Preface

Preface December 1961, I put my views down on paper and sent them to the Maulana. And what reply did I get? The Maulana was a flag-bearer of the revival of the Caliphate, and so one would have thought that his response to my critique would have been to say that not only was I exercising my right, but also abiding by my duty. After all, he himself wrote that this is precisely what ought to happen under the Caliphate that he wished to establish. He should have taken it as proof of my living conscience. He should have encouraged me in my effort. If he did not agree with me, he could have tried to give me an appropriate reply and thereby tried to satisfy me. But what actually happened? In my book Taʿbir ki Ghalati I have included the correspondence that I exchanged with him the on this issue over a period of two long years. Anyone who reads these letters can easily understand that the Maulana did not give a proper and convincing reply to my arguments. He can also easily discern that the Maulana tried to behave in precisely the same way that he regarded as characteristic of Monarchical Despotism. Why didn’t the Maulana try to give me a reply that would have satisfied me? Instead, the Maulana accused my understanding of issues to be extremely faulty and limited. He charged me with being deluded. He suggested that I was arrogant, adding that he was not in the habit of addressing arrogant people. He said I had crossed the stage beyond which he believed it was useless trying to reason with me.