MY THOUGHTS ON MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN - Dr. Rajat Malhotra

Then in 1976, after graduating from college, one of my work colleagues gave me a copy of Al-Risala magazine in Urdu. I could not read Urdu at the time, however I had been taught how to read the Quran in Arabic as a child. I was very curious about the magazine so I began reading it slowly and with a little practice I was able to read it in Urdu. Despite the challenge of reading in a new language, I kept at it because every page of the magazine was a treasure trove of advice and wisdom. I discovered that most of the articles in Al-Risala were commentaries on verses from the Quran or Hadith, from an intellectual perspective that I had not encountered before. The other articles were focused on how to develop the human personality using the teachings of Islam. Maulana’s writings were opening up for me a whole new world of thoughtful engagement with religion and with the purpose of life. I continued to read Al-Risala in Urdu and also decided to read other books by Maulana written in Urdu (as there were hardly any English books of his at the time). The first book of his I read was “Al-Islam”. I read this book carefully many times over. As I read it, the ritualistic religion I was practicing became irrational and the politicized religion that was being popularized in college was shown to be clearly out of step with the original sources of Islam. At this point I began to realize that Islam was a living faith. It was not just a source of personal piety for me, but it also became my conviction that it was truly a divine universal religion, with an intellectual message that was meant to be conveyed to others. Maulana’s book “The Prophet of Revolution” (Paighambar-e-Inqilab in