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

When I was living in the thrill with these thoughts, Maulana asked me, “Do you not want to know the interpretation of the dream?” I replied, “Yes Maulana,” thinking what more can there be. He seriously pointed out, “As you saw God and Prophet Muhammad in pant and shirt, you will receive Islam in the modern idiom. And God has shown you that you will receive it here.” Now I was completely mesmerized. I was convinced God had guided me to what I had been waiting for all my life. I felt that here I could understand Islam in a way that addressed my mind. When I read out the class notes and shared my thrilling experience with my husband Navdeep, He said, “This man thinks like me. I would like to go to him.” Both Navdeep and I went to Maulana’s Sunday lecture the next week. Though everybody else brought a diary, I decided to carry my laptop to write the class notes, so I could write everything that Maulana said and easily share my learning with others. Over the next few weeks while I listened to Maulana’s lectures and interacted with him I understood that Maulana’s realization of God was so deep that it was as if he were seeing God. The Hereafter for Maulana was not merely a concept, but a reality. The present world for him was a means of realizing God, preparing for Paradise in the Hereafter and performing one’s role in God’s mission by making others aware of this reality. That is why God had sent me to Maulana. I knew now that ClearLight had only been a stepping stone for me to reach the CPS Mission. Closing that chapter of my life, I asked ClearLight members