ME AND MAULANA: A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION OF WAHIDUDDIN KHAN - John M. Butt

to summarise some of the complexities of his message in a simple phrase: do not complain! When writing my book about his thinking, I struggled with his notions of the importance of positivity. Everyone can somewhat intuit a positive person, and we can remind ourselves and others that we should be more positive. But in clear and reasoned terms, what does it mean to be positive? Just like the celebrated Jewish teacher Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus Christ, formulated the well-known “golden rule” as a negative bidding: “What is hateful to you, do not unto your neighbour”, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan formulated a practical way to be positive: “Avoid complaint!” Avoiding the negative is easier in everyday life than the imprecise principle that we should be positive. For him, this simple phrase is a central teaching in Islam, clear from the examples of the Prophet when preaching with confidence to the masses outside the house of Kaaba, still housing 360 idols, or in Medina when the Prophet refused to bring up the persecution of Muslims in Mecca before the hijra. The story of Iblis, or Satan, is for Khan a story of complaint and dissent, the leader of the jinns refuses to acknowledge the will of God, as Iblis feels it is below his station and dignity. For Khan, the world and its events are carefully planned by God, an entirely theistic universe. Hence, when humans complain they fail to see the plan of God, and its inherent possibilities. I criticised him for this notion, both in our discussions and in writing. Surely there must be a way for those who have been wronged to express their hurt, and right their wrongs? For Khan, patience and