EVERY PERSON IS YOUR POTENTIAL FRIEND: MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN

This is an interview of 2021 Padma Vibhushan awardee Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. He was awarded India’s second-highest civilian honour for working tirelessly in the field of spirituality and peace for more than fifty years.

This interview was published in the April 2021 issue of ‘Sirat-eMustaqeem’, an Urdu monthly published from Pakistan. It was an online interview facilitated by Mr Tarique Badr (Pakistan) and Maulana Farhad (India). It was translated into English.

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Could you kindly share something about your family background and your childhood?

According to official records, I was born on January 1, 1925. I was born in a village called Badhariya, which is in the Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh.

An ancestor of ours, named Hasan Khan, was a resident of Swat in Chitral, which at that time was part of Afghanistan. Hasan Khan had a brother called Husain Khan. It so happened that there was a dispute between the brothers over something. Hasan Khan moved out of Swat and migrated to an area called Jaunpur, which is in present-day Uttar Pradesh. At first, our forefathers lived there, and then later some members of the family settled in Azamgarh district, which is where I was born.

Could you please share something about your educational background?

As a child, I would often wander out of the house and head towards the orchards and fields. Outside the village, there was a bridge over a river. I would sit there, spending a long time watching the river flow and keenly observing other phenomena of nature. Sometime later, I began my initial formal education, in a maktab (religious seminary) in the village. After that, in 1938, I took admission at the Madrasat-ul-Islah at Saraimir (located in Azamgarh district) for Arabic and Islamic studies. After graduating from there, I found that I was actually irrelevant in society. I found out that my education had not been able to make me beneficial to contemporary society. I began studying commentaries on the Quran, Hadith, etc. once again. I also learnt the English language and then studied secular disciplines such as science, philosophy, history, etc. In this way, I gained an awareness of the times, of the contemporary age, and with full certainty I rediscovered Islam.

What do you think are the basic principles for properly understanding the Quran?

The basic principles for properly understanding the Quran are to ponder on the Quran with a deconditioned mind and to beseech God with true God-consciousness and piety.

Could you please tell us something about your lifestyle?

In matters of lifestyle, my principle is: ‘Simple living, high thinking’. What do you think might be some of the difficulties in inviting people towards God—Islamic missionary activity—in these times? In today’s age, in no part of the world is the work of inviting people towards God difficult. The only condition is that one must do this work in a peaceful manner, with wisdom.

The biggest obstacle in this regard is Muslims themselves. One big mistake that Muslim thinkers made, starting in the age of colonialism, is that on account of having become politically dominated by the modern West, they began to think that modern thought or modern culture was intrinsically opposed to Islam. This led to an unnecessary confrontation and clash between them and those people who represented the modern mind. Because of this, the work that Muslims should have been engaged in—conveying the message of God to people—was unable to proceed naturally. My advice to Muslims is to put a complete stop to campaigns against modern thought. Only then will it be possible for the task of conveying the message of God to people to proceed in a natural manner.

What do you think are some of the qualities a person who invites people towards God (dayee) should have?

A person who conveys God’s message to people should have complete well-wishing in his heart for the one whom he addresses. No provocation from the addressee should cause him to abandon this well-wishing for them.

Could you please reflect on your efforts to help Muslims secure their rights?

I have always given this advice to Muslims: They should abandon all campaigns of demanding their rights; and they should spend their life as giver members of society, being of benefit to others. They should become givers, rather than takers.

Today, large parts of the world face communal violence—violence in the name of differences of religion, sect, language and so on. What are the causes for this?

The basic cause for this is the lack of the art of managing differences. There are two methods for handling differences. One is the method of extremism, and the other is the method of tolerance. Votaries of the method of extremism think that among the various schools of thought that exist only one is right and that the rest are wrong. Hence, they insist that all the others should be eliminated. In contrast, votaries of the method of tolerance or broadmindedness consider differences to be a matter of diversity. They have a practical formula for relating with this diversity: ‘Follow one, respect all’. This is the right approach to adopt.

What should be done to end communal violence?

There is only one principle to overcome an environment of hate—and that is, to adopt unilateral reconciliation, as the Prophet of Islam did on the occasion of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah.

Many Muslims think they are oppressed in different parts of the world. What do you think about this view?

Muslims are not oppressed. They are simply paying the price for their unwise actions and approach. They need to live and act based on practical wisdom.

What advice will you give for reforming madrasas?

The people who are in charge of madrasas (religious seminaries) must have a proper understanding of the contemporary age. They should be aware of their times. By being aware of the age means that those who are associated with madrasas must function, work and plan in line with contemporary times. Without a proper understanding of the contemporary age and context, they cannot properly act, plan and function. This is why the madrasa authorities must have a good knowledge of the context and the conditions of the times. Failing this, their work will not produce any positive results.

Consider this analogy to understand the vital importance of having a deep understanding of the times and context one is living in: Today, we live in an age of peace. Now, if some person is unaware of today’s age; and in an age of peace begins fighting with others, naturally, the results of his action will be totally negative. He will not be able to obtain any positive result.

You give great stress on a deep understanding of the age. Have Muslim scholars before you said the same sort of thing?

Yes, there are examples of this among the ulema (Islamic scholars) in earlier times. For instance, in the first quarter of the 8th century, Wahab ibn Munabbih says that one of the pieces of wisdom from the family of the Prophet David is that it is incumbent on a wise person to be aware of his times. Likewise, Ibn al-Hajib al-Kurdi al-Maliki (d. AD 1248) says that among the characteristics of a scholar is that he should be aware of his times. The same point is made by Ibn Abd al-Barr (d. AD 1071) in his book al-Kafi fi Fiqh Ahl al-Madinah. Ibn Kathir (d. AD 1373) says about his teacher Burhanuddin al-Fazari that he was a scholar who was aware of his age. In the well-known book of Hanafi jurisprudence al-Durr alMukhtar, there is a very meaningful statement in this regard, according to which a person who does not have knowledge about his times is ignorant. The famous Hanafi jurisprudent Ibn Abidin Shami (d. 1889) commented that he who is unaware of the traditions of the people of his age is ignorant.

In the light of all this, you can see that I have here only repeated something that numerous Muslim scholars in the past have said.

In the light of your experiences of a life of 96 years so far, could you please tell us on what principles you think people should lead their lives?

To ignore the problems and to discover opportunities and avail of them in a wise, planned manner.

How do you view the overall conditions of Muslims in the context of modern times?

Many Muslim thinkers imagine that modern thought is a challenge that is against them. But if one analyzes the matter properly, one will learn that modern thought, in terms of its essence, is not against Islam. It is not anti-Islamic, as many Muslim thinkers think it is. In fact, it is conducive to Islam when rightly understood. The fact is that the modern mind and modern culture are completely compatible with Islam if these are understood properly. In terms of their essence or reality, there is no clash between Islam and modern thought. So, the real problem, the actual problem, is not of changing modern thought, but rather, of changing the thinking of Muslims. And after this happens, no problem will remain. The mindset or mentality of many Muslims is such that they oppose every new thing. It is this mentality that has created the problem. So, this mentality has to change.

What advice would you give Muslims in this regard?

They should adopt the following five-point formula
• Realization of God
• Positive thinking
• Conveying God’s message to people
• They should put a complete end to hate and negative thinking. Instead of thinking of the West as an ‘enemy of Islam’, they should consider it as a supporter of Islam.
• Rather than having a political target, they should make leading a Hereafter-oriented life their target

If somewhere Muslims face opposition or a challenge from others, how do you think they should respond?

They should adopt the following verse of the Quran (41: 34) as their guiding verse:
Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend.

In the light of what this verse teaches, one could say that no human being is an eternal enemy of another human being. By birth, every person has the status of a potential friend. Hence, in accordance with the guidance of the Quran, the Muslims’ approach in this matter should be that they should adopt the method of turning a potential friend into an actual friend.

In his commentary on the Quranic verse cited above, Qazi Sanaullah Panipati (d. 1810) writes (Tafsir al-Mazhari, Vol. 8, p. 296) that some Islamic scholars have taken this verse to suggest that good deeds are not all of the same level. Likewise, there are different levels or grades of evil. Now, if a foe does a bad deed, one should respond to it with a good deed. For instance, if someone behaves badly with you, then, you should ignore it. But there is a higher level of goodness that you can show. In return for the bad deed done to you, you should behave in a very good way with the person. If you respond to evil with goodness, it is undoubtedly the highest sort of moral action.