FROM MAULANA’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 recognised as one of its most influential Muslims1 . 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.
SHIFT OF EMPHASIS
MUSLIMS vehemently claim to follow truth, yet perversion has set in in Muslim society. They find themselves beset by all problems conceivable. The reason for this phenomenon can be attributed, according to the Quran, to deviation or shift of emphasis, that is, turning the focus from one aspect to the other diametrically opposite aspect.
One form this deviation has taken is the interpretation of commands meant for individuals as if they were meant for people in general. That is, those commands which are addressed specifically to individuals for self-action are taken as being applicable not to the self but to others.
For instance, the Quran says: “Proclaim the glory of your Lord; purify your garments; shun uncleanness” (74: 3-5). If this verse is figuratively understood to mean 'cleanse the behaviour of others', its impact on the reader will be entirely opposite. This verse, which aims at improving personal behaviour will, if wrongly interpreted, lead us into launching campaigns against others.
Whatever the expression of the Divine Will, it is addressed first and foremost to the individual. But the revolutionary clerics of modern times have diverted the focus of all commands from the individual to the community.
The same is true of other commands.
Whatever the expression of the Divine Will,
it is addressed first and foremost to the
individual. But the revolutionary clerics of
modern times have diverted the focus of
all commands from the individual to the
community. This is why, in spite of vigorous
action being taken in the name of religion, no
improvement of character is in sight.
All kinds of reforms and all kinds of
perversions can be summed up in just two
short sentences:
1. God is great, so I am not great.
2. God is great, so you are not great.
The first sentence takes the meaning of Allah-u-Akbar in the right sense. But not the second, which is a misrepresentation of Islamic thinking. If you repeat the sentence, ‘God is great, therefore I am not great,’ this will engender a feeling of responsibility within you, and pride will give way to seriousness and a desire for personal improvement. Humility, which is the root of all good, will then override all other feelings.
On the contrary, if you repeat the second sentence, i.e. ‘God is great, therefore, you are not great’; this will beget a psychology of pride which will lead to violent activism and the politics of destruction. It will mean unlimited chaos and perversion in the name of Islam.
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
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