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

with unsurpassable energy Maulana would love to indulge in discussions on the theology, history and politics. He was a polyglot, and exhibited command over Arabic, Urdu, Persian, English and Hindi both in his writings and oral communication. The notion of time ceased to exist when we would listen him lecture. I once asked him his secret of staying so energetic despite being a nonagenerian. ‘I ensure that my food is insipid and not tasty’—he quipped in his heavy tone. Having noticed the inquisitiveness on my face, he tried explaining his unusual predilection for bland and tasteless food, “One tends to eat more if food is tasty. Insipid food kills our appetite. Thus the secret of good health is to have frugal meals. One should avoid over indulgence of any kind, over eating was even proscribed by the Prophet who himself was a sincere frugal eater”. Maulana and his simple living also reflected his affiliation to the Gandhian ideals of minimal living. Earlier Life- A True Practitioner of Non-Confrontation I was fortunate enough to have visited his place of birth at Badheria in Azamgarh district. He hailed from a landed family who had migrated from Afghanistan centuries ago. He studied at the local seminary of Sarai Mir. But never was his persona pinioned to the orthodoxy of Islamic learning. He broadened by his vision of embracing modern education and the English language, tried to explain Islamic exigencies through a scientific approach. I remember how nicely he explained to us, in one of his Sunday morning congregations, the history of early Islam and its non-confrontationist