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

perseverance carry the blessings of God. What may not seem possible today may yet be possible at another time, but peace and stability must never be uprooted because it is the foundation of all present and future opportunities. Khan saw in Islam an opportunity for the individual to surrender before the will of God. Complaint leads instead to a psychological state of hurt and injustice. It is a limited view, despite how right one might be, or how unjust a situation might be. And this limited psychological state leads to a loss of clarity of mind, and an emotional need for vengeance. Aggression and violence seem just and proportional, even necessary. Hence other options, of non-violence and peace, becomes limited and are thought of as impossible – if they are thought about at all. At best, such a “negative” way of being in the world makes a person quarrelsome and unloved and destroys his or her own life. At worst, in righteous indignation and anger a person full of complaint seeks vengeance through any means and destroys not his or her own life, but many lives. We all know of such vindictive people and organisations in our lives and in our societies. Hence, this timeless message needs to be considered again and again, what does it mean in my own life, and in the life of our societies to withhold complaint? How can negative, hurtful experiences be turned into peaceful actions that are beneficial to everyone? Dr. Mattias Dahlkvist (PhD, Religious Studies, Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies, University of Gävle) The title of this PhD is “The Politics of Islam, Non-Violence, and Peace—The Thought of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in Context” from Umea University, Sweden.