FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, born in 1925, in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, is an Islamic spiritual scholar who is well-versed in both classical Islamic learning and modern disciplines. The mission of his life has been the establishment of worldwide peace. He has received the Padma Bhushan, the Demiurgus Peace International Award and Sayyidina Imam Al Hassan Peace award for promoting peace in Muslim societies. He has been called ’Islam’s spiritual ambassador to the world’ and is recognized as one of its most influential Muslims . His books have been translated into sixteen languages and are part of university curricula in six countries. He is the founder of the Centre for Peace and Spirituality based in New Delhi.
WHAT you have in your hands is not just another magazine. It is much more than that. In fact it is an institution for informal education. The purpose of this magazine is to promote spiritual values in society.
Journals and magazines can be one of the greatest sources of informal education. Our generation gets professional learning in formal educational institutes. But this is insufficient for a life in society. Formal education can give you a job, but it cannot teach you the art of living. The art of living can be promoted only through informal education.
What is informal education? Basically, it is to inculcate in people those values that are important for better social life, and spiritual values are of prime importance in this regard.
Spirituality stems from positivity. Positive thinking leads to positive behaviour, and positive behaviour results in better social relationships. Maintaining positivity under any circumstance is an integral message of Islam.
Circumstances are beyond our control, it is only our actions and responses that are under our control. Therefore, Islam lays great emphasis on patience. Patience is not a negative term, patience is the behaviour of a mature person who has the ability to live with things that he/she cannot change. It is this maturity that is called, sabr (patience) in Islam.
Some writers have suggested that modern man is in search of a ‘scientific religion’. This magazine believes that Islam is that kind of ‘scientific religion’. The Quran says:
“Do they seek a religion other than the religion of God, when everything in
the heavens and the earth has submitted to Him, willingly or unwillingly?”
THE QURAN, 3: 83
According to this verse, there is a divine religion that is being followed by the whole universe. Islam is a literal statement of this divine religion; a religion of nature, a scientific religion. It is based on two natural principles: to acknowledge God as the Creator and Sustainer with the belief that man is accountable to God. And, to live a life of spirituality, that is, living with the spirit of love and positivity amongst others. Belief in God gives man the right orientation and spirituality determines that man will adopt a behaviour that is good for all.
Islam is generally associated with Muslims as Muslims are a community who claim to be the followers of Islam. But this is an incorrect perspective. The authentic source of Islamic teachings are its texts, the Quran and Sunnah (way of the Prophet). Anyone who wants to know about Islam, must refer to these texts and not judge Islam based on Muslim behaviour.
There is a verse in the Quran: “God calls man to the home of peace.”
THE QURAN, 10: 25
According to this Quranic verse, the aim of Islam is to establish a peaceful society. In Islam, peace is the ‘summum bonum’. Peace is the basic condition for every kind of progress. Without peace, there is no development at all, religious or secular.
Peace and spirituality are only two faces of a single coin: spirituality is the inner content of peace, and peace is the external expression of spirituality. Where there is peace, there is spirituality and where there is spirituality, there is peace. Both always go together.
Let us welcome this year with peace and spirituality in every aspect of our individual and social lives.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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1. The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims 2012, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan.