Al-Risala (English) · Search for Truth

Search for Truth

Al-Risala (English), March-April 2001, p. 2

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.

Search for Truth M an is a born seeker—a veritable truth-seeking animal. Every human being regards himself as incomplete until he has found that supreme principle by which he can explain his existence in this world and discover the purpose and meaning of his life. Everyone is a seeker. True. But few are finders. Why? Because where seeking is instinctive, finding is the outcome of one’s own conscious effort. In the pre-Islamic period, there were certain individuals in Arabia, called ‘Hunafa. They were all truth seekers. Confining themselves to solitary places, they would remember God and say: “O God if we had known how to worship You, we would have worshipped You accordingly.” This was due to their urge to come to grips with reality— an urge such as is found in every human being, the difference between one individual and another being only one of degree: in some, the urge is weak, in others it is strong. Then, there are some deviations. Some people take certain material objects to be their goal in life and do their utmost to obtain them. But there is an internal evidence that they do so mistakenly. Before obtaining these material objects, they are highly enthusiastic about them. But as soon as they have them in their possession, their enthusiasm turns to frustration for, with experience, they invariably find that what they have struggled for so hard, has failed to give them the desired sense of fulfillment. All these material things in this world are meant

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