khurram Islam Qureshi.

4. 80,000 copies of the Quran distributed free of cost across the globe

5. Chairperson of CPS International, Prof. Farida Khanam, has started conducting LIVE classes every Sunday.

6. Writer, speaker and sub-editor of Spirit of Islam, Dr. Maria Khan, live streamed 10 sessions on various Islamic topics.

7. Ms Fahmida Khan (Urdu classes) and Ms. Fathima Sarah (English classes) conduct weekly LIVE sessions on the Facebook channel of CPS International.

8. 145+ videos uploaded on our YouTube channel.

9. Regular short videos and messages are broadcast to thousands of our subscribers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

10. Members of CPS regularly write for various publications. 50+ new articles uploaded on our website cpsglobal.org. Our articles feature in The Times of India, The Sunday Guardian, Soulveda and Yours Positively, etc.

CPS GLOBAL ACTIVITIES
The Foundation has a global presence. The CPS Global Network is being developed to act as a hub for networking through the Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Peace Centre and Quran Foundation Centre, New Delhi with Peace Centres, institutes and partners worldwide to spread the message of peace. It will further network with the Ambassadors of Peace globally through personal and e-interactions, interfaith programmes, CPS programmes, CPS outreach, academic programmes, educational programmes and more…

Noted personalities from India and abroad continue to offer condolence and pay tribute to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. Maulana passed away on April 21, 2021.

On the night of April 21, 2021, the world not only lost an eminent thinker, scholar and guide but one of the most ardent advocates of peace. Padma Vibhushan Maulana Wahiduddin Khan was an intellectual giant and an erudite scholar who devoted his life to the pursuance of principles of peace.

His lifelong and unswerving commitment to peace was based on his underlying belief that “peace cannot be sacrificed for anything whilst everything can be sacrificed for peace.” His quest for peace started from a small village called Badhariya (near Azamgarh) and took him around the globe. Wherever he went, he highlighted how “Peace is the summum bonum” (Latin for ‘greater good’) and therefore a prerequisite to everything good! And for nine decades, he used every available opportunity to contribute to peace-making, in India and abroad.

As a fervent wellwisher of humankind, Maulana’s singular mission was to transform the minds of people and develop them into positive and spiritually awakened members of society. This mission has now devolved upon all of us, in our individual or collective capacity, to take forward.

The Maulana was the epitome of the principle, ‘Simple Living, High Thinking’. His goal was to be a lifelong learner and he chose to lead a modest life, free of all distractions. Those who had met him in his New Delhi house were often surprised by the austerity of his Sufi lifestyle. Each day, he used to get up at dawn break and step out to sit on his balcony. This ‘Spiritual Corner’ was his way of being in nature and it served as an inspiration for him. He drew lessons from the simplest everyday events and conveyed meaningful spiritual principles through them in his unforgettable and powerful baritone. As a scholar, he dared to stand for truth, criticize what he saw was wrong and tear apart the influence of the traditional framework he grew in, to develop an objective and analytical bent of mind.

He was of the view that challenges shape the character of man. Having become an orphan very early in life had taught him to not succumb to despair and disappointment but to consider every untoward experience as a challenge and keep hope alive.

As per the Maulana, education is the very foundation of nationbuilding. He believed that acquiring education was not a means of outperforming one another in material wealth, rather it was a means of strengthening character and becoming a responsible member of society. Such a society, which is an aggregate of virtuous individuals, becomes the first unit of a peaceful nation.

He remained a lifelong learner and encouraged the spirit of enquiry and curiosity in all his discussions. He held that spirit of enquiry was the bedrock of intellectual development. He always took examples from the world around us and urged everyone to do the same. He often loved sharing a poem on “cow” which he had read long back in his school textbook. His favourite stanza from the poem was “kal jo ghas chari thi ban mein, doodh bani who gaaye ke than mein” (The grass which the cow ate yesterday is now converted into milk). He used to share this to explain how the cow was a divine example of converting a negative event into a positive one. He used to say that a cow presents a perfect example for us to emulate: it never asks but only gives. Similarly, a successful member of society is one who never asks but only gives and discharges his societal duties diligently.

A Gandhian by nature, his life is full of examples of how he contributed to ensuring peace in society even during the direst circumstances. He took his guidance and inspiration from the original texts of Islam: Quran and Hadith and dedicated his life to present it in the modern idiom.

The focus of his writings was to promote interfaith dialogue, interactive exchange and fraternity. He established CPS International with the sole aim of spreading peace and harmony in society. His relentless efforts transformed the minds of thousands of youth who were previously engaged in violence at different levels.

As a fervent well-wisher of humankind, his singular mission was to transform the minds of people and develop them into positive and spiritually awakened members of society. This mission has now devolved upon all of us, in our individual or collective capacity, to take forward. In doing so, we shall not only pay our heartfelt tribute to his remarkable efforts but also honour his life and decades of making a difference!

Ramish SIddiqi: Islamic Thinker and Writer

I have high regard for Maulana. We have appeared on many occasions together. He has always spoken with great wisdom and understanding. My message to him is only one of high regard and respect. – Dr. Karan Singh: Indian Politician

Well, I have got regard for Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Ji, He is like my mentor and I feel inspired whenever I have few moments to spend with him. He is one person who is trying to transcend narrow religion and religiosity. And for that he is being accused by many of his community people. But he is not afraid, I want that type of courage for myself. I want to withstand all criticism with a loving smile on my face and with compassion for all people whoever is criticizing me. – Swami Agnivesh: Founder of Arya Sabha & Socio-political Activist

Well I am encouraged by the work that he is doing in particular the emphasis on the primacy of peace. It is so important in our world and particularly in this 21st century when there are so many different religions all intermingling with one another, so many other different perspectives of life. It is extremely important that we learn how to live together well and that means we need to work actively for peace. Peace is not a concept a thing that happens without people doing things, you need to work for peace, to promote peace and certainly the work that Maulana is doing. I would encourage him and people in all religions to work for that deep peace and that deep understanding which I think is the way forward for our work in the 21st century. -Bishop Richard lan Cheetham: Bishop of Kingston, Church of England

A great champion of interfaith dialogue and harmony, he believed in the power of dialogue (rather than debate which provokes strife and negativity). -Amithabh Mattoo: Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University It was after a terrorist attack in the late nineties that a meeting was held in India International Centre, New Delhi. Among the speakers was the name of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. I went to listen to him. What would he say?

I found a tall, majestic looking man with a beautiful turban and a grey beard telling me, “The word Islam means peace.” His eyes filled up and his throat tightened as he said, “Let us not misunderstand a religion on the basis of the acts of some miscreants….”
That was my first meeting with Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
That was my first discovery of Islam.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan was a gentle compassionate teacher of Islam, he looks at the world and its living beings as a beautiful creation to be enjoyed, respected and learnt from. We had the pleasure of learning from him. -Sudhamahi Regunathan: former Vice-Chancellor, Jain Vishwa Bharti Institute

The remedy for ignorance is asking questions. (Prophet Muhammad) The spirit of enquiry is the hallmark of an open society and the above saying of the Prophet aptly illustrates this principle. A culture of curiosity and open-mindedness will foster development in any society by motivating its members to learn enthusiastically and enrich their knowledge. This is because awareness of one’s ignorance is half of knowledge, as it becomes a stepping-stone to seeking and finding answers. A questioning mind is like a flowing river that is rep

(The following is a part of the Question & Answer session of an Interfaith programme)

We believe in the personhood of our God. Since he is a person, we enjoy communication through his self-revelation. He can be also considered as another person. According to human logic, communication is possible between two people. Therefore, what is your understanding of the personhood of God? In other words, what is the teaching of Islam about the nature of God?

Chapter 112 of the Quran titled Oneness says the following about God: Say, ‘He is God the One, God, the Self-Sufficient One. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.’

Chapter 2 of the Quran titled Heifer says this:
God: there is no deity save Him, the Living, the Eternal One. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belong whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth.

Who can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows all that is before them and all that is behind them. They can grasp only that part of His knowledge which He wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and their upholding does not weary Him. He is the Sublime, the Almighty One! (2: 255)

There are many other verses like these about how God describes Himself in the Quran. One can see the index given on the back of the English translation we have produced and go through the verses which describe God.

We have a hierarchy in our church. They are the custodians of our faith and teachings. They are called the magisterium of the church. Please explain the hierarchical order of Islam? How the faith and principles are taken care of or explained? Who is officially keeping the authorship?

We have a working hierarchy in the religious institutions for the administration and the work involved.

However, for the teachings of Islam, the authorities are the Quran and Hadith (teachings of the Prophet). For an explanation of these two, there are commentaries by the learned scholars. For the present times, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is considered Islam’s ambassador to the world. He is the Islamic scholar who has been writing and speaking on the correct understanding of Islam from the original sources of the Quran, Hadith and the Prophet’s life.

Quran is believed to be a preserved book and there are many authentic books of Hadith.

What is the understanding of mysticism in Islam?

There is no mysticism in Islam. All aspects of Islam are explainable.

Every religion in its ultimate sense keeps the sentiment of ‘conversion in their core reality. Hence what is the Islamic understanding about the conversion of a person from another religion? What is the missionary method for that?

There is no concept of conversion in Islam. Islam believes in discovery. Quran addresses an individual thus: There shall be no compulsion in religion. (2: 256) We are commanded to convey the message of Islam in a peaceful manner.