I FOUND MY CALLING UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF MAULANA - Mr. Haroon Shaikh, Mumbai

I FOUND MY CALLING UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF MAULANA Mr. Haroon Shaikh, Mumbai I t was the year 1967. I still vividly remember reading Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s article published in a periodical Zindagi for the first time. It was like a breath of fresh air. The content, its import and the style of writing were unlike anything that I had encountered by the pen of a Maulvi. Little did I realize then how great an impact Maulana Sahib was about to exercise on my life. Here is the story of my discovery of Islam and how I found my calling under the caring and loving guidance of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. The medium of my education was English and most of my friends were Hindus. My upbringing and education had made me scientific in temperament. I was fruitlessly searching for the answers to the questions about Islam and Muslims posed by my friends. The traditional Islamic discourse that was in vogue could not satisfy me. I had the feeling that Muslims are living with dichotomous thinking. The religious scholars with their traditional approach could not encounter the challenges of modern science. Moreover, they misapplied many of the Islamic teachings with disastrous consequences such as jihad, interfaith relationships, music and painting, to name just a few.